A couple weeks ago I noticed the kitchen sink seemed to be draining slowly. It has a garbage disposal and I figured the previous owner had left something in there without chopping it up. I flipped on the disposal switch, instead of a satisfying grinding noise all I heard was a low hum, then a pop and acrid smoke filled the room. The disposal had given up the ghost. 

Now I had a non-draining sink and a bad garbage disposal. I was already working on the floors and did not have time to worry about the sink, so it sat, for a week, half full of water. Boy did it stink when I finally got a hose to siphon the water out. 

The city of Burien has a strong composting policy, in fact they require you to compost and provide a second bin in the driveway, next to the garbage can, just for compost. So I ripped the disposal out, removed the sink drain, and re-plumbed it all into a straight drain. Food scraps go in the compost, not the sink. Simpler, less moving pieces to break, and one less potential fire hazard in an already overloaded electrical system. 

Happy sink drain. 

Total cost: $25