Husbandly unit and I have differing views on the washing up bowl situation. I favour your perspective, Jane. He, resolutely, eschews them. But he bows to my insistence on a stainless steel sink unit - not for me a Belfast sink that looks cool only on initial installation. I’m wedded to my stainless steel - easy to keep clean, looks as good as it did the day it was put in. Despite having a dishwasher, I still quite like a bit of washing up, looking out into the garden and letting my mind wander. I don’t, however, miss being flicked by the end of a tea towel expertly wielded by one of my brothers when I was a child and they were tea towel adept teenage warriors! That said, I did show my own boys how to do it when they were younger and fighting over the washing up….
Without a bowl, how would you make a tiny pond for a toddler to sail a few ducks, while you shell peas, from newspaper into colander - help, my mother just took charge of the keyboard...
So agree about the need for a washing up bowl. I have a square Joseph Joseph bowl with side handles and a twistable plug in the bottom so it drains easily and it gets used a lot. I bought it in a branch of T K Maxx, thought it was quite dear at a tenner but have just looked at the maker’s website and it’s still available - but it’s £35! Ouch! Love the images and the Peepo kitchen is delightful, so much detail.
I look forward to reading your column every Sunday. Together with Jay Rayner’s food reviews in the weekend FT, Tim Dowling in Saturday’s Guardian, Chris Riddell and Andrew Rawnsley in the Observer, I’m set up for the weekend!
Delightful article,love all the images you have used and felt especially emotional seeing the Peepo kitchen…my favourite children’s book..still can’t part with our copy….plus the ritual of the washing up with my brother!….and l too absolutely have to have a washing up bowl…ahh nostalgia…🌺
I didn’t realise how much I loved sinks till I read this piece. Great pics. I hope you do another book along the lines of The Gentle Art of Domesticity using some of these great Substack pieces. I know you love Scandi stuff: do you know the writings of Hans Rosling? He’s got some great info on life in Sweden in early 20th century. His Factfulness is a favourite of mine. You’ll find his memoir on BBC Sounds. Plumbing, access to water, attitudes to birth control. All fascinating.
Normann Copenhagen does a very nice rubber bowl in a choice of colours, which comes with a wooden brush. Not cheap, but very good for protecting precious glass and china. It can be recycled into mudguards for your bike too.
I’ve got a Normann bowl too, I love it. Aesthetically it’s very pleasing although its rubbery softness can make it a bit awkward to move it somewhere, eg over to the fridge when cleaning the fridge.
I'm firmly in the washing-up bowl camp, not least because with only a small single sink, where do you pour the tea and coffee dregs without one? I also have one with a plug, from Lakeland, I think, but the plug broke not long after purchase so it's really just a regular bowl now.
I love that Rosamund Ross painting - I can almost smell that big yellow institutional soap - much too big to get your hands round comfortably.
Love this paean to the kitchen sink! For years I felt that I 'should' have a dishwasher - until I realised a) I don't have a crowd to clean up after, b) I prefer washing up to loading and unloading a dishwasher, and c) you still have to wash things up anyway! Plus, I read somewhere that doing the washing up, especially if you can look through a window from time to time as you're doing it, is an excellent aid to digestion.
On washing-up bowls - I grew up with them so for me they were a no-brainer, until shuddering husband vetoed them on grounds of aesthetics and hygiene. (Is it a Northern/Southern thing?)
On stainless steel vs butlers - butler sinks are on the checklist of must-haves along with log burners, plantation shutters and bifold doors (tho currently on the slide I'm told). And they're much more insta-appropriate if you're flogging a dream of the good life as represented by a sinkful of earthy veg or casually strewn blooms. But they're impractical in terms of their depth, cleanability and inhospitable attitude to glass and china. So stainless steel for me.
I really like your article this week. We recently had our kitchen cabinets replaced and I spent hours on the net finding a large single sink, not a double one, which I love. Well worth it. You can get plastic bowls from the local hardware shop but you’re right, young people don’t use them. I hate it when people do the washing up under the tap, my own family included, yet everyone goes on about wasting resources! Rant over.
I love how you take the most mundane item and deliver such an interesting read! Who knew sinks could be so fascinating!Always had a washing up bowl and never had a problem finding one. I think the current one came from The Range and is possibly an Addis?
And anyone who hasn’t already done so - do visit John & Paul’s childhood homes via the National Trust if possible. Went years ago & absolutely loved it.
Yes agree, they are wonderful to visit. I thought visitors were only allowed if they promised not to take photos though, so I wonder how these images were acquired.
At some point, about 6 or 7 years ago, I stopped using a washing up bowl, which it seems, makes me fashionable. But prompted by this article, I’ve been unable to recall why I dispatched it, which is a little disconcerting!
What I can recall, is that I watched Jeanne Dielman last year, admittedly in three instalments. There are long, long scenes of her washing up with her back to the camera which are meditative. I thought it was a fantastic film. For weeks after, I couldn’t wash up or make myself a coffee without imagining I was her.
Yes, a washing up bowl is a must…my daughters think it’s hideous. I’m going to look for a more stylish one though, didn’t realise they existed. All my granchildren were bathed in my big, stainless steel kitchen sink.
I bought a new washing up bowl just this week! It was in Aldi of all places, and by Minky - the same design as the Joseph and Joseph washing up bowl (which I didn't know about until reading the comments here) with the twist plug in the bottom, so you can drain the water without having to heave the bowl onto it's side. It was £6!
Husbandly unit and I have differing views on the washing up bowl situation. I favour your perspective, Jane. He, resolutely, eschews them. But he bows to my insistence on a stainless steel sink unit - not for me a Belfast sink that looks cool only on initial installation. I’m wedded to my stainless steel - easy to keep clean, looks as good as it did the day it was put in. Despite having a dishwasher, I still quite like a bit of washing up, looking out into the garden and letting my mind wander. I don’t, however, miss being flicked by the end of a tea towel expertly wielded by one of my brothers when I was a child and they were tea towel adept teenage warriors! That said, I did show my own boys how to do it when they were younger and fighting over the washing up….
Without a bowl, how would you make a tiny pond for a toddler to sail a few ducks, while you shell peas, from newspaper into colander - help, my mother just took charge of the keyboard...
So agree about the need for a washing up bowl. I have a square Joseph Joseph bowl with side handles and a twistable plug in the bottom so it drains easily and it gets used a lot. I bought it in a branch of T K Maxx, thought it was quite dear at a tenner but have just looked at the maker’s website and it’s still available - but it’s £35! Ouch! Love the images and the Peepo kitchen is delightful, so much detail.
I look forward to reading your column every Sunday. Together with Jay Rayner’s food reviews in the weekend FT, Tim Dowling in Saturday’s Guardian, Chris Riddell and Andrew Rawnsley in the Observer, I’m set up for the weekend!
Delightful article,love all the images you have used and felt especially emotional seeing the Peepo kitchen…my favourite children’s book..still can’t part with our copy….plus the ritual of the washing up with my brother!….and l too absolutely have to have a washing up bowl…ahh nostalgia…🌺
I didn’t realise how much I loved sinks till I read this piece. Great pics. I hope you do another book along the lines of The Gentle Art of Domesticity using some of these great Substack pieces. I know you love Scandi stuff: do you know the writings of Hans Rosling? He’s got some great info on life in Sweden in early 20th century. His Factfulness is a favourite of mine. You’ll find his memoir on BBC Sounds. Plumbing, access to water, attitudes to birth control. All fascinating.
Normann Copenhagen does a very nice rubber bowl in a choice of colours, which comes with a wooden brush. Not cheap, but very good for protecting precious glass and china. It can be recycled into mudguards for your bike too.
I’ve got a Normann bowl too, I love it. Aesthetically it’s very pleasing although its rubbery softness can make it a bit awkward to move it somewhere, eg over to the fridge when cleaning the fridge.
Very true! It’s not great as a bucket. :)
I'm firmly in the washing-up bowl camp, not least because with only a small single sink, where do you pour the tea and coffee dregs without one? I also have one with a plug, from Lakeland, I think, but the plug broke not long after purchase so it's really just a regular bowl now.
I love that Rosamund Ross painting - I can almost smell that big yellow institutional soap - much too big to get your hands round comfortably.
Love this paean to the kitchen sink! For years I felt that I 'should' have a dishwasher - until I realised a) I don't have a crowd to clean up after, b) I prefer washing up to loading and unloading a dishwasher, and c) you still have to wash things up anyway! Plus, I read somewhere that doing the washing up, especially if you can look through a window from time to time as you're doing it, is an excellent aid to digestion.
On washing-up bowls - I grew up with them so for me they were a no-brainer, until shuddering husband vetoed them on grounds of aesthetics and hygiene. (Is it a Northern/Southern thing?)
On stainless steel vs butlers - butler sinks are on the checklist of must-haves along with log burners, plantation shutters and bifold doors (tho currently on the slide I'm told). And they're much more insta-appropriate if you're flogging a dream of the good life as represented by a sinkful of earthy veg or casually strewn blooms. But they're impractical in terms of their depth, cleanability and inhospitable attitude to glass and china. So stainless steel for me.
I really like your article this week. We recently had our kitchen cabinets replaced and I spent hours on the net finding a large single sink, not a double one, which I love. Well worth it. You can get plastic bowls from the local hardware shop but you’re right, young people don’t use them. I hate it when people do the washing up under the tap, my own family included, yet everyone goes on about wasting resources! Rant over.
I love how you take the most mundane item and deliver such an interesting read! Who knew sinks could be so fascinating!Always had a washing up bowl and never had a problem finding one. I think the current one came from The Range and is possibly an Addis?
And there is a whole other essay on what is underneath the kitchen sink!
Wonderful!
And anyone who hasn’t already done so - do visit John & Paul’s childhood homes via the National Trust if possible. Went years ago & absolutely loved it.
Yes agree, they are wonderful to visit. I thought visitors were only allowed if they promised not to take photos though, so I wonder how these images were acquired.
At some point, about 6 or 7 years ago, I stopped using a washing up bowl, which it seems, makes me fashionable. But prompted by this article, I’ve been unable to recall why I dispatched it, which is a little disconcerting!
What I can recall, is that I watched Jeanne Dielman last year, admittedly in three instalments. There are long, long scenes of her washing up with her back to the camera which are meditative. I thought it was a fantastic film. For weeks after, I couldn’t wash up or make myself a coffee without imagining I was her.
We’ve seen it too, also watched in three instalments.
Yes, a washing up bowl is a must…my daughters think it’s hideous. I’m going to look for a more stylish one though, didn’t realise they existed. All my granchildren were bathed in my big, stainless steel kitchen sink.
I bought a new washing up bowl just this week! It was in Aldi of all places, and by Minky - the same design as the Joseph and Joseph washing up bowl (which I didn't know about until reading the comments here) with the twist plug in the bottom, so you can drain the water without having to heave the bowl onto it's side. It was £6!
Sorry to say I buy my bright red washing up bowls online!