Re: Midwest Memo - The Kitchen Sink

In this nostalgic op-ed on The Kitchen Sink, Alan Shultz waxes poetic on the old wall-hung porcelain sinks of his grandmother's day.

He also has derogatory things to say about stainless steel sinks and dishwashers and Kitchen designers...ahem.

"Today's kitchen designers want us all to pretend dirty hands and dirty dishes aren't the norm and so all such unpleasantries must be hidden away."

Surprisingly, I too pine for the old porcelainized cast iron sinks of yesteryear. Unfortunately they went the way of the sinks of Alan's childhood.

Back in the 1970's, in response to concerns about health and safety, the lead was taken out of the formulations for coating cast iron sinks. The results have been disastrous for the genre. Today's cast iron sinks lose their shiny finish in a few short years with typical care and are dull and uncleanable after that.

The sinks I recommend for most of my clients are Corian and other high quality solid surface sinks, 18 gauge high-nickel stainless, or fireclay. These sinks will last the lifetime that the old cast iron sinks used to last, and be carefree their entire lives.

Most other sinks break down early and are not suitable for mounting underneath countertops.

Alan also pines for the days when families did their dishes together after a meal:

"As wonderful as the dishwasher is, I wonder what we have all sacrificed in sparing generations of children from the tradition of washing and drying the dishes. What lessons have gone untaught, what revelations have stayed untold because this post meal gathering has been done away?

More likely SOMEONE was stuck doing the dishes while the rest of the family lolled in the living room watching TV! Those family dishwashing sessions were a figment of Procter and Gamble's dreams and television commercials. I KNOW. I was that SOMEONE in a previous life!

It was labor saving appliances that freed women from the drudgery of endless housework and allowed them to consider a life outside the kitchen (I got out of the kitchen to get into kitchens).

Methinks Alan is really pining for the days when his wife was under his thumb. Methinks also that my clients would be really upset with me if I recommended a product out of nostalgia when it wouldn't perform for them.

Peggy