thanks, but I was only talking about width of the cabinet. it'll be standard height.

can anyone else offer feedback?

but thats what I was trying to say... if you want the sink the same size as the base, 30", then your base isn't as tall because the sink will sit on top of the base, so the question isn't how wide should the sink base be, you've already said you want the sink as wide as the sink base, so the question is how tall.

Now if you want the kind of sink base that somes with a wood apron on the sink base and you want it to be cut out and scribed to the apron sink, then i would say the sink base should be 3" larger (or more) than the width of the sink. That leaves you 1 1/2" on either side of the sink once it is installed.

I guess I am still not really understanding what height has to do with this. Do you have a picture of it?

Are you just saying to not use an "apron sink base" at all and just go with a normal, but shorter base cabinet?

sorry I am so dense about this! :)

First question: what kind of apron-front sink? Some are meant to sit atop a cabinet that's been cut down to recieve the sink. That'd be like the stainless steel or copper ones, and maybe some fireclay sinks with more regular rectangular shape. There's a thread on here (I think bichonlover started it) where Poorowner and I responded with pictures about our stainless apron front sink installations. Here's a picture of my sink. It's in a same-size cabinet with two dishwasher panels on either side. You could get away with not using the dw panels, but I needed them to deal with a spacing issue, and to cut down on dw noise.
{{!gwi}}

Some (and I'm thinking about the handmade Shaw's and other fireclay ones) are meant to go into an apron-front cabinet that's had a cutout in the blank apron front to receive the sink. Thus the cabinet has to be wide enough to hold the sink and still have some space on either side of the sink for the cutout. I think I've seen Shaw's owners with 33" sinks in a 36" cabinet, and the like.

I see what you both are talking about, but can't you cut the side panel of the base cabinet to make the sink top flush?

The height of the cabinet has nothing to do with the sink. You'll either get a standard cabinet and a short apron sink or a full apron sink with an apron cabinet.

So just to clarify Joseph, can you fit a 30” farm sink into a 30” cabinet with a regular opening? Or do you need a wider cabinet? Does the answer stay the same for a short apron sink? Thanks

I don't think anyone has answered your question

A 30" sink undermounts into a 30" cabinet, apron front or not.

To clarify, some farm sinks that are 30" will fit in a 30" cabinet. Some of them have aprons that extend back well into the cabinetry area and, in my opinion, will not look so great when installed in the same size cabinet. Most all 30" farm sinks will require some modification of the cabinet, but can look great. This is a link to a video showing how it might be accomplished.