OK, after searching and searching and reading and reading for days before I posted this...I thought I and found all the threads. I just found a bunch more and have some answers. New question. Does anyone else make a good apron front cast iron sink other than Kohler?? I am still not set on the idea of a bathtub in my kitchen counter! lol

Depends on the look and feel you are striving for. Do you want something that is handmade and feels awesome? Go with fireclay. Do you cook a lot with commercial and big pans and need durability? Go with cast iron. Both cast iron and fireclay chip. Bayareafrancy- I heard Rohl sells repair kits to easily repair chips? I am having the same problem choosing which sink. Every time I see the Rohl Shaw's sink I'm sold. It is GORGEOUS whereas the Kohler and cast iron sinks look cheap to me next to it. But, if it's in the house nobody will be able to compare it to the beautiful fireclay sinks..so..I'm about 60/40 towards cast iron.

It occurs to me, re household help, potential future babies, and a kitchen you have to baby, that given your parameters you really don't want to deal with the clay sink. The marble only needs to be babied if you hate patina. When I had marble (cheap beige in an apartment abroad) I promise I didn't baby it. It was fine. Yes, you can get scratches and pits, and if something colorful soaks in it's a pain to get it out (though sealer probably helps a heck of a lot with that), but, as the guy from The Petch House famously said here on GW, "It's ROCK!". Fireclay is more durable than vitreous china (what normal bathroom fixtures are made out of), but it's not iron. It's fine for the woman who doesn't cook, but all the ifs of who else might be dropping a heavy hot pan or banging into it on his bicycle make me think it might be a problem in the long run. Kohler's current surface is fired at extremely high temperatures which is what they say makes it so very hard to chip. If a greige (thanks, again, Casey!) chip in your dark blue won't bother you, you won't mind redoing that part of the kitchen if it has a problem, or if you're willing to chance that yours is going to be one of the ones that never gets damaged (because plenty don't), then go with the fireclay if you think it's prettiest. And in a very blue moon a Kohler gets damaged too (though I think there's a warranty). But I have a whole list of things that my housekeeper, who's very careful and conscientious, but not emotionally attached to my stuff the way I am, has nicked, misused or broken. And she's a treasure! I was mightily tempted by a V&B fireclay sink, but life's too short to worry about it.

Kohler makes cast iron farmhouse sinks. They are more durable than fireclay. There are also stainless steel and copper farmhouse sinks. Or soapstone. Any of the web based stores like efaucets or faucetsdirect will have the cast iron, fireclay or stainless farmhouse sinks. Even amazon and overstock likely have some. For copper you might have to hunt more--just google. Soapstone is usually made custom by a stone fabricator, though you can buy them off the self too from a couple of places. IKEA sells a fireclay one which is a great deal price wise. They used have both a single and a double, but I think the single may have had some supply chain problems and I'm not sure if it is still available.