I've visited this thread several times and it's interesting that it is still fairly active. I'm looking at the Cristadur waterfall 150 in Bronze. Wayfair carried them a few months ago with good prices but when I checked last night, there were no Schock or Houzer sinks listed on their site. I have found a supplier from Germany on eBay, his listings are rather obscure and you have to dig deep to find them. He carries the entire line including vintage models and colors; GREAT prices with a flat $145 shipping. I currently have a Swanstone in black that drove me crazy when it was new with water marks and looking dry, until I wiped it down with coconut oil a couple of years ago and I've not touched it again. It now wipes down and is cleaned continually from just washing dishes and looks brand new. I'm looking at Schock over Blanco for my remodel in a different house due to the unique look of the waterfall, but I'm worried that it might suffer from being less than utilitarian. They have a matching 15" prep sink which I plan to install as well. Anyone have any real experience with the waterfall design or Schock for that matter?

>>swanstone started out as a knock off version of corian-- similar, but lower quality at a lower price. DuPont charges a premium for their name on products, both Corian and Zodiaq. They are no better than anybody else's, although their customer service is the industry standard. By assuming "because it costs more, it's better", you are merely buying into marketing hype. Swanstone in fact has a higher heat resistance than Corian, and offers sinks in all its Swanstone colors unlike DuPont. OTOH, they are lousy marketers, and always have been. LG's Hi-Mac product IS Corian - they produced it for DuPont, and the moment the patent protection ended, they just continued producing it with their own range of colors. Unless you have either lived with Swanstone for decades as I have, or have the facts to back up the "DuPont is better" argument, I'm afraid I can't agree with that statement. Our previous sink was a Kohler porcelain-clad cast iron Executive Chef. When the contractor pried it out after 16 years it was as perfect as when it was put in. The Swanstone sink (I have the original composite Swanstone, not the new granite sink, however) is BETTER on every count: quieter, beautiful, easier to clean.

The water is pretty dumb where I live and can't find it's way to the drain unless it runs downhill. Probably 99% of the sinks these days are installed in dead flat counter tops, and spills easily drip to the floor. With top mounts, splashes have to jump over the rim to get into the sink. Even with bottom mounts (in addition to their other problems) splashes are just as likely to find their way to the floor as into the sink. My favorite sink was in my first house: a cast iron monster with 2 drainboards and a foot-high backsplash. No seams to gather wet gunk. My second sink was stainless, totally seamless with the counter top and backsplash -- a custom job by the former owner. In my current house, I've had to make do with a stainless sink that has only one drainboard. But I want something better. I love the Clarion Farmhouse Drainboard Sink. It's like my first one, but too overpowering for my current kitchen. Ditto the many styles of commercial sinks. Then I found the Elkay Lustertone Series. It has 2 drainboards and I can fit a dishwasher under one of them. It has a modified raised lip. It has an integrated backsplash -- though I wish it were a little higher so that I could install a wall faucet through it. And it can replace an entire 6 feet of countertop surface, thereby mitigating its cost. The kitchen is still in the planning phase, but I know which sink I'll be buying. Take a look at it before deciding on Silgranite or the more common stainless sinks. Here is a link that might be useful: Elkay double drainboard sink

I had a Swanstone sink and now have a Super Single Silgranit in anthracite and it is one of my favorite things in my kitchen! It doesn't scratch, it is easy to clean and maintain. The Swanstone wasn't terrible, but it was more of an effort to keep clean and looking nice.