I'm not sure about undermount but my 36" apron sink fits into a 36" cabinets

I have same question. All I could find was some google reviews, but I don't know if I trust them. There is also a blog entry at http://bestkitchensink.org, but I suspect that it was written by the company.

Here is a link that might be useful: Google Reviews of Stainless-Steel.com

jaz50y, right - that blog entry was how I found the website in the first place.
remodelfla, I have seriously considered apron front sinks; I think they look really nice. My kitchen isn't big though, and I'm thinking with stainless appliances, the stainless one would be too much stainless (going for an overall traditional look, and the stainless dishwasher and fridge would be right there too along the same wall, and we're keeping our stainless toaster oven on that corner counter). Since the cabs will be white, not sure how the color would match up with a fireclay, and I'm a little afraid of the posts where they cracked, couldn't put hot water in them etc. Leaning towards soapstone counters, and a soapstone sink would look great, but I'm a little afraid of that too. Thought a stainless undermount would be a safe choice since that's what I've had all my life with no prblms. By the way, I'm another lover of your soapstone - your kitchen looks great!
We'll see if anyone else responds, maybe it is a shady company. Too bad, the product looks great.
Still interested in largest stainless undermount for 36" cab - any 34's out there? Thanks again.

We're looking for the same thing! We haven't found anything as large as the one you mentioned, but our local kitchen place recommended the Blanco Super Single Bowl BLA440104 32 x 19 ($629) or the Oliveri 890U 30 x 18 ($706). But it seems like a lot of money for a stainless sink, so we're still looking! I would be interested in hearing what you go with when you make your decision.

Thanks!

HI erinct, thinking I won't go with the Italia - sounds like it might be bogus. Our fabricator offers one line of sinks for anyone that wants them. You can see them at KAZZASINKS.COM. The sinks come in 16 or 18 gauge. The largest single bowl is 31 1/2." They wanted to offer a good quality sink and faucet at a good price (it's around $350 for the sink alone, or around $650 for the whole package with the optional accessories pictured). The one in their showroom has gotten tons of use/abuse over the past few years, and sink and faucet are still in great shape. I'm less sure about the faucet, only because it's not quite the look I'm going for, although I do need a single lever pull out/down. I like the look of the Rohl Country faucet better, so I still have to think about that one. Please post if you (or anyone else!) has a better suggestion. Thanks!

I don't know anything about sinks, but that looks like a good option -- thanks for passing it along! I like the fact that it's 9" deep. Some of the others we looked at were 10" deep and another member here pointed out that the sink will be another inch deep from the counter if it's an undermount and 11" seems like it might be too deep.

Another poster recommended overstock.com. They seem to sell mostly Kraus and Vigor brands in the $200-400 range. I may check them out as well.

And I thought this was going to be one of the easy decisions!!

I finally went with the Kraus KHU100-32, 32" with tight radius corners and included bottom grid. I did read a couple of reviews that complained of scratching, and one that suspected Kraus wasn't really 16 guage, but overall looks good, was the size and style I wanted, and I could pay with Paypal at Surplus Decor, which coincidentally had a one-day sale on this sink. Also, has the drain towards the back to help keep plumbing out of the way. So still no first-hand experience with stainless-steel.com.

Here is a link that might be useful: Surplus Decor Kraus 32

What I do know about this company is that they are making illegal claims about their copper sinks. They claim their sinks have antimicrobial properties. That statement is regulated by the EPA and only EPA registered US companies can legally make that claim.

Jaz50y - just in regard to your comment about any stainless steel sink reviews that complain about scratching - ALL stainless steel sinks scratch, whether it's 16 gauge or another gauge. That is the nature of stainless steel. You can keep the scratches to a minimum by using a sink grid. Or, you can just let all the scratches occur, until they form a patina, and you can no longer see individual scratches. That's what I did with my stainless sink, which is a custom-made 14-gauge stainless. When my first scratch occurred, I posted on this forum, panicked, then everyone assured me the scratches would form a patina, which is true. It is unfair of the reviewers to single out Kraus for scratches.

Thanks so much for the follow-ups. I'm still not sure which sink I'll get - still looking, but won't try the Italia, as there is still no positive info at all about that sink/company - too bad, it looks like it's just what I want!
I have a question about sink grids - whenever I rinse or wash ANYTHING in the sink, I always wipe the whole sink out e.g. if it was a cereal bowl, plate, etc, little pieces of cereal/food stay in the sink and need to be wiped, if it was a mug of hot chocolate, etc, a bit of chocolate ends up at the bottom of the sink and needs to be wiped. So to wipe out the sink you would have to take the grid out and sit it on the counter, and then wipe off the counter too since those little feet will have been dirty?

Have you checked out MR Direct sinks? We are currently remodeling our kitchen and got one from them. The price was great and it was delivered within a week. I have received quite a few compliments on the sink so far. Good luck with your search!

Here is a link that might be useful: MR Direct sink

Thank you very much! No, I actually hadn't seen that one - it is a great looking sink. I will definitely consider it. It is similar dimensions to the Kazza I can get from my fabricator, and your price is great. I do like the more rounded edges of the Kazza, but I like the offset drain of yours. Thanks again.

Mr Direct sinks are coming out of China from what I can tell. I have no first hand information, however I have been told by several people that the stainless sinks from China have been known to rust after a while. A friend of mine has imported stainless sinks from China and he told me his rusted.

Drachiele,

I'd love to understand "They claim their sinks have antimicrobial properties. That statement is regulated by the EPA and only EPA registered US companies can legally make that claim."

Copper IS antimicrobial. Like water is wet. I don't understand how you could create a copper sink that is not antimicrobial. That discovery dates back to the early 70's and as far as I know isn't in dispute.

It's true that the EPA registered a bunch of alloys as being antimicrobial but that doesn't change the basic nature of the copper. It sounds like it would be the EPA saying "only our wood is hard"....

It is even funnier if the US said, "neener, neener, not only is our wood hard your wood won't be hard until we've inpected it either!"

Not that I don't think the EPA would does that! But I have a hard time careing that the sink company says their copper is like the rest of the copper in the world. These guys aren't saying that they've meansured the kill rates on staph they are just noting a property of the material they are working with.

http://www.antimicrobialcopper.com/us/faq.aspx

Their illegaility on that matter wouldn't bug me at all.

Regarding Drachiele's comment that the MR sinks come from China--So do stainless steel sinks from expensive Blanco, Franke and Kohler. Not all the Blanco, Franke and Kohler sinks are made in China, but the only way to know if the sink you are interested in is one of the ones made in China is either to call the company and ask (and the customer service person may not know), or to look on the box the sinks are packed in to see country of origin. The only stainless steel sink manufacturer I know of that are entirely made in the U.S. (other than the small companies making custom sinks like mine) is Elkay, located in Illinois.

I can see no reason to pay high prices for stainless sinks from a big name manufacturer when you can have the same thing or better for a fraction of the cost from the smaller names like Kraus, Ticor and MRDirect, or even no-name sinks from eBay (we have had several forum members satisfied with their no-name stainless sinks). The only reason I had to go custom was because I had a funky size and location, otherwise I'd be all over the 16-gauge Kraus sinks. Check out the Kraus reviews on Overstock. Drachiele, I suspect you are doing the "friend of mine told me stainless from China rusts" bit as a defense for your own company which sells very expensive stainless steel sinks. If stainless from China rusts, then the majority of the stainless sinks sold today by the big-name brands would be rusting.

I hope Drachiele is wrong, but time will tell. As a new sink, it looks great and you can't beat the price.

akchicago - you weren't kidding. Drachiele does sell very expensive stainless sinks.

I googled the sink rusting issue and found the following interesting article. Hopefully, our newly installed sink won't be one of the controversial sinks.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rust on Sinks

That was a good article lhues, thanks for sharing it, and best of luck with your new sink!

Thank-you Elba1. I am definitely not as confident with it as I was before. Let us know what you end up buying!

At this point it will be the Kazza from my fabricator unless something better turns up (installation probably won't be until June). If I do go with something else, I'll be sure to post a follow-up!

The EPA is regulating copper alloys for safety reasons. Their job is to protect the consumer. Fines have been imposed of tens of thousands of dollars for making false or misleading claims. Just go to the EPA website to see the long list and the fines. Some imports have been found to have lead, mercury and arsenic in the copper. The vast majority of imports use recycled copper from discarded telephone wire, old pipes, etc. If not recycled properly, impurities will remain Copper is not tested when imported. There are no home tests for these poisons. As far as the earlier claim about me being defensive about my stainless sinks, I was clear that I was passing on second hand information from a friend that imports stainless sinks from China. His did rust.

The EPA is regulating copper alloys for safety reasons. Their job is to protect the consumer. Fines have been imposed of tens of thousands of dollars for making false or misleading claims. Just go to the EPA website to see the long list and the fines. Some imports have been found to have lead, mercury and arsenic in the copper. The vast majority of imports use recycled copper from discarded telephone wire, old pipes, etc. If not recycled properly, impurities will remain Copper is not tested when imported. There are no home tests for these poisons. As far as the earlier claim about me being defensive about my stainless sinks, I was clear that I was passing on second hand information from a friend that imports stainless sinks from China. His did rust.

Elba, we are in the middle of installing a Blanco supersingle sink in our kitchen. It is gorgeous, recalls the look of soapstone or slate, but at a fraction of the price.

I ordered mine at less than $400 online. It is 90% installed and I LOVE IT! One reason I picked the SIlgranit is because I was tired of polishing the old twin stainless sink all the time. It always looked grungy, and there were lots of reviews on the Silgranit about how easy they were to keep clean.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

Thanks mabeldingeldine. I will seriously consider that sink once we confirm our countertop material - we are going for a dark neutral countertop with some movement (maybe soapstone, or if not, a leathered granite - I am visiting slab yards to make the final determination (as cost is coming into play). The counter won't be black, though, and I'm wondering if there are countertop shades that wouldn't look good with the dark silgranit sink? I think it looks great with Bianca Antico, and slabs like that, but not sure if it might look like a "black mismatched hole" dep. on the counter I end up with?

Elba1 - Silgranit comes in 5 or 6 colors, so a Silgranit sink does not have to be dark. Having said that, I think most people here choose the Anthracite or Cafe Brown colors because they look sleek, and they won't show any dirt. I do not have a Silgranit sink, I have stainless steel. But if I had to do it over, I would choose Silgranit cause I am tired my of stainless sink's water spots; it is hard to keep it looking clean and shiny. I have seen so many finished kitchens on this forum with Silgranit sinks in the various shades. I haven't seen one Silgranit sink that didn't look good (in the photos at least). I do prefer the look of the darker Silgranit colors to the lighter Silgranit colors. A friend of mine has the Super Single in anthracite, the big sink with the corner drain. It looks awesome with her soapstone, and her sink is ginormous, so if a sink were going to look like a "hole", it's hers, but it doesn't.

In my previous post, I meant to include a pic of the Super Single in anthracite my friend got, so I'll link it below. It says "drop-in" but can be mounted either undermount or drop in. This one is big at 33" wide. Blanco makes another Super Single that is 30" wide. I went shopping with my friend to buy it; she was deciding between the Anthracite and the Cafe Brown. I had total sink envy.

Here is a link that might be useful: Blanco 440194 in Anthracite

Shannonplus2, thank you very much. I did see that sink in person and on-line, and did know that most go with the dark colors. I guess I mistakenly thought it probably wouldn't go with whatever counter I end up choosing, so I mostly dismissed it. Put it at the top of my list now, and am working on getting that countertop selected - thanks again to all!

Elba, my Silgranite sink is the black "Anthracite" color, and it is with Formica "Basalt Slate" laminate, which is a very dark grey. I will post a photo tonight. We are in the home stretch of my mini-makeover.

So I took the plunge and ordered a 32" apron front zero radius sink from Stainless-sink.com, The price was so tempting, it is advertised as 15 Gauge,..........15 gauge is supposed to be 1.8mm thick, and mine is 1mm thick (measured in several places with a digital caliper, not eyeballed with a ruler).........which makes it somewhere between 19-20 gauge.......sink design and construction appears to be top notch, but it is DEFINITELY NOT EVEN CLOSE to 15 gauge. I have contacted them, but have yet to hear back........will post a follow up, I hope this goes well, we will see

mabeldingeldine, what a coincidence that I heard about basalt for the 1st time today, and that it goes great with the silgranite sink - can't wait to see your picture, now have to go find my own basalt!
B.H., the Italia was supposed to be 15 gauge too, which attracted me. Glad to hear you at least got the sink; I was wondering if they even had real product- will be looking forward to your follow up!

Elba, I've uploaded more photos, and here's one close up below. I've got Formica counter tops in Basalt Slate, brand new but so far I am really happy with the way they look -- the dark countertops really made the cabinets look better. You can see more in process photos at the link.

Here is a link that might be useful: kitchen makeover

@superdot09, can you give us an update please? I, too, am looking for the biggest sink to fit in a 36" cabinet and was about to order the 34" Italia...

I did a Google search on the part number, 34" Undermount Stainless Steel Single Bowl Sink IT-200-L, and found several other places selling a similar design under a different name.

MisterFixtures on Amazon sells one for the same price; and, although he only has 9 reveiws, they're all 5 out of 5.

The other vendors are all priced higher -- $469 vs $369 -- and they all say their sinks are made in Europe (notice they did not say Italy) in conjunction with the Italian Designer 'Giovani Sanremo'. http://mainfaucet.com sells one under the brand name Britania, and http:/thekitchenbathstore.com sells one under the brand name Stratus.

This tells me that there is one manufacturer (who knows where) whose products are being re-branded by the storefront. It's still the best fit for my cabinet (I think) so I would really like to know if they're what they're supposed to be.

The Italia is a 16-gauge sink with a 15-gauge rim.

The sink at http://stainless-sink.com has a lifetime warranty which is reassuring IF they stand behind it.

Thank you!

Barb

Ok, so here is the deal

after talking to the people at stainless-sink.com.........several times.....they were pleasant to talk to but they wanted pictures to confirm my claim that the sink was in fact about 19 gauge (between .98-1.03mm) and NOT 15 (1.8mm)which is a difference of almost half as thick. . I sent the sink back, and was given a full refund. However, My call tag that they issued for the return was more than 10 pounds underweight, I was told that they should take it and if there was a difference ups would bill them for it, but my local ups store would not take it. Luckily my ups driver did take it, but this could have been a huge hassle since they did not seem willing to issue a new tag with the correct weight. long story short, I got my refund.

My final impression of Stainless-sink.com and the "15" gauge sinks is that I don't think that they are trying to scam anyone. I think no one ever took the time to break out their micrometer and verify the thickness of the material. I ended up buying a sink from another ebay retailer who just happens to be close to my home. They have the exact same sink, marketed as 15 gauge, but after going there to measure it found it to be the same 19-20gauge thickness. The sink that I ended up purchasing a different sink that is 16 gauge but was also advertised as 15 gauge.

NONE of these "15" gauge sinks are truly that thick. The old saying "you get what you pay for" seems to hold true here. I ended up paying 375 for a (ebay #390325693007)........however I opened several boxes of various models before I chose this one, and they were almost all the thinner material (19-20 gauge)........

I still don't think that they are a bad deal for the price, they just are not nearly as thick, or nearly as great of a deal as they are advertised to be.

as for the rusting issue-I'm still finishing my kitchen but cannot comment, I did decide to go with a 1" radius sink instead of a zero radius because I figured it would be too difficult to clean and also would make it easier for water to sit in the corner and if there was a rusting problem, that is probably where it would be. I bought from "contempo living" in el monte, Ca has been in business now for about 10 years and said they haven't had any issues with that............. Time shall tell.

Thank you for following up, BH!

I just placed my order with stainless-sink.com for the 34" 16-gauge single bowl undermount.

After reading your post I realized that size was more important to me than thickness and since the only other 34x19 sink available was a Julien for $1200, which was more than I wanted to spend, I would take a chance on the one from stainless-sink.

I, too, will post a follow-up here when the sink arrives. Perhaps all their sinks are the same thickness, regardless of what the description says....

When I called them to ask when it would ship (they are drop-shipped from the mfg warehouse in North Carolina) I also asked them where it was made. He insisted it was made in Italy.

Barb

Here is a link that might be useful: 34x19x10 single bowl undermount from stainless-sink.com

Chinese sinks rusting?

I am a certified kitchen designer and I just want to give my opinion on the sinks from China debate. I�ve been in the business for over 20 years and as akchicago posted earlier, most sinks today are made in China and I�ve never seen one rust. Rust stains in a stainless steel sink are typically caused by a rusty object, such as an old rusty steel wool pad, being left in the sink. This will stain the sink, but it isn�t the sink itself rusting. There is a product called ScratchBGone that will take out the stains.

Stainless-Sink.com

As for the questions about Stainless-Sink.com, I�ve been ordering from them for a while now. As I said, I am a kitchen designer and I started using them when the economy turned and I needed to find a better alternative to paying top dollar for name brands (Brands don�t make a difference in sink quality in my opinion). I�ve probably used a dozen or more of their sinks and my customers love them and haven�t had a complaint yet. We check every sink to make sure that it is correct (don�t want to install the wrong thing for a customer) and everything always checks out with them. I am very pleased and I will keep doing business with them.

Good luck on your project!