The Whitehaven is my top contender for our future (but not so distant, finally!) remodel simply because I am scared of fireclay and want cast iron. There was a poster here who had a fireclay sink that had issues with cracking around the drain. That's one out of countless GW members who have had no problems at all with their fireclay sinks, but it scared me, especially for that price.

I also prefer the price-tag of the Whitehaven and the fact that it is self-trimming so fitting the sink isn't as picky=easier to install=cheaper to install.

We're on a budget and we are a growing family who doesn't want anything that isn't easy care. I know the vast majority don't have issues with their fireclay sinks but those are the reasons I looked into cast iron.

I sure would like to see these sinks side by side in a show room! On the Kohler Whitehaven, does it look like it wraps around the cabinet or does it look integrated?

Another vote for the whitehaven. The self trimming feature makes it look very nice. My friend has a roll apron front and while the sink is gorgeous the fit with the cabinet is not pretty. They have a BIG caulk line, possibly because of a not so great cabinet maker but the whitehaven does remove that problem.

Meant to say Rohl not roll.

I think mine looks integrated. It does not wrap around the cabinet but just covers over the cut out . More like it slides in and covers over the cut out versus sitting on top of the cutout and then the cabinet maker has to make sure the cutout is a real good fit.

Hope that helps.

Thank you for the input! It does help. I like the look of both, but the Kohler does seem to be a better fit for the cabinet without too much fuss. I looked at the bid I had for the Whitehaven and it was for a 24" sink, so I am going to have to check out the cost on the bigger size. It may be closer to the Rohl Shaw sink than I at first thought.

My 30" whitehaven was about $750 once freight shipping was added in. The Shaws and the Rohl were all above $1000 if I recall correctly.

Good luck. I love the apron front look!,

p.ball2, In what size cabinet is your 30" Whitehaven? Could you post a picture? We are doing a 36" cabinet, but I don't want a 36" sink. Just wondering if the 30' sink would look lost in a 36" cabinet.

Quilt girl: I will try later to post a picture but I have not quite figured that out yet. My sink cabinet is about 34.5". The cabinets are custom build so they tweaked the size to allow for cabinets of equal sizes on my sink run. I do not think my sink looks lost in the cabinet but if it was larger, the cabinet i mean, it might. Were I to do it again I would try to fit a 36". The 30" is a nice size but I think 36" would be ideal. I thought that with our old sink being 26"the 30"would be huge but it does not seem that way now.

Just a interesting fact that I sort of overlooked. I just measured the interior width of my 30" whitehaven, it is only about 24"wide which would explain why it does not seem huge to me. I did not pay as much attention as I should have to the interior dimensions. The outside measurement is about 29 3/8". That is probably why I would go with a 36" if I had a do over-that would then give me the 30" I was envisioning. Oh well it is bigger than my old sink. I was wrong, old sink was only 21" and I am still really happy with the look. Have yet to use it still but hope to in about two to three weeks!

Thanks p.ball2. That really helps. I was just going to get the 30" because the 36" sounded too big. Glad you posted the inner dimensions. I had not looked at that. I am wondering if I should make the cabinet about 38" to give a little frame around the wrap around part of the sink.

We are putting a Whitehaven in our kitchen and I got a Rohl for $100 on Craigslist. I like the feel of the Rohl much better, but am worried about cracking issues, so we are putting it in our laundry room.

$100! What a deal! I will have to go on Craig's List and see what I can find in my area. There are many people here who have a Rohl with no cracking issues. The cabinetry for them is more expensive due to the labor intensive "scribing" of the sink. Our guy charges $200 more for it.

Are you looking at tall or short apron?
Not sure if Kohler's sinks are potentially lesser quality now, but I have a white single-bowl Kohler sink that's 22 years old and still in great shape, and I wash all my pots and pans in it. I just pour bleach in there every now and then.

We have Kohler's stainless apronfront sink...very happy with it. And I love the Rohl tri-filter faucet!

A vote for Whitehaven here. We have the 36". It is one aspect of my kitchen that I love and admire every day.

I have the 30" whitehaven and love it. The cabinet is 36" wide and 28" deep. My general rule of them in selecting the sink is based on the largest pan I own. It fits perfectly with lots of room. The 36" would be perfect if my kids were still at home. By the way, the 30" does a fantastic job doubling as a bathtub for a one year old!

We love our Rohl faucet with our 30" tall-apron Whitehaven (in use since July). It installed perfectly and easily (in less than 20 minutes) into our 30" cabinet. Contractor was very happy with it. If I had a bigger kitchen, I would have gone with the 36" - the bigger the better for washing large pots! But certainly, the 30" is much bigger than my old measly 24" sink. I fell in love with the Rohl fireclay sink but was worried about cracking since we definitely wanted a garbage disposal. My friend has the Rohl fireclay and it's beautiful, too.

Whitehaven owners I have a question for you. Do you have a sink grid ? I am puzzled by the size listed for the 30" sink grid. it is listed at only 14 15/16" but the sink is 24" wide. Does any have this and can you show me a picture? The one recommended for the 36" sink is 28" wide so I find this confusing.

Thanks!

p.ball, I was at the Kohler Showroom but they did not have a 30" Whitehaven on the floor. In the 36" model there was a sink grid, but it was two separate pieces.

I ordered the Kohler K-6638-ST sink grid from efaucets. Fits my 30" Whitehaven perfectly. It comes in two pieces, which makes it easier for cleaning under.

We were going to go ahead with the Whitehaven as well, self-trimming, lower price
But seeing it in person we didn't like the way the interior of the bowl slopes away from you instead of straight down, you have to reach forward to the bottom of the sink. My favourite was the Franke Manor House, it's not quite as deep and feels very roomy, but my wife liked the Shaws, so there we are :-) YMMV.

almost50, that is why I ended up getting the Shaw Apron sink. I did not like the way the Whitehaven sloped on the inside front either. It was uncomfortable to me.

I just ordered my 36" Whitehaven tonight- it is on sale for $714 at Warehouse Discount Center with free ship & no tax. I obviously haven't received it yet, so I can't vouch for the reliability of this company but I thought I'd share it since it is definitely the best price I've seen by far and it seems like quite a few folks are looking for it.

My friend has it in her kitchen and loves it- it is huge, but as the salesman in our local plumbing shop told me- no one ever comes in here wishing for a smaller sink.

Our 36" is in the porch right now. It is huge but I can't wait to see it installed. We also bought from Warehouse Discount Center for $707, free delivery, no tax. Excited!

I am going with an apron front sink by Kohler as well but mine isn't the Whitehaven. I think it is a Dickens model. I like the location of the drain on the Whitehaven better. The most frustrating part about doing our new kitchen is not having a large showroom to see many options rather than the few our local showroom has. I have decided on the Waterstone 5500 or 5600 faucet but am not sure in what finish. Waterstone is sending samples to the distributor.

Okay, I'm about to finally almost maybe decide on the 36" Whitehaven.....except now I'm worried about that slope a few have mentioned. I haven't had the luxury of seeing it in person. What do others think about this?

I bought a rohl 30" apron sink online for around the same price as white haven. The crazing cracking issue is because of over tightening when installing. Talk to the plumber and make sure someone who has done a farm sink nstalled ion many times before should be the one to do it. Also all farm sinks have variations. For the tightest fit without gaps, your cabinet guys need the actual sink on hand to build the sink cabinet right.

A couple of things I would have done differently - got a 36" sink as the 30" is awfully tight for baking sheets and cookie trays. The sink does not slope/ drain well. It is a minor annoyance that I have to chase the dredges around to get it into the drain hole. My DH who is the main user of the sink is not bothered with this. You definitely need a good quality pull down faucet. The waterstone PLP we have which swings around and has a good pull down sprayer is very useful. I would have really hated a bridge faucet here. I would definitely get the extra deep flange for the sink and the sink grid. Both are very useful.

I've seen a few posters talking about the sloping and I STILL don't know what they mean, LOL. So I guess it's not a problem for me, whatever it is.

I am 5'9" and hubs is 6' if that helps.

Got our grid from Amazon and it took FOREVER to ship. I mean forever, it was ridiculous.