Day 57 of 98 – And Finally

Why are most sinks designed so that after washing your hands you have to drip water all over the tap and counter to shut off the water?

Does it not make more sense to have the sink flush with the wall and the tap (spout and handle) hanging side by side out from the wall over the sink? It baffles me why this is not the case. And if it’s big enough, you could put a small hand towel also over the sink to reduce the amount of water that drips everywhere when you go to dry your hands.

It’s probably like this because in the past there were only sinks with the faucets sitting on the counter. Your standard bathroom faucet / sink combination was a flat surface with a hole cut in it for the sink. The faucets themselves were one piece and to mount them they needed two standard-diameter holes (for cold and hot water) to be a fixed distance apart. Once the faucet standard was in place we basically got stuck with that configuration – especially when the metal sink included the mounting holes for the tap.

I think there would have been exceptions but they mostly would have been for high-end construction. Over time as the cost dropped for making non-standard fixtures, there would have been new offerings in the low-to-medium-end markets. Right now it’s very easy to find faucet combinations where the tap and the spout are physically separate. Most likely the popularity of under-mount sinks and natural stone countertops both contributed to this – it’s the customer who decides where the holes will be cut and one does not need the tap to be attached to the steel of the sink to make a proper seal. A leaky faucet mounted directly on a melamine-covered particleboard countertop will destroy it, natural stone is much more resilient.

What are you sinking about?

Ikea is selling a sink like this but they just missed the mark. They put the spout and handle holes on top of one another other instead of side by side. I could mount the spout on top but then you run into the problem described in the previous post where a blast of uncomfortable water hits your hands every time you use the sink, even when you don’t want to get your hands wet.

Sink vs. Faucet!

So what say you people, is this the way to go?