I Have a Genius Idea for Small Kitchens and No, I'm Not High

I moved a few months ago into an apartment that has one of those big vintage sinks with a drainboard on either side, and I have come to love it very much. What it lacks in storage it makes up for in ease of maintenance and general, reassuring sturdiness. This is a sink that has weathered many human joys and tragedies over the years—all the cut flowers and burned lasagnas that make up a life. It is chipped in places but who isn’t. Still it stands, ceramic arms wide, ready to welcome me and the various mugs I set down on it throughout the day.

And it occurred to me recently, as I was staring off in the direction of my wonderful sink, that it provides about as much counter space as some of the tiny apartment kitchens I’ve had in the past. Which is when my last two sad, beleaguered little brain cells looked at each other and said “aha!” We should just start making counters out of sink.

Bear with me here. In many large cities, small kitchens are the norm. In order to give a false sense that these kitchens are functional in any way, you will often find a deep but narrow sink placed in the middle of a laughable expanse of “countertop.” Neither the sink nor the counters really fulfill their obligations, in this arrangement, but you get a little of both so landlords get to call it a workspace.

What if, instead of small sink with a bit of counter, you just got a big sink that is also the counter? Isn’t that so much better? Like so.

There’s enough room for a cutting board or a coffee grinder or whatever else you might like to store and it’s all very easy to clean. Plus, if you stack dishes on one side they are still technically in the sink.

I will take my HGTV show now. Get in fucker we’re making counters out of sink.