8 Accessories that Enhance the Function of Your Farmhouse Sink

Farmhouse sinks are deep, rectangular, and rewarding to work with. In a farmhouse sink, you can do an entire load of dishes by hand or prepare a feast in washed vegetables. Farmhouse sinks are ideal for thawing large quantities of frozen food, cleaning large objects, filling buckets, or even conducting fun at-home science experiments. The deep basin gives you plenty of room and the right faucet makes it easy to get the maximum use from your space whether you're washing many objects or something very large.

Farmhouse sinks can be used for baby baths and pet wash stations. They can be used to soak irascible dishes, marinate a large quantity of meat, or they can be filled with ice and used as a party cooler. Of course, to make the best use of your farmhouse sink, you need accessories. That deep basin can achieve ever-more functions when equipped with helpful permanent and temporary additional features.

Let's dive into the eight most useful sink accessories to increase the benefits of your kitchen's farmhouse sink.

1) Pot-Filler Style Faucet

A deep sink deserves a faucet designed for deep tasks. Pot-filler faucets arc high above the sink and swivel so that they can extend over pots or release large pots from the sink. Pot-filler faucets make it easy to fill a pasta pot, a mopping bucket, or to clear the sink space entirely to work with a sink-load of warm water instead. 

Compared to traditional faucets, a pot-filler design is ideal for a farmhouse sink because it enhances the versatility of the great size. You can tackle even larger projects with a pot-filler faucet as the faucet accommodates taller objects and can swivel out of the way if the faucet itself is not needed. These faucets also tend to be elegant and complementary to a modern mixed-metal kitchen design.

2) Faucet Sprayer Hose

The sprayer hose is an essential part of modern sink design. It can be attached at the side of your faucet or extend from the tip of your pot-filler fixture. In many kitchen sinks, the faucet sprayer and hose are too powerful and splash water out of the basin over everything. But in a farmhouse sink, the sprayer hose is ideal for both cleaning the sink and heavy-duty cleaning jobs within.

The deep basin of a farmhouse sink can capture the spray and make it more useful by preventing the back-splash mess of shallower sinks. The sprayer is also your ideal tool for cleaning the bottom of a farmhouse sink that sports a sink grid. Want to know more? Check out our blog post about choosing the perfect faucet. 

3) Inner Sink Grid

A sink grid is a cross-hatch of rigid steel or copper wires that forms a grate along the bottom of your sink. With little rubber 'feet' at the edges, the sink grid sits lightly in the lower section of the sink, just above the sink floor, and helps to protect the sink over time. The grid can prevent pots and pan bottoms from scraping your sink finish and helps to stop small objects from getting lost near the sink or falling into the drain.

Because farmhouse sinks are so large, a sink grid can become an essential tool in helping to keep the sink clean, unscratched, and easy to maintain. It can also double as a dish rack if the wires are conveniently arranged.

4) Dish Drying Rack

Many people love their farmhouse sink for its capacity to handle dishes. A traditional sink with one compartment is capable of soaking two or three meals (or one large feast) worth of dishes and the cooking pans at the same time. With two farmhouse-deep basins, you can soak and scrub in one compartment and rinse in the other before docking your dishes in a drying rack.

To that end, you may want a drying rack. Farmhouse sinks are a great substitute or addition to a household dishwasher but when those dishes come out clean, they'll need somewhere to dry. You can find a number of drying racks designed to sit beside a deep-basin sink that can fit well into your counterspace. There are even a few drying racks designed to mount over the top of a large farmhouse sink.

5) Dish Brush and Sponge Organizer

A new sink tends to be featureless, but you can add features. Every sink needs a few supplies that are often used by those standing at the sink. Sponges, dish soap, scrub brushes, rags, and other washing tools are commonly kept by the sink but create a mess when spread over the counter. Often, we find homeowners have attached a suction-cup or faucet-hooked organizer to the back and inside of the sink.

A small basket just under the faucet or on the inner side of your sink is the perfect way to keep your sponges and scrub-brushes safe, at-hand, and free of puddles. Hooks on the underside of your organizer can give you a place to hang dish brushes and scrubs so they are dry when you need them.

6) Sink-Mounted Soap Dispenser

It's easy to get tired of constantly juggling soap bottles around the sink, and you don't have to. A farmhouse sink is large enough that you can install one, two, or even three mounted soap dispensers for different types of soap used in the kitchen. A mounted soap dispenser can emit from the counter like a faucet handle or you can install it over the side of your sink for convenience.

One soap dispenser should be for dish soap used in hand-washing dishes and the kitchen at large. The second, if you double-up, can be a gentle hand soap so that kitchen hand-washing is easier on the skin. The third might be for a specialty soap, glass cleaner, or even your favorite sink polishing solution to keep your farmhouse sink looking pristine as the day it was installed.

7) Colander Trays

Sinks and colanders always go together. Where there are fresh vegetables, there is a need to rinse them before preparing for a meal. Whether you're prepping fresh salads or cooked stir-frys, a healthy home rinses a lot of produce. In a farmhouse sink, you could just hold your colander under the faucet, but there are also more fun and convenient ways to make use of your kitchen assets.

Colander trays are multi-compartment trays designed to mount onto the sides of a farmhouse sink. Each compartment contains a colander section for a different type of fruit or vegetable. Then the faucet or sprayer hose can be used to rinse all your produce at once, then serves as a handy tray for grabbing those rinsed veggies and fruits as you need them.

8) Sink-Fitting Butcher Block

Finally, don't forget an extra space for a cutting board. Just as the colander tray can turn your sink into a rinsing and produce-sorting station, the right size and cut of butcher block can turn your sink into a handy cutting station.

Wide farmhouse sinks are great as secondary workstations. While you could pull down a countertop-like cover, why not double up on function? A butcher block can cover your entire sink, or only cover half leaving you with both cutting and washing access. A cutting board mounted over the sink drops scraps more safely, rinses more quickly, and makes excellent use of your kitchen prep space.

Is your farmhouse sink design optimized with all the accessories you'll want or need? Contact us to consult on your plans to install, update, or replace your home's farmhouse sink today! We look forward to helping you perfect your kitchen design.