I have made up my mind, and despite the more popular option, have chosen to go for the double bowl........based on how I use them. currently , I have a double farmhouse kitchen, with no drainers. Our habit has been to stack dirty dishes to the bench on one side, wash in the first bowl, then drain in the second. (I only wash the big pots and pans...everything else in dishwasher-but we are a family who likes to cook and bake, so there are still usually lots to handwash) since my demolition started, I have lost the bench where we normally stack. so we now stack in one side, wash in the other, and then drain in a plastic tub on the other bench. we always dry the dishes straight away, and after 10 years of doing it the other way...I much prefer this new way. the dirty dishes are hidden from view, instead of being stacked on the bench. and, as we will be gaining an island bench, I will be getting more benchspace anyway. thanks for everyones input......it was really helpful . heading down to order it tomorrow.

She's in Newcastle, but you could try Sandra Lee Brown, you'll find her on Facebook at Paisley's on Harrison

Re the asbestos thing (and don't take this as pro advice...cos I aint) but if it looks like, quacks like it then it MIGHT be it. I thought I had asbestos walls (cos everyone said "it might be asbestos"...similar to some kid who may have been Jake Gyllenall saying to Arnie "it might be a toomore"). My walls were not asbestos. However I did find out that you can remove a certain square meterage of asbestos (depending on state boundaries) without have expert (very expensive) assistance (check the state rules). If it "might be" then be careful. As you are tiling over (therefor not cutting, grinding, messing about with?) then stay cool and tile to your tile glue's content!

Different strokes for different folks, as they say. We have a butlers pantry, smallish, with a sink in it. The pantry has become effectively a walk-in pantry, with storage, a wine fridge and the toaster and microwave. It's very useful, but we almost never use the sink because there isn't enough practical counterspace and because, well, who wants to do dishes in a closet? We also have an island, with a single basin sink in it, and of course the dishwasher. That's where we do prep, and it works just fine for us. We can watch TV while pealing spuds or washing those dishes that don't go into the dishwasher. Even with the sink, there's still plenty of prep space, and we have a good work triangle between sink, oven on the wall directly behind it, and fridge, oven and pantry on the end wall. In practical terms, the arrangement works for us. When we entertain, we clean up and load the dishwasher as we go, dump the pots and pans in the butler's pantry, wipe off the bench, and we're good to go. And since it's only a single basin undermount sink, the look is clean enough for us.