I almost bought the Clarion Farmhouse . . . it IS a beauty! But then I found the Harborview by Kohler on Craig's List at a deep discount with free delivery. So I couldn't resist. I was worried I would be sorry I switched from the Clarion to the Harborview, but I find the Harborview to be VERY useful. It is 4' wide and ALL SINK with a wooden drainboard that fits on one side. Imagine a 4' wide sink : )

Anyway, the Clarion is a great sink also! Very reminiscent of older days. Just FYI you can easily buy this style sink used and have it reglazed if you needed to save money. The only thing to consider is that it is long (5') but you only end up with a 24" wide basin. It's all about the drainboards.

Cotehele has one in her home bakery!! Scroll down this thread and you'll see her post with a photo. She has other photos floating around also, but this is the only one I found right now.
http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg011010442466.html

If I were going to get that, I'd just gent a real antique! :-) Many are in excellent shape and can be picked up for a song--and many are in heavenly colors.

I love the look of white sinks but don't trust myself with fireclay.

This might be overkill, however:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Trough-Sink-Pedestal-Sink_W0QQitemZ370309484191QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUS_Sinks?hash=item56382a4e9f

;-)

Still, I'd love to find a smaller version of that.

Dawn,

As Judydel mentioned, I have the Clarion sink in my bakery. I wanted a vintage look, and it was no more than the cost of purchasing sink, countertop and cabinets separately.

The sink is very heavy-it is cast iron. It will need support built into the wall. It shows no wear or staining after 3 1/2 months of light use. Most things land in the sink while I am baking then they go into the DW. The 18'' drainboard holds a small dish drainer; not adequate for a sink full of dishes. I like the size and depth of the sink. Just be careful to get a wall faucet with a short reach. My 12'' faucet is long enough to reach over the front of the sink!

Another view of the sink.

FWIW, if cost is a consideration, my two other fire clay apron front sinks (30'' & 24'') are made by Belle Floret, a French company. They were significantly less expensive than the Shaw, and they have held up beautifully.

30'' clean-up sink. Still working on the backsplash...

24'' prep/island sink.

HTH

Thank you each for your responses, they are very helpful!

Judydel-I'd never seen that Kohler model-it looks great! The actual basin of this clarion model is smaller than what we are currently using and I'd been concerned about "downsizing" so a bigger basin actually sounds good. Would you be able to post a photo of it in your kitchen?

reysuela-thanks for reminding me of ebay! A few years ago I found a really cool one but thought it a bit premature to purchase it when it could not fit in our current house ;)

cotehele-I was hoping you'd respond after Judydel mentioned you in her post above! I love that sink in your kitchen and I will also look into the Belle Floret. Thank you for the tip about the wall faucet-I wouldn't have thought about that.

My husband was concerned about not having a sprayer attachment and we were wondering about adding one, but I noticed you have one. (forgive my ignorance-is that similar to a bath fixture?)

I'm forcing myself to pay attention to the fact that you have 3 sinks and your comment that the basin of this is not really adequate for a sink full of dishes. We were considering forgoing a separate prep sink to save money, so this might be our only sink. That's not sounding so feasible now...

Oh one last concern-can I still have a garbage disposal with this sink? My plan was to skirt it for charm (and to hide the trash/recycling) and to flank it with base cabinets, one of which would hold a dishwasher.

Thank you all again so much for your responses. I feel like I'm a real part of the forum now :)

Dawn

I have an actual "old" sink and love it. It is my only sink in an unfitted kitchen. Sorry, don't know about a garbage disposal. Mine is fairly deep. Lots of grandbabies have taken baths in it too!
{{gwi:685207}}

Dawn,

Arlosmom also has a vintage sink similar to the Clarion. She had cabinets built under the sink that are beautifully done. She has no other sink in the kitchen. Maybe she, too, will respond to this thread.

I think a GD can be used with this sink. My plumber asked if I wanted one, which I did not. Chicago makes the commercial sprayer faucet. It has an extremely powerful spray that took some getting used to. I like it, however if there was a reliable, reasonably priced residential wall faucet, with sprayer that was smaller in scale, I would prefer it to the Chicago. DH was not happy with the wall faucets because he thinks there will be problems down the line. The Chicago faucet is infinitely repairable, which influenced my choice.

I think the sink basin will do okay with a meal's worth of dishes if you don't have a large family. It is the small drainboard that may pose a problem. The plumber also thought a dishwasher drawer would fit under the sink. Unless the Clarion is mounted with the apron front above 34 1/2'', a standard DW would not fit under it. My sink has legs because it was less expensive (by a couple hundred $) than the sink without the legs. They both mount the same. The legs are supposed to be decorative rather than structurally necessary.

Good luck to you! I would love to see your kitchen plans.

>reysuela-thanks for reminding me of ebay! A few years ago I found a really cool one but thought it a bit premature to purchase it when it could not fit in our current house ;)

Craigslist can be better, depending on where you live.

Unfortunately, it's just not practical for my needs, even if they are gorgeous! I always pause and sigh when I see them.

I just wanted to say that, on ORIGINAL vintage sinks at least, I have seen plenty with dishwashers underneath. Don't know about GDs.

Hi all! Yes, I'm another person with one of the old original drainboard sinks. I'm happy to add my limited knowledge to the discussion.

For the old vintage sinks, some can accommodate a disposal, some cannot -- it depends on the size of the drain hole. Lots only have an 1 1/2" drain, so there's no way to fit a disposal. Ours has a bigger hole (I think ours is 4", I don't remember off hand) so we added a disposal to ours when we did our kitchen.

The ability to put a full sized dishwasher underneath probably depends on whether the sink has a front apron or not. The older ones like mine and marylu's wouldn't take a conventional dishwasher because there is not enough height below the apron. The later drainboard sinks from the 40s and 50s do not have a front apron, so you might possibly be able to make a regular dishwasher fit. I think the dishwasher would be wider than the drainboard though, so it might look awkward. My dishwasher is to the right of my sink.

If you decide to go the route of an old sink, I'd recommend that you take your time and find one in good enough original condition that you don't need to refinish it. I looked into having mine spruced up and talked to a couple of local re-glazers. They don't really recommend the surface re-glazing for kitchen sinks because of all the abuse they are put through with heavy pots and pans being knocked around...much more abuse than a bathroom sink or tub. There is one company in the midwest (I could track down info in my old project notes if you need me to) that actually sandblasts sinks down to the cast iron and bakes on a new finish. I spent some time talking about the whole process with the owner of the company and he warned me that even that new finish he uses would be thinner and not have the same thick, creamy flow of the old original finishes. My finish isn't perfect, but was passable enough that I kept what I already had. In addition to ebay and craig's list, there are tons of architectural salvage places that deal with vintage plumbing.

Here's mine:

{{!gwi}}

Thank you for these additional responses!

cotehele, thanks for responding again about the sprayer. One of my husband's biggest concerns-and mine if truth be told-is the lack of practicality/functionality of the wall mounted faucets that are compatible with these sinks. That is the biggest stumbling block I think to getting him on board with this, more so than the smaller basin size. I'm also used to the convenience of a pull out unit with a built in sprayer and I think I would miss that having to go back to a 2 handled wall fixture :(

mary lu what a cool sink. I loved your comment about grandbabies in it-that is just so emblematic of the charm of a sink like this isn't it?

arlo's mom, I'm so glad you posted. I love the base cabinet you made for your sink. Your photo is especially helpful because it's actually very similar to the layout we've drawn for our sink area: sink beneath a trio of windows, flanked by glass front cabinets for dishes & glassware. (Are your countertops soapstone?) I'm going to save your photo and show it to my husband because I think he would prefer this more solid look to my charming fabric skirt idea. Thanks also for the tips about what to look for in the genuine article-a passable original finish and a larger drain hole to accomodate a GD. I really appreciate your help!

cotehele-I meant to tell you, too, that in your photos of your traditional apron front sinks I noticed you recessed them into the cabinetry-nice! If I went with the apron front sink, I could still have the practicality for resale/safety of a lockable cabinet under the sink to keep kids out rather than the potentially "taste specific" & open wall mounted drainboard sink. But with your recessed design, I could at least put a small tension rod between those flanking cabinets and have my charming skirt underneath the classic apron front sink...possibly a great compromise.

Such good food for thought all around-I love this forum!

little smokie, there is an old drainboard sink in AMAZING condition for sale on ebay right now. It's not cheap, but I've never seen one in quite this good of shape. The seller says the porcelain is original. It also has the larger drain hole, so a disposal would work.

And yes, my counters are soapstone. Cohetele's are too.

Here is a link that might be useful: ebay sink

The same seller has a second sink with two basins and no drainboards that is also beautiful. Check it out too. I wonder where he found two in such amazing shape? Maybe an old church kitchen or something?

Here is a link that might be useful: second sink