Circling the Drain

When my old sink stoppers became grody, I decided it was time to modernize with newer, better, redesigned stoppers for a mere $1.99 each. The first set were mesh baskets, which seemed while shopping to be a good idea; however, there was no “plug” mechanism included with the basket and the mesh rusted within the first week of use. Money down the drain, so to speak.

Next came a set of sink stoppers that would not allow the water to drain from the sink unless the stopper was removed, retailing at $3.49 apiece. The purpose of the sink stopper basket is to catch the fall-off from the dinner dishes so it can be sent to the trash bin, not allowed to go down the drain with the water. No, I don’t have an in-sink eradicator and, if I had my way, the auto dishwasher would also be gone from my kitchen. This set of stoppers had just one setting: plug the sink. I went in quest of a sink stopper that both plugged the sink drain and also allowed the water to drain without removing the stopper basket.

The third set of stoppers were chrome plated, but more substantial than set #2, and I made sure there were options for stopping and draining before I bought these pricey pieces of drain equipment at $5.49 each. Yep, they stop up the sink, but only allow a trickle of water to actually drain without some manual interference in the process. Thus, the sink fills up with water as I use it to rinse dishes, rather than allowing the water to drain continually. There is not enough clearance between the basket, the stopper and the drain for dual stopper action during use, which seems weird, but that’s the way it is.

How hard is it to make a drain stopper that works? I wish I had kept the old, grody sink stoppers because they not only plugged the sink for the big dish jobs, but they allowed the water to drain from the sink when I was finished cleaning dishes. I am an unhappy kitchen kamper who wishes she could find stoppers that plug the sink and allow it to drain without removing the stopper!~!