The sink and tap are used more than anything else in a kitchen, and they are chosen last by most people, usually from a showroom display with nothing in it. That is backwards. The sink decides the size of the cabinet under it, whether the benchtop has to be cut and polished, how the tap is mounted, and what plumbing has to happen behind the wall.
Here is how to work through it in the right order: configuration, material, mounting, then tapware.
Bowl configuration
Single large bowl. The modern default in a kitchen with a dishwasher. A bowl around 450 to 550 millimetres wide takes an oven tray, a baking dish and a grill rack without an argument. If one bowl is all you have room for, make it a big one.
One and a half bowls. A full bowl plus a smaller one. Genuinely useful without a dishwasher, and useful as a parking spot for a colander or a defrosting dish. The small bowl is too small for most real washing up, so it only earns its space if you know how you would use it.
Double bowl. Two equal bowls suit washing and rinsing by hand, which fewer households do now. They take considerable bench length, and each bowl is narrower than one large bowl would be.
With or without a drainer. An integrated drainer board is handy and takes bench space. The alternative is a sink with no drainer and a roll-up mat or a tray, which keeps the bench clear when nothing is draining.
Depth. Around 200 millimetres is a good working depth. Deeper bowls hide dishes well and are harder on your back. Very shallow bowls splash.
Position in the run. A sink under a window is pleasant. A sink in an island looks good and converts the island into a wet zone, which means the bench you wanted clear for serving now has dishes on it. There is a reason many people move the sink off the island and onto the back run.
Sink materials
Stainless steel. The workhorse and still the most practical. Light, heat tolerant, repairable, and it will not chip. Look at the gauge — a thicker sink sounds and feels better and dents less — and at whether there is sound-deadening pad on the underside, which makes a real difference in an open-plan room. A brushed or satin finish hides surface marks far better than a mirror polish. Available in topmount, undermount and flush.
Granite or quartz composite. Moulded from mineral and resin, in matte colours including black, grey and white. Warm to the touch, quiet, and very resistant to staining if cleaned sensibly. Harder to repair than stainless if it chips, and very hot pans straight from the cooktop are not a good idea.
Fireclay or ceramic. Glazed and traditional, and the usual choice for a farmhouse or apron-front sink. Beautiful, heavy enough to need proper cabinet support, and it will chip if a heavy pot is dropped in it. The glaze itself is extremely durable.
Brass, copper and coloured stainless. A design decision. Living finishes change appearance over time, which is either the point or a problem depending on who you ask.
Integrated. Some solid surface benchtops allow a bowl to be moulded or seamlessly joined so there is no rim and no join at all. The easiest surface in a kitchen to clean, and tied to that benchtop material.
Mounting: topmount, undermount or flush
Topmount (or drop-in). The sink sits on the benchtop with its rim visible. The cheapest to install, works with any benchtop material including laminate, and can usually be replaced later without touching the bench. The rim collects crumbs and the silicone line around it needs occasional attention.
Undermount. The sink is fixed below the benchtop, so the surface runs straight over the edge of the bowl and you can wipe everything into it. Requires the benchtop to be cut, polished and sealed around the opening, which rules out standard laminate and adds fabrication cost. The cleanest option day to day.
Flush mount. The sink is set into a recess so its rim sits level with the benchtop. The most precise fabrication and the most expensive. Looks exceptional in stone or porcelain.
Apron front. The front of the sink is exposed and forms part of the cabinetry face, so the cabinet below has to be purpose built. A design-led choice that has to be decided before joinery is made, not after.
The mounting decision has to be made before the benchtop is templated. It is not an accessory choice.
What happens under the sink
The sink cabinet is the most crowded cupboard in the kitchen and it deserves thought. It carries the waste trap and sometimes a dishwasher connection, often a water filter cartridge, occasionally an instant-boiling water unit with its own tank, plus bins, cleaning products and a mixer tap tail.
Two practical consequences. First, a deep bowl plus a filter unit plus a bin drawer will not all fit, so pick two. Second, every device under there needs an isolation valve you can actually reach, because the day you need it will not be a convenient one.
Tapware
Mixer height and reach. A tall gooseneck mixer gives clearance to fill a stockpot. Under a window, check the spout clears the sill and that the handle does not foul the glass. The spout should reach over the bowl properly — ideally to the middle of it — rather than dribbling down the back.
Pull-out or pull-down spray. The single most useful upgrade in a working kitchen. Rinsing the bowl, filling a pot on the bench and washing vegetables all get easier. The hose and weight need room to retract cleanly under the sink.
Single lever or two handles. A single lever is faster and easier with wet or full hands. Two handles are a style decision.
Finish. Chrome is the most durable and the easiest to live with. Brushed nickel and stainless hide water marks well. Matte black and brass look striking and show marks and wear more readily, especially in hard water. Check the warranty on the finish, not just on the body.
Water pressure and flow. Tapware is rated for a pressure range, and very high mains pressure can be noisy or shorten the life of a cartridge. Taps also carry a water efficiency rating, and a lower flow rate is less noticeable at a kitchen sink than people assume.
Filtered water taps. Either a separate small tap or a three-way mixer that delivers filtered water through the main spout. Both need an under-bench cartridge, space for it, and a maintenance habit.
Instant boiling and chilled units. Convenient and genuinely space-saving if it retires the kettle. They need a dedicated power point under the bench, a tank, and a safety-interlocked tap. Decide early because the cabinet has to accommodate the unit.
Pot filler and secondary taps. A wall-mounted filler near the cooktop is a luxury that needs plumbing in the wall behind it, so it is a design-stage decision only.
The order to decide things
Bowl configuration and size first, because it sets the cabinet. Then the material. Then the mounting method, because that goes to the benchtop fabricator. Then the tap, its hole position and any under-bench units, because those go to the plumber and the cabinetmaker at the same time.
Get those four in that order and nothing has to be re-cut.
Where to next
Mounting method, tap holes and the cut-out all belong to the benchtop stage — see benchtops and splashbacks for how the material choice and the sink decision interact.
For planning bands and how fittings sit as their own itemised lines, see the kitchen renovation cost guide.
Questions people ask before they commit
One big bowl or a bowl and a half?
If you have a dishwasher and you wash large items by hand, a single large bowl is usually the better choice because oven trays and racks actually fit in it. A bowl and a half earns its keep where there is no dishwasher, or where you want somewhere to park a colander while the main bowl stays clear.
Is undermount worth the extra cost?
For wiping the bench straight into the bowl, yes, and it looks cleaner. It costs more because the benchtop has to be cut, polished and sealed around the opening, and it is not available with every benchtop material. A good quality topmount sink in a laminate top is still a perfectly sensible kitchen.
Do stainless sinks scratch?
They develop a fine patina of surface marks, which on a brushed finish blends in and on a mirror finish does not. It is wear rather than damage. Grid protectors reduce it, and a scratch in stainless can be blended far more easily than a chip in a composite sink.
Are filtered water taps worth installing?
If you currently buy bottled water or run a filter jug, yes. They need under-bench space for the cartridge and a reachable isolation valve, and the cartridge has to be changed on schedule or the filter becomes the problem it was meant to solve.
Can I move the sink to a different position?
Supply is usually straightforward. The waste line is the constraint, because it needs continuous fall to the connection point, and in a slab-on-ground home the available fall is limited and the pipe route is largely fixed. It is the first thing to check before committing to a new sink position.