Originally Posted by CDTraveler

From a fellow student of design: one of the worst aspects of most plane lavs is the sink and faucet. Most faucets require you to hold down the controls with one hand to get the water to flow. This means only one hand can be in the water stream at a time, making effective hand washing difficult (spent years in healthcare where basic training included very detailed hand washing training to minimize spread of disease).

The basins usually are default set to fill, not drain - I know some people fill the basin and wash their in hands that water, but that is highly unsanitary and increases the chances of bacteria from the environment ending up on the person.

The curvature of the basin often increases the chances of water splashing everywhere, creating a situation where the floor is almost always wet (and disgusting) resulting in increased amounts of whatever is on the floor sticking to shoes and being tracked out of the lav.

The design changes I'd like to see are a way to wash both hands under running water, a basin shaped to minimize splashing and a counter sloped so that water will readily drain off the counter into the basin. Floors should have some sort of drainage system for liquids, especially right below the toilet in case some pax miss their target.