Who Actually Invented the Workstation Sink? Here Is the Documented Timeline

For years, I have watched other companies tell their own version of how the workstation sink came to be. I have never spent much time correcting the record publicly, because I have always believed the work speaks for itself. But I recently came across something worth sharing because it settles a question I get asked often: who actually built the first workstation sink?

I am not going to ask you to take my word for it. I am going to show you the paperwork and tell you exactly where to verify the rest yourself.

The Original Invoice For The First Workstation Custom Sink

Attached to this post is an invoice from Rachiele®, dated October 28, 2010. It documents a paid order for a textured stainless apron front sink, 33 inches by 20.5 inches by 7.5 inches, with a right rear drain and a 5/8 inch lip. The sink was built with interior steps set 2 inches down from the rim, front and back, engineered specifically to hold a cutting board and other accessories at a working height inside the basin.

Rachiele® invoice dated October 28, 2010, documenting the original two-step ledge design built into this workstation sink

That ledge system, steps built into the sink itself so that a cutting board or accessory sits in the bowl and functions as part of the workspace, is the defining feature of what the industry now calls a workstation sink. It is not a lip. It is not a coincidence of geometry. It was designed and built that way, on purpose, in 2010. The only change between that sink and what we build today is that our ledge depth has been refined from 2 inches down to 1 inch on apron front sinks.

The customer who purchased that sink and assisted with the design, ordered it without accessories at first, and added his own cutting board later, which is common. The photo he sent us, taken that Christmas of 2010, shows the sink with with his lifetime transferable warranty paperwork in the bowl.

Photo sent by the customer, taken that Christmas after his sink was delivered

What You Can Verify Yourself

I am not going to reproduce anyone else's website content here. Instead, I will tell you exactly how to check this yourself, in about two minutes.

Go to web.archive.org. Type in thegalley.com. Select a capture from May 15, 2016. Read the opening paragraph of their home page as it existed that day.

What you will find is their own account of their own history: that in 2011, a kitchen designer named Roger Shollmier had the idea for what became The Galley Workstation, and that he built the first one for his own kitchen before building a few more for friends and clients.

I want to be clear about what I am and am not claiming. I am not disputing that Roger Shollmier had his own idea in 2011, or that he built something meaningful that a lot of people have come to love. What I am pointing out is simple: a paid, dated invoice for an integrated-step workstation sink from Rachiele®, October 2010, predates that account by roughly a year, according to their own words on their own site.

Why This Matters to Me

I have never patented the original workstation sink concept, even though we hold close to ten patents on refinements and related designs since. I made that decision on purpose. I felt the idea was too useful to lock behind a patent that would have limited it to the roughly 300 families we build for each year. I would rather the idea spread and help people cook better, even if that meant other companies would eventually build their own versions of it.

What I do care about is the story getting told accurately. The design philosophy behind that 2010 sink is the same one that guides every sink we build today: a real conversation about how a family actually cooks, cleans, and lives in their kitchen before a single line is drawn. Today, every sink is hand crafted by our four artisans, who sign their own work. That commitment to conversation first, craftsmanship second, has not changed in over two decades, and it is not going to.

Cooking meatballs in an electric fryer basin, set on our multi-use grid, on a 60 inch Dual Tier Harmony™ Workstation Sink. The ledge system that started with that first 2010 sink has since evolved into a far more advanced platform, one that now supports full meal preparation.

Have questions about how our workstation sinks are built, or want to see the difference between an integrated ledge system and an accessory placed on top of a standard sink? Reach out for a personal consultation or explore our workstation sink collection.