I know stainless steel holds up forever. My mom had a stainless steel sink in her kitchen for over 30 years and it still looked great when she replaced it with an undermount version when she got granite counters.

I always think of stainless as a neutral color. Having just had an avocado cast iron sink removed from my bungalow and growing up with harvest gold bathroom fixtures, I'm pretty leary of any color other than white. And the harvest gold appliances my mom had she originally replaced with biscuit(slowly being updated to stainless). You don't see people clamoring for biscuit anymore!

My MIL still has the same SS sink she's had since the 60s, and it looks very good. It was a good one to begin with. I don't know anything about silgranite, but it's synthetic, isn't it? I'm leery of them holding up as long.

chacha, we STILL have an avocado sink, but hopefully not for much longer! We've long since been rid of the matching avocado frig, and more recently the avocado wall oven and stove top! I'm sure it was great looking at the time, but unlike my MILs SS sink, hasn't maintained its wonderfulness over time!

Remodelfla, I haven't read anything about your baker's cabinet lately. What's going on with it?

I've been lazy... plus I keep waiting till we actually start moving on this so I feel like I'm working toward an end. It's still sittin' there waiting for me in my garage!

Have you ever had a stainless sink? It seems to be either a love it or hate it thing. We had one when I lived at home with my parents and I hated it. We had one in our temporary housing while we built just recently. I hated it, too. They always seem to have water spots and only look good when thoroughly wiped out and dry. Just my opinion and my experience.

Oh... rhome just made me think of something... we have hard water down here in Fl. We will eventually put a whole house water softening system in but will the hard water add to water spots? We have a SS sink in the old kit in this house but it's the original builders quality one I think. Does Silgranit reguire a wipe down too not to show waterspots? As I've mentioned before... I'm not a high maintaince girl and I use my kitchen ALOT throughout the day when I'm home. There's no way I'm going to polish up anything several times throughout the day. After dinner... yes; otherwise I just rinse out the sink and give it a quick swipe. Does that make me a slob?
Knowing that... which would be the best for someone like me?

I'm also in Florida and have hard water, but I never have spots on my current stainless sinks. They are both Ticor sinks, and the brushed finish hides everything. In my "before" kitchen, I had a stainless sink that did show some spots if it hadn't been wiped down. So, I'm pretty sure the finish has something to do with it.

Elyse, that sink is pretty! I have slightly hard water too, and I'm a little worried about the water spots in my SS prep sink (not installed yet). I have to pipe up and tell you that I'm so in love with my fireclay sink. It doesn't scratch and stain at all like my old Kohler cast iron, which I had to constantly scrub with BKF to keep looking decent. It looks glossy with just a rinse. I know your kitchen will be modern so a farmhouse sink probably isn't for you, but Franke makes undermount fireclay sinks in a variety of colors.

Just another option!

E

I never really had thought about a fireclay sink. I'll have to check it out since I don't know much about them. In my brain... I heard the "clay" part and guess I thought about chipping. Thanks for the suggestion Erika!

egganddart...the Silgranit is a granite composite sink. People on this forum who have them absolutely love them and I think they're beautiful. I don't know if they've been around long enough to know about the LONG TERM durability of them (like 20 years). When I say I only want to do this remodel once... I mean long term once! The only problem I've heard about with them is there has been much reported experience of them cracking during shipment. Once installed they seem to be fine.

So no one has heard to this C-Tech brand? I know they are an Italian line. They also make a granite composite and a couple other types of sinks. They're stuff looks beautiful but I know nothing about them.

Hard water=water spots no matter what the sink material. Glossy or shiny finishes (like cast iron or polished stainless) will show the water spots more. Matte or brushed finishes will show it less. Silgranite has more of a matte finish, but if you choose a black or dark grey, it will be spottier looking than a white or bisque. Brushed stainless is pretty good about not showing too much, but some people don't like stainless no matter what.

I probably sell more Silgranite than any other type of sink. We have a black Silgranite in the showroom and it draws people like bees to honey. No hard water here, so not much issues either way for cleaning. It's the unusuallness of a "black" sink I think that draws people to it. And guys tend to be the ones that get really enthusiastic about a black sink! Women just get excited that their hubby is excited about a sink! LOL! I personally like stainless and will probably always like stainless, but I like the industrial/modern look as my own style.

The C-Tech sink is a brushed stainless finish. The seller is going to send me some close up pics of the sink today and I'll see how flexible she is on pricing. I'm not willing to pay the $400 price she's asking but I already told her that. I found it online for $430; MSRP is about $725. I want to pay $250 but if I loved it would go $300. My kitchen will lean toward modern/casual. Actually... it'll be a real mix. I was thinking of SS countertops for the sink run since it will be right against the marble the baker's table will have. I'm not sure if mixing marble, SS, and some kind of granite on the cooking side would be too much in a rather small kitchen. BUt once again... I get ahead of myself. Need something to think about while I WAIT WAIT WAIT for this to get started.

I like stainless and think the sink looks really nice. I live in Madison, WI and Boy Golly, do we have hard water! So I am just confirming that you should expect more water spots although it's probably not necessary since most likely every one already knows that live_wire_oak always gives great advice. I have brushed stainless which is a help and personally the water spots just don't bug me that much.

Well I'm not a big fan of stainless steel sinks but when you posted that apron front sink awhile ago I thought it was just beautiful! I'm a retired Dental Hygienist and I had SS at work I always said I hated it because I could never keep it free of water spots (no hard water here) that said our sinks took allot of abuse day to day, dental materials like plaster, sharp instruments, harsh chemicals, and other gross stuff. I know those sinks were not the best quality SS but I have to say they stood up to allot of abuse and will probably last forever. I just installed a Blanco Cascade sink in biscuit. I have only had it a week but I am amazed how easily it wipes up with so little effort. I bought Barkeepers friend but so far have only had to use Dawn dish soap.

Oooo... pretty marybeth. What I like about the composite sinks is it has a softer look I think. My layout may change some so being against the marble table may no longer be an issue.

Thank you, I'm still getting use to the deepness which made me think of another thing, SS are noisy but I'm sure you have already heard that.

Actually, I'm glad you mentioned that cause I never had a good quality one and I thought the sound deafening thing took care of that.

I'm would guess a good quality sink would take care of that , like I said ours were NOT good quality.

I chose a SS sink - one of Blanco's more inexpensive ones - and was concerned it might be noisy. But I have a grid on the bottom, so I never set anything down directly on the sink. No noise problem at all.

Can someone tell me what the difference between a fireclay and porcelain sink is? I tried goggling "fireclay", but didn't really get a good definition or description for it.

marybeth, I also have a blanco silgranit in Biscuit. The biscuit color went with our granite better than white. So who says nobody gets biscuit anymore? My sink is less than a year old. I love it!