...the Kitchen Sink!

You knew there had to be one.

Or five, actually. One of the things we learned about restaurant health codes is that you need five -- count 'em, five -- sinks in a foodservice kitchen.

• One for washing dishes
• One for rinsing dishes
• One for sanitizing (bleaching) dishes
• One for washing your hands, and finally...
• One for washing vegetables and other food

Five freakin' sinks. In one kitchen. The first three are usually combined into a triple-basin sink. The other two stand separately, but the hand-washing sink has to be within 10 feet of the stovetop/oven. I think the idea is that it should be easy to reach and you won't be tempted to simply wash your hands in the dishwashing sink.

Oh, and the three dish-washing sinks all have to be large enough to submerge the largest pot, pan, or utensil in your kitchen. In our case, that means washing a full-size sheet pan, so an 18" minimum was required.

Regulations also require two drain boards, one on each side of the sink, as sanitary places to set dishes. But since our kitchen wall is pretty short -- and we've got to make room for five freakin' sinks -- the health inspector gave us a waiver and allowed us to get away with only one drain board, as long as we promise to set the dirty dishes somewhere else. I held my hand over my heart and promised.

The triple sink got delivered on New Year's Eve, which I feel sure was the highlight of the truck driver's afternoon. Ironically, even though the sink is pretty small and light, it didn't fit through the door! Or more accurately, its box didn't fit, so Kathy and I unboxed it on the back porch and wrestled the stainless steel beast into the kitchen.

I haven't plumbed it in yet -- there's some dispute over the regulations regarding air gaps, grease traps, and drainage. Once that gets settled, we'll hook this baby up and have a working kitchen!