sinks

Refrigeration sink puts the chill on your drink

Coming to the kitchen as what appears to be the first of its kind, this contraption keeps drinks cold when you're nowhere near the icebox.

The sink, designed by Meneghini, uses either air or water refrigeration to cool beverages and snacks. All you do is press a button, and a compressor that sits in the bottom of the sink pushes cold water or air through the perforated disk that sits underneath your refreshments.

The sink has specially designed metal fixtures that act as bottle rests and a center peg that can be used as a platform for a plate … Read more

Granite sink cleans up effortlessly

If you're the trendsetter in your neighborhood, then you should be the first to upgrade your sink to the new SILGRANIT II from Blanco. As the name suggests, it's a granite composite sink--a blend of 80 percent natural granite and 20 percent acrylic resin (with ceramic components). What does that mean for you? Oh, just that it's easy to clean and the most scratch-resistant sink on the market.

The sink is also heat-resistant to more than 500 degrees, so you can put pans fresh from the stove straight into the sink without worrying.

Currently offered in five … Read more

Organize your kitchen cleanup

If you're like me, you like to follow the old adage "a place for everything and everything in its place." If you look in my kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, or office, you'll find each to have their own unique organization schemes.

People tell me that I have this tendency because I'm a Virgo, which I heartily accept (since the alternative names for it are less flattering). Whatever your name for it, I think we can all agree that organization makes cooking and cleaning a whole lot more efficient.

Among the many things I like to keep … Read more

An overmount sink with a flushmount look

If you like kitchen gadgets, you're probably the kind of person who dreams of a fabulous kitchen. Granite countertops, stainless steel appliances quietly gleaming, wide expanses of space, waiting to be filled with food and the tools needed to make it.

How much thought do you give to the sink in your kitchen? It's a small thing, sure, but it can make a real difference. That old, once-white porcelain is impossible to scrub clean. Stainless steel looks better, but that telltale rim can mess with the lines you're going for.

Flushmount sinks look great in the kitchen, … Read more

Ready, aim, pour

Meet a faucet that assigns a whole new meaning to the phrase "bent out of shape."

The Kohler Karbon Articulating Kitchen Faucet is something like a hybrid between your standard, kitchen, spray nozzle and an elegant, metal faucet spout. It's made out of a series of solid pieces, each connected by an articulating joint. The result is a faucet that can move into any position and then stay put.

Wouldn't ever need such an adjustable faucet, you say? I'm living proof that we dlo: I put a water filter on my faucet that has now … Read more

Hands-free faucet adapter

With a family of six, I cook every night of the week. This means I get plenty of practice, but it doesn't necessarily mean I learn from my mistakes. In particular, I frequently find myself with my hands full of raw meat exactly when I suddenly need something from the pantry. So, I put the meat down, head to the sink, and with my contaminated fingers, turn the knob to wash my hands. Now my whole faucet is covered in raw meat germs--just one more thing to worry about and to decontaminate when I clean up.

The EZ Faucet Pro … Read more

SinkTop Switch delivers what it promises

Every time I try to turn on my garbage disposal, I first turn on the light over the kitchen sink. The two switches are right next to each other, and no matter how many times I make the mistake, I still can't remember which is which. I suppose I could label the switches, but that would destroy the minimalist look I love. Plus, I'd have to make a label, and that's just too much effort.

Far easier, at least for me, to tell my husband to install the InSinkErator SinkTop Switch. It mounts on the counter or … Read more

A sink your sous chef will thank you for

Just when I thought we had run out of ways to eliminate the need for us to do the dirty work in the kitchen, I stumbled into the completely foreign land of the prep sink. Until seeing the Kohler Crevasse Prep Sink and its cousins, I was under the impression that a kitchen sink is a singular, possibly double-basined place for all rinsing, draining, disposing, and soaking needs, with some allowance for shapes and colors.

Not so, apparently. I should preface the following post by explaining how I currently deal with my food scraps. Living in New York in an … Read more

Kitchen a la carte

The thing about good kitchen appliances is that they aren't very easy to move. You can't rearrange your kitchen on a whim, no matter what you do to the living room. And taking a stove with you when you move requires more effort than the stove is probably worth. But Stadtnomaden, a German carpentry firm offer their kitchen appliances A La Carte. You can order what look like dressers: cubes that are lightweight, easy to move and have a simple design that can fit anywhere. Depending on your choices, your cubes come with a sink, an oven and … Read more

Arwa faucet wins 'best of the best' award

This elegant Arwa kitchen faucet, not to be mistaken for a snake about to pounce, caught the eye of the red dot design competition judges this year, winning a coveted "best of the best" product award. (Just 50 entries received that honor in the 2008 product design competition, which is one of the biggest and most prestigious. There were a total of 3,203 entries this year from 51 countries.)

The Arwa-Twinflex is made by Swiss kitchen and bathroom specialist Arwa.

While the base of the faucet has a chrome finish, the PVC sheath, which fits over the … Read more