By Lloyd Lumpkins
Let’s just start by saying I am no different than the rest of you. Working at my house on and off for the last couple of COVID years, I realized how tired my house was. Raise your hand if this sounds familiar.
So, thanks to a leaky pipe under my sink and a lot of project creep (You know how it is. “If I am going to do that I might as well do this”) I remodeled my kitchen! New appliances are still not yet here, but that’s a different story.
I started looking at what I had, what I wanted, and what I could do. As my architectural training kicked in, I started researching what was new, and what I could afford. Man, stuff has changed over the years. Some of this stuff is more intelligent than I am. But that, too, is a topic for another day.
What I wanted to share was my epiphany concerning maybe the central most important element in the kitchen — or if it wasn’t it should be now. The sink!
More Than Just a Place to Wash up
I think every client of mine has had different requirements for this element — where it is placed, how big it is, farm sink, double bowl, triple bowl, what material it is, you name it. I started thinking more esoterically about what the sink is and maybe what it wants to be.
I remembered reading the architect Louis Kahn asking a brick what it wanted to be. So, I asked, “Sink what do you want to be?” Now this action is maybe exposing a little too much insight into the strangeness of some architects’ design process, but bear with me. Who here hasn’t had a discussion with an inanimate object?
Interestingly, the sink expressed to me it wanted to be a swimming pool! It wanted to be where people are having fun, not a place dedicated to the drudgery of household chores.
Making a Splash
Now I respected that attitude, but I really needed something more practical, not to mention something that would fit in my kitchen. And besides, I already had a pool. But what it said made a lot of sense to me.
Why couldn’t the sink be where the fun occurs? Why couldn’t it be the center of the kitchen, the new hearth of the home? I mean when was the last time I used a sink for washing dishes? I have a dishwasher right next to the sink.
I started my design research afresh and I found there must have been other designers who talked to their sinks, too.
So, thanks to some very smart people in the industry that listened to their sinks we are witnessing a transformation of the utilitarian element to a focal element of the kitchen and home. Even becoming the center of the party when entertaining.
Welcome to the new world of sinks.
Surprisingly there are several brands out there in a wide range of prices.
Galley says it all on their website “Reinvent your kitchen. A better way to prepare, cook, serve, entertain, and clean.” They call it a “workstation,” but I think it is so much more.
Julien has their “Smart Station.” “Functional in every way.”
Kohler has their “Prolific” sink. They want you to make it “the star performer of the kitchen.”
Kräus is “Entertainment Central.”
These sinks are the transformers of the new kitchen. They complete the transformation of the kitchen that started with the open concept plan, making the kitchen island the new hearth of the home. This is especially true with the reintroduction of the scullery or catering kitchen in many modern homes. These new central or “front” kitchens are all about entertaining and these sinks fit perfectly with that concept.
Go see Alan Fishman at Westside Kitchen and Bath or David Flynn at Pierce Fine Hardware and Plumbing, or ask for Megan Edwards at Ferguson’s. Transform your kitchen to match your lifestyle.
Lloyd Lumpkins is one of the top residential architects in Dallas. Find out more about his work here.
