It's not as plasticky as I remember Swanstone was back in the day when I saw more Swanstone. There's none around me these days. It's more a stone-grit feel than that. It's not a hard shiny cold plasticky feel like a Silestone or other quartz. But it's close. It's warmer than a stone or an engineered quartz. If you can touch the unpolished side of a piece of engineered quartz, you will be closer. But it's more grit-feel than that, like the difference between two levels of fine sandpapers in the high hundreds or low thousands (... at the hardware store, go touch their sandpaper sheets. you could moisten them with a few flecks of snow from your mittens; it's allowed; moistening sandpaper is permitted.) This is way smoother than a knife-sharpening stone feel, so don't anyone conclude that it's a rough surface by any means. the color you chose is good for a production kitchen like yours because you can keep it clean and hygienic without overdoing it. Mine is under high lumen in a high lux environment so I have to Ajax+Comet the floor of my sink to matchy match the rest of it; it's a cosmetic thing, nothing fundamental. hth

My faucet is ORB. So it is sounding like I should match my faucet. Nancy, that is what I was trying to decide between- ORB or black to actually match the sink? BTW, Nancy, love your granite! Is that Uba Tuba? Your sink looks AWESOME!!! I am getting Santa Fe Brown granite which no one seems to have. Darker granite so it should match well with the Blanco sink! Dh and I agreed on this stone so it was a keeper. My cabinets are hazelnut maple w/ mocha glaze. Not very 'original', but very warm fuzzy for me. ;) I am so eager to have my new kitchen! I will be posting pics like crazy when it is my turn! LOL Thanks for the help, everyone! Now, just to decide.......ORB or black for the flange! hmmm... I think I really want it to MATCH the sink. ccat

Well after living with my Nantucket for awhile i do have a few other thoughts. The mirror finish scratches like crazy. We are so careful but somehow it has quite a few scratches around the drain already. Also hard water is a big deal. We have to wipe it down completely and if the feet of the rack are not completely dry they will leave water marks that are very hard to remove. It’s a lot of upkeep. We dry it out after dinner and don't use it again until next meal. i find myself pouring out water glasses in the bathroom. It’s really attractive and I especially like the folding rack that sits on the top ledge but do you really want this kind of upkeep in a sink? If you have a softening system it’s probably not an issue.

I installed this sink about 5 months ago and am very pleased with it. I have the contemporary side facing forward to go with my fairly contemporary kitchen (white Shaker cabinets; bar pulls). Make sure your installer has worked with these types of sinks before. I have had a Rohl Shaw's sink in my main residence for about 12 years. It is a more traditional look than my Blanco Cerana. And it was installed poorly to accommodate a kitchen drawer that would not have opened if it had been installed properly. And since I knew very little back then, I depended on the contractor, who never told me about the drawer issue and just installed the sink so the drawer next to it could open. None of that will concern you, however!