Can you please explain to clueless me how a single sink works?

[Dragons 8 Cactus]

I'm starting to think we actually have *very* different dish detergents here

[lady_disdain]

Interesting discussion! I had no idea washing up methods varied so much.

Here, single sinks are the norm and having a hot water tap in the kitchen is a big luxury, as few houses have a water heater (electric showers in the bathroom are the norm). Dishes are carefully scraped first, to remove all the bits of food. Dishes are stacked in the sink and a glass with soapy water is used for particularly dirty cutlery. The glasses are placed on the small ledge behind the sink. Run a little water after the dishes are placed, so they aren't dry. Moisten the sponge, add detergent and start: pick up a dish, angle it so excess water runs out (and onto the next dish), scrub, place on counter besides the sink. Repeat ad nausea. Once all the dishes have been scrubbed, open the tap (not a lot, so it won't slash) and rinse the dishes, placing them on the drainer on the other side of the sink. Repeat for cutlery and glasses.

[dietcokeofevil]

I would have trouble with the single sink, because of the garbage disposal.  Even if I scrape all my dishes beforehand and run the disposal, I always seem to find something that I missed and need to clean out before I can wash it.

[Dragons 8 Cactus]

Ohh, Our garbage disposal is the Chicken yard. 

[MariaE]

I'd never even heard of garbage disposals until I lived in New Zealand. They definitely aren't the norm in Denmark I don't think I've seen a single kitchen that had one here.

Which is a shame - I'd like one

[Zilla]

I have had both double and single sinks.  I prefer a large wide single sink as it's so much easier to wash pans in without hitting the double sink wall.  As for no rinsing, I want that soap!  We don't have a dishwasher now and it's a pain to soap up and rinse every single dish. 

[bloo]

I would have trouble with the single sink, because of the garbage disposal.  Even if I scrape all my dishes beforehand and run the disposal, I always seem to find something that I missed and need to clean out before I can wash it.

This is one of the banes of my single basin! I find myself emptying something outside or in the bathroom sink if I missed a glass or bowl with food or liquid.

I thought that the way soap works was that it tends to cling to the particles of food and stuff, so you need the rinsing away action in order to actually get the item clean.  Or does towel-drying complete that part of the process?  Personally, I am *not* a person who dries dishes... I don't see the point, since they'll dry on the drying rack, and I read recently somewhere that they tend to be cleaner if air-dried, anyway.  But if you did need to towel-dry them because of space, then maybe that's how it works to not rinse them?  Or does the soap just work that very differently?

This is my understanding of how soap works. I never filled my second basin with rinse water. I just would wash the dishes in soapy water, place them in the second basin and when that got kind of full would then start rinsing and stacking in a drain rack.

When I worked at Domino's Pizza 25+ years ago, they had a 3-sink system. Three very large, stainless-steel basins. One was for hot soapy water, the second for filling with rinse water and the third was sanitizer (hot water with a capful of bleach).

Now I volunteer with construction projects having to do with my religion and I work specifically in food service and everything has to be done just like in a commercial kitchen. Three deep sinks, wash - rinse - sanitize. Oh my aching back...they are deep sinks!

I'd never even heard of garbage disposals until I lived in New Zealand. They definitely aren't the norm in Denmark I don't think I've seen a single kitchen that had one here.

Which is a shame - I'd like one

I really like having one for certain kitchen jobs like when I'm peeling carrots, potatoes or hard-boiled eggs. I always scrape the bulk of stuff into the garbage, but it's nice be able to rinse away and dispose the little bit of peelings and shells that I missed.

[Ereine]

I don't think that I could bring myself to rinse under running water, it seems so wasteful.

You only turn on the faucet in really short bursts--i.e. only when you have a dish to rinse--and I bet the amount of water used is lower than if you filled a sink of standing water. It doesn't just run the whole time.

That's why I said it seems wasteful, not that it necessarily is I think that we were taught at school that leaving water running is evil and obviously it applies to everything. I usually wash quite a lot of dishes at a time (because I hate doing them and am lazy) and I think that rinsing them would probably take as much water as my plastic tub and it seems easier to me.

How do you shower?  or flush a toilet?
I don't think anyone is advocating just leaving the water running randomly, but rather during active washing/rinsing time, no different then rinsing your hands, or your toothbrush or your hair.

I guess I wasn't clear enough that it's just the perception of it, kind of like to some people not rinsing dishes seems really odd (it seems to me too, all our general dish washing soaps have warning labels and though it probably applies more to it undiluted, I still don't want digest it).

Interesting. I just checked my dishwashing liquid (Australian) and there is no warning on it about rinsing, just an instruction that a small squirt is enough.

Well the warning is for severe eye damage, so it doesn't mention rinsing but I'm paranoid That is dish soap marketed as gentle and approved by an allergy organization.

[Tilt Fairy]

This was an interesting read. From reading all the above, seems to me that there appear to be three common ways to wash dishes (or a variation of):

1) Filling up the sink or a bowl with soapy water and washing them all in the standing pool of water and then putting them straight onto the drying rack. Sort of like when you have a bath!
2) Doing the same as no. 1 but then putting them all into the second sink to submerge in another pool of water to rinse them and then put them on the drying rack (what OP does) Like having a bath but then getting into a new bath of clean water to rinse off! (or maybe some even rinse each item individually under the tap in the second sink instead of submerge).
3) Washing and rinsing each item individually under hot running water under it's own individual stream from the tap. Nothing is submerged in standing water and the sink does not need to be filled for this method. Just a tap with running water is used. Some people leave the tap running and have it continuously under the stream whilst others may turn it off between scrubs or rinses. Like having a shower.

I've seen people use all of the above methods. I always do no.3 and that's what my parents always did so that's how I learned to do it. I always towel dry everything afterwards as well but that's more because we don't have much space to let things dry naturally.

[Dragons 8 Cactus]

Tilt Fairy. option 4. get some other blighter to wash up lol

[Tilt Fairy]

Tilt Fairy. option 4. get some other blighter to wash up lol

Yep. I actually prefer this option! Mine comes in the form of my reluctant boyfriend.

[WillyNilly]

Ah, I see. The post I initially agreed with talked about "turning the water off when you're not actively rinsing something," so I thought it was implied.

It was in yours, but not in WillyNilly's:

I have never had a double sink or known anyone in real life with one. Nor have I ever known a non-professional sink to be filled with water to wash dishes.

To use a single sink, you just neatly stack the dishes in the sink, soap up sponge and run the water. You rinse, wipe/scrub the dish with the sponge, then rinse under running water, and put in dish rack, then move to the next dish and repeat.

ETA: for dishes that need soaking - you just leave those lined up under the running water and wash last.

The bolded especially made me think she washed the dishes under running water rather than turning the water on and off, so I appreciated her explanation that that wasn't the case.

No that is the case, the water is running while I wash dishes, unless i'm scrubbing something.  But dishes take a few mere seconds to wash each.  So its:
Pile dishes up in a logical order
* Turn on water - not full blast, just a reasonable trickle
* Wet sponge & soap it
* Pick up dish and under water wipe with soapy sponge under running water (1-4 seconds), allowing the run-off (which is soapy water) to run onto dishes in the sink
* 1-2 seconds of clear water to rinse
* Put that dish to dry and move onto the next dish.

The whole sink worth is cleaned in less then 10 minutes, usually less then 5, and while yes the water was running, it was always being used. Its not just running randomly down the drain at any point without any purpose.  The amount of water used total would not fill my sink even halfway full if it was stopped up so its certainly significantly less water then the method of filling two sinks with several inches of water. The water is running but its being used every moment. Much like how a shower uses significantly less water then a bath.

If I have to scrub something I would turn off the running water, but that's a rare occurrence.  Usually I'd just let it soak (in the soapy run-off water because I would have put it in the sink prior to doing dishes so it caught the water) and then after an hour (or longer if necessary) it washes quickly using the water that already in it, and then just get's rinsed.

[TootsNYC]

I've generally put the drying-rack into the second sink, and either spray-rinse everything in it, or briefly rinse stuff under the tap before putting it into the rack.  Of course, drying-racks used to always come with mats that would have a "lip" - meaning that you could put all the dishes onto the rack (on the counter) and use a spray to rinse them, and the rinse-water would drip back into the single sink.

I've never seen anybody spray dishes while they were on the counter!

The mat was to direct water that dripped off, yes, but I've never known anyone to spray something that was not in the sink.

[Luci45]

I would have trouble with the single sink, because of the garbage disposal.  Even if I scrape all my dishes beforehand and run the disposal, I always seem to find something that I missed and need to clean out before I can wash it.

http://www.build.com/elkay-lmr3322-gourmet-lustertone-stainless-steel-33-x-22-double-basin-top-mount-kitchen-sink/p442171   Except the smaller sink is as deep as the larger sink - and it didn't cost that much.

We put in a sink unit that has a large sink and then a smaller one with the garbage disposal in it when we designed our kitchen. I wanted the larger sink for the canner, roaster, smoker pan, and cookie sheets. I love it!

I wash and rinse our dishes under slowly running water, put some in the smaller sink to drain and some on a towel on the counter. I dry immediately. If we have more dishes, as when we have guests, I use the dishwasher and just lightly rinse the dishes into the smaller sink.

[Tilt Fairy]

I do exactly what you do Willy Nilly. I have the item I am washing under a continuous stream of water from the tap. I take each item one at a time and wash and scrub it with a sponge and rinse it, keeping it under the tap stream the whole time. I don't ever fill up my sink and submerge my item into a sink pool at any point- either to wash or rinse. I would also guess that I use less or at least the same amount of water as if I did fill the sink. But, even if it did work out slightly more anyway, I'd still carry on doing it how I do because it's a personal preference and is just how I've always learnt to wash dishes.

Anyone could use the 'waste less water' argument for any activity that differs in frequency between people e.g. how to do laundry, how to wash the car, water the garden, when to flush etc.. etc..  but people have individual preferences and in the grand scheme of things, it's difficult to measure and people pay their bills and can choose how to use the water they pay for. I'm sure everyone uses a utility or resource in a way that others would think may at times be wasteful and vice versa but we're not talking about vastly excessive water wastage here (even if it can even be proved it uses more in the long run). I'm sure it may add up to a lot for some who pay on a meter or have high tariffs, but for others, it might only be a few more pence.

I sort of see the opposing points in this thread as similar to the bath vs shower argument. It's still unsure which one uses less water but even if there was conclusive evidence, I doubt people would change their lifestyle with regards to how they bathe - not just because the excess is likely to be minimal anyway, but mainly because some people just prefer baths over showers and some people just prefer showers over baths - for any number of reasons. Some people love baths whilst others don't like the thought of sitting in their bath water and having soapy suds on them when they come out so prefer showers. Each to their own!