I vote for elkay. I do not like the 'shiny' stainless that shows every scratch and 'patina.' After an extensive hunt I felt very wary of any of the newer stainless as they seemed prone to this, so I bought an elkay drainboard sink. I actually found it on CL secondhand, and it still looks the same as a new one. They are heavy duty sinks and I'm very excited about it. Here is a link that might be useful: This is my sink

I just installed the Blanco Precis Cascade sink in metallic gray as our main sink and I just love it! So different from stainless steel metal in feel, sound and looks. It's a single with a low divide with minimum sink cab of 33" required. Unlike the SS sinks I had for decades, it doesn't show water spots and it looks great with minimal cleaning (just a wipe with wet cloth and a little mild soap. Just wanted to give you some feed back on the Blanco Silgranit. I'd put it in both sinks. Blanco is constantly developing new sink grids and colanders so a call to their CS might answer your question about the bar sink colander.

The BlancoSpex Plus sink is mentioned on the thread "Can I See Pictures of Your D Shape Sink", although no one on that thread actually has it installed. One conclusion on that thread is that the Ticor S505 is a better buy, since it is the same size, and is 16 gauge instead of 18. The BlancoSpex Plus in the link on that thread sells for $240 with the sink grid; the Ticor S505 sells for $160 with the sink grid. However, between those two rectangular sinks, I still prefer the design of the BlancoSpex because the drain is toward the back instead of the center. That way, you can have a pan in the sink, and still have the use of the drain, since it won't be covered. With a drain in the center, it will often be covered, a constant nuisance IMO. As to the gauge, again IMHO I don't think any user would find a difference between 16 gauge and 18 gauge in daily use. To put a completely different thought in your head, I am wondering if you have considered the Blanco Silgranit sinks? I was all set to get a stainless steel sink until I started reading on this forum about the Silgranit sinks. Everyone who has one loves it, and there has been no criticisms, unlike stainless which can be a pain to keep clean due to the water spots. Try doing a search for "Silgranit" on this forum, and you'll see what I mean. I think one that is a similar size to the BlancoSpex Plus is the Blancodiamond 511-711. They come in 4 colors, and the Anthracite color IMO is very cool. If you have a bigger cabinet (33"), I recommend the Blancoprecis 513-412.

Thanks drachiele. My DH insists that he wants a second "rinse" sink so our compromise has been the smallest rinse sink I could find...I think the main bowl is large enough that it will be fine as it is significantly larger than traditional double sinks. I never knew the faucet could make the difference between noisy and not-noisy when water hits the sink. That's interesting. I went ahead and ordered the ss sinks from Home and Stone and now I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we'll be happy with them and not incur a big restocking fee!