Get ready for the new kitchen sinks! No longer are you destined to select a new sink from the old standbys of your mother’s day. Styles and Colors have changed!

Kohler – Woodfield® in Biscuit

Style

Kohler, a major US plumbing manufacturer, recently engaged in a study on what people really want today in a kitchen sink. The results are a new stunningly, functional sink. Through their research, Kohler discovered that sink users very rarely filled the sink to the top with water. And that meant that the traditional sink with a full height bowl divider was no longer needed as a full-height water divider. Based on this data, they developed the Smart Divide® Sink. You still get two separate sink bowls, but your functionality is greatly improved.

Deerfield® Smart Divide® self-rimming kitchen sink

With a Smart Divide® style sink, a low- profile divider (about half the height of conventional double-basin sinks) increases the clearance between faucet and divider, making it easier to fit large items in the bases. It increases the ability to transfer large items between basins and minimizes splashing by containing water lower in the basin. You can now fit a cookie sheet or large frying pan in a sink with divided bowls, if it is a Smart Divide® sink design. You can have both – the functionality of a divided sink with the size and ease of a large sink bowl sink.
Originally, Kohler rolled out the launch of their new sink with the cast iron sinks in both under counter mount and self-rimming styles. This summer, they are manufacturing their new sink design in stainless steel as well. And Kohler is not the only company. Elkay, America’s number one selling stainless sink company, also launched a low mid-divide sink earlier this year in both their Gourmet Series and Avado Series.

Elkay Gourmet Series Apron Sink

Color

Color has exploded on the scene in a very spectacular way. Not only are there more colors in china and porcelain sinks especially with the new neutrals, Kohler’s cast iron is now offering new color designs to tempt everyone to want a new kitchen designed around their sink.
Unless you were willing to step into the risky world of color, your options for a kitchen sink color tended towards: white, biscuit, almond or stainless steel. Today you have the new neutrals including even more shades of subtle color: Ice Grey™ and Sand Bar are two new kitchen neutral colors from Kohler (with many more subtle neutrals now available in bathroom sinks & tubs). And most exciting, is what I call their new “crackle” color series, Kohler labels it their Dimensional™ Enamel. Colors include Cane Sugar™, Sea Salt™, Frost, Basalt and Black ‘n Tan. Now available in cast iron sinks, these neutral based colors have a three-dimensional glistening crackle and although smooth to the touch, they give off a hint of texture. Once you see a Dimensional™ Enamel color in person, you will fall in love with the sink that appears to be made of stone.

Kohler – Dimensional™ Enamel “Frost” Carrizo®

From my design perspective, the new colors of Kohler combined with their Smart Divide® styling have definitely redefined the kitchen sink. You truly can have a functional and stunning sink around which to build your new kitchen! And who ever thought of designing a kitchen around a sink?