On the Art of the Workaround: Hack vs. Kludge

We have been renting a lovely bungalow for the past week in Austin, TX. It was recently renovated to meet strict "modern living" guidelines as put forth by Dwell Magazine . The kitchen is a sleek, minimal edifice that only until today when trying to find the coffee filters did I really pay attention to the design details of the sink. As you can see, there are 3 beautifully done stainless steel drawers that comprise the sink cabinet (my sink, as well as your own, are probably the conventional swingout door kind, when open exposing the plumbing and all manner of cleaning supplies).

The first surprise was pulling the top drawer out, exposing a massive cutout where the sink basin is. "Cool," I thought. Then upon opening the middle drawer, I noticed a conventional spacious drawer, and then asked myself, "Where's the plumbing?" As you can see, there are notchouts for the pipes that were probably cut out by a jigsaw in a hurry. The bottom drawer is, well, just a drawer.

It all got me thinking about something I think is a basic truth about any design, that behind the thin veneer of "modern perfection" there lurks the spectre of imperfection. I think this sink captures quite beautifully the subtle difference between a "hack" and a "kludge" (which until now, I could never really articulate very well). In the hierarchy of semantics, hacks and kludges are closely related, differing only in the relative elegance of the solution itself, and that can be pretty subjective. In other words, hacks are better than kludges.

 

 

Comments

[Cathy Y.]

Hello, Gong: I'm a fan of the photo-definition of perfection v. hack v. kludge -- I get it now! On a scale of zero-to-elegant, a hack is distinctly more clever. :-) "Hello" to your family from me and my family!

[jkottke]

We've been looking around at new sinks recently. We picked one that features a surprisingly spacious fold-out sponge rack instead of the double mini-drawer. Another neat kitchen hack: drawers in the kick plate.

[Gong Szeto]

jason - thanks for the kickplate drawer hack that kicks ass - i love riser drawers in stairs, too...
g