Having lived with two copper sinks in the kitchen for over two years (main sink and a prep sink), here is my $0.02 from real-world experience: * We still love our copper sinks today! * Maintenance is simply soap and water. About once a month we apply some wax we got with the sinks - takes about a minute. My stainless steel sinks required more maintenance... * Occassionally something acidic gets in the sink, but as pillog points out, they darken right back up. The finish on copper is oftentimes referred to as a "living finish" and that is true - it has it's own personality. * Unlike what pillog says above, these sinks do not turn green... * For a kitchen sink, the gauge is really important. I have at least a half dozen friends with copper sinks and can say first hand that thickness matters. Especially with the beating a kitchen sink takes with pots and pans. Ours are the thicker 14 gauge (Copper Sinks Online) and are built like a tank. Very few companies sell this thickness. I have seen thinner and I have a few friends wishing they hadn't tried to save $100 and ended up with a much thinner sink. * Read the article in the link below. It is one of the best I have found. * The category of copper sinks can be confusing because there are so many different companies, quality levels, online "misinformation", etc.. I recently bought a copper tub, sink and faucets from Copper Sinks Online and they are still awesome. Many on this forum over the years have had a very positive experiences with them as well. Check out their photo gallery. Hope this helps. Here is a link that might be useful: Copper Sinks 101

We went with fireclay bc it's supposed to be really easy to maintain. It's been a long time, but I believe that the sink in the kitchen of my childhood home was a Kohler cast iron sink and it scratched super easily. If you didn't have a rubber mat in place, it would get these grey metallic looking scratches. I hope that's not true with the fireclay. Good luck. We agonized over this too. We used to alway pick SS bc of the ease of maintenance; so, this is a little bit of a leap of faith for us.

My sister bought a double bowl fireclay sink about a year ago - see link. The price is very good and it's an Italian sink (they seem to really know how to make ceramic sinks...). A year later she is still in love with it and doesn't regret her decision. I'm not sure about the comment of weight and cabinet reinforcement... There was no reinforcing necessary as I remember. Here is a link that might be useful: Fireclay sink on sale

pay attention to the dimensions. Rohl/ shaw is quick thick while Franke is slimmer. Franke is also deeper front to back while Rohl is not. I was seriously considering Franke as I have 30" counters but finally went with Rohl as my main cleanup guy (DH) preferred the look and feel of Rohl sink more.. He was also not keen on the rather obvious Franke logo on the front. You also need to factor in the deeper flange and the sink gaurd to the cost. I particularly wanted a corner drain to carve more room below but my plumber figured that as we have generous space with the 30" counter, we will have plenty of space.. Not installed yet so let us see.