I have the Ruvati single bowl sink. Pros: It's big and holds a lot of dishes. It's sturdy and insulated well enough for me. I like the ledge for accessories. Cons: It has a flat bottom, so I chase food around the sink with the sprayer trying to get food particles down the drain. It has tight corners and hard to clean. The colander has wood, so I'm not sure how long that will last and it has large holes and is open on each end. That prevents you from using it for anything small, like straining spaghetti. I suppose you could use it for larger cut vegetables. I personally have it on the ledge and use it to set my liquid soap bottle, scrubbies and to hang my dishcloth to dry on the edge. I sometimes rinse my flatware and place in there prior to loading the dishwasher. I bought an after market, fine mesh colander that expands to fit the ledge and I store it in my cabinets. The grid for the bottom of the sink I thought was a good idea when I bought the sink. I hate it. The space between grids is too large to prevent anything from falling through. It gets food gunk on it, so I would be constantly scrubbing it and have to take it out to clean the sink. I don't use it anymore. If I could have a do-over, I would not purchase it again. You spend a lot of time at the sink, so allow enough in your budget to get a sink that will make using it less of a chore.

Most appliances manufacturers seem to use some sort of brushed finish. And in practice, the differences between manufacturers tend to be not overly glaring. Sinks are a bit more of a wildcard. There are a couple of different finishes that you can get. But then, a sink is in a very different place, and accumulates scratches with use anyway. I personally don't feel it has to 100% match the look of the stainless appliances. If you are really anal, you could always have your contractor redo all the grain with a sander and some 3M pads. It's labor intensive though and does take some amount of practice to get a uniform finish. Most people wouldn't really go down this route -- and if you do, make sure you get samples of their workmanship first; it's easy to make things worse instead of better.

I think you can definitely mix them. However, I wouldn't mix them on the same wall. For example, if your fridge and your range are on one wall in black stainless, you could add a regular stainless DW and microwave in the island. If you're going this route, carry the mixed metal idea through to your faucets, hardware, and lighting, too. Lots of great photos on this site with mixed metal finishes in kitchens. All that said, I wouldn't do this if you're planning to sell the house in a few years. If it's a look you love and you will be in your home for many years to come, go for it.

This is going to be beautiful! I'd go with stainless to lighting things up a bit. Also, I'm suspicious of the coating they use to make black stainless and I think the stainless will wear better.