I went with a 33" and found it really limited sink options. At first I figured what's 3" - no big deal! When I decided against a stainless steel sink I quickly realized it can be a big deal.

I have a sink that I really like but if I had to do it over I would stick with a standard size base to have more options. I ended up paying more for this sink than the larger standard size. Go figure!

But if it severely affects your kitchen to go bigger then find a sink now and then you will know what you are working with.

I have a 27" sink base. It looked like a sink base for a play house when it first went in but I adjusted. However, 24" is the size of a vanity sink base, and it may look a little off depending on the scale of other cabinets. Sinks are often focal points so I like to let them have presence. My old sink base was 36". Total waste of space to sink cabinet and a cramped double sink.

The Ikea sink has a 25 year warranty so you shouldn't have to worry about replacing it. I have a Blanco Silgranite sink. I think I was also considering the Kohler Riverby.

I'm a little lost as to what sizes are standard, so I'll have to do some searching to see what ikea sizes correspond to standard for other manufacturers.

Dumb question: Do I need to worry about having a sink cutout that is a wonky size, or would anyone replacing a sink in the future be redoing the counter anyway?

If we did go with a 24" sink, Ikea's sinks certainly make maximal use of the space afforded. But good luck finding an equally roomy sink for a 24" base if ikea abandons the design in a few years.

I could go to as much as the 36" but it does chew up useful storage space.

Although small, this sink is roomy enough for us.

Should I be worried about whether it'll be hard to find a different compatible sink later on?

Well, have you ever changed out a sink in the past, just the sink, without redoing the kitchen? There are other sinks that size, for sure, although not the selection you find in the larger more common sizes, but if the bredskar works for you, then that's solved.

If you did change a sink, even in a 30 or 36 in cabinet, you can have trouble with the cutout for an undermount when you go to something different, so you're only looking at slightly more trouble with a smaller sink. As long as people live in city apartments (and those are getting smaller all the time) there will be some selection of smaller sinks to choose from.

EDIT and in a small kitchen, I too would opt for more usable storage over "presence" for the sink, but if you want that, the single domsjo has plenty of presence and also fits in a 24" cabinet.

"Well, have you ever changed out a sink in the past, just the sink, without redoing the kitchen?"

Well, I've never had the opportunity to change anything in a kitchen, so I honestly don't know if people ever try to change out the sinks outside of a large remodel. It sounds like its always a pretty big deal, so maybe I don't need to worry about it. Once I cut the counter and undermount the sink, there it stays.

We're nitpicking details now, so I'm trying to figure out what I've failed to notice.

Today was sink day, and we spent some time trying to figure out if its always best to have more sink or if we just want to maximize our space. This is an urban kitchen in a small house so I'm leaning toward scaling the sink appropriately.

I agree that the ikea domsjo sink for their 24" base is very roomy. Style wise I think the rectangular undermount will go better with the cabinet style we picked. But I still swoon a little every time I see the domsjo sinks.

I should clarify what I meant. Going from 36 to 33 I assumed about any sink would work because it was only 3" but even if the sink is 32" they recommended a 34" base or greater. I know you can get creative with cut outs to make them fit but it's been debated on how wise that is or isn't to do it so we moved on and found one that fit the specs of our base.

If most you are finding are made for 27" or larger then maybe see if you can go with a 27" so you aren't not boxed into it for the future? It's 3" which sometimes can make or break the design. Only you know if it will be worth it. I went with 33" vs. 36" because I wanted the extra 3" in my drawer stack next to the sink. Always a trade off.

I do agree with mayflowers on the wasted under sink space but if you have an offset drain it can be a little better.

I lived with a smaller sink like the Bredskar for almost 20 years and didn't exactly hate it, but having the larger 28" Blanco has been a pleasure. I didn't want to waste space on a sink cab either but the 30" has been a good compromise since that gave me plenty of room for my trash, recycling and compost in there.

I really can't imagine why anyone would be switching out a sink later, assuming they have a decent quality one that isn't rusting or somehow damaged (and how often that happens I would guess is very rarely). So if the 24" base is best for your layout, go for it.

PS there have been many who fit a 24" sink into a 24" cabinet by setting the flanges on the cabinet side walls.

Agree. If the 24" sink/base cab work for you, go for it.

In terms of what the future holds: I predict that there will be more smaller kitchens, so IKEA will keep on producing the sinks. There's a trend towards moving back into the city as well as a trend towards smaller... Now I just hope IKEA will start selling their smaller appliances and even small kitchens here.

Something to ponder: if you are getting a garbage disposal and you tend to do minor household repairs yourself, you may rue the day you decided to get a 24" sink cabinet when you have to stick your body into a 24" cabinet that has plumbing and a giant disposer in it.

In a rental duplex I remodeled I used a 24" cabinet as the sink base.

The Dawn-brad sink was supposed to be a top mount, drop-in sink, but due to a miscommunication with the granite fabricator, the hole was cut sized to undermount it.

The rest of the remodel is described here:
http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/2701496/mini-reveal-for-low-budget-diy-kitchen-remodel

"Something to ponder: if you are getting a garbage disposal and you tend
to do minor household repairs yourself, you may rue the day you decided
to get a 24" sink cabinet when you have to stick your body into a 24"
cabinet that has plumbing and a giant disposer in it."

Hmm, good point.

I wonder if that is also a moment at which the under-sink, sliding trash pull-out set ups become frustrating?

I almost went with a 24" sink--a domsjo--but went with a 36" offset drain (Kohler Riverby Drop In) because someone here on GW said "no one has ever complained of a too-big sink." It's not installed yet because my husband and I DIY at a glacial pace, but I'm expecting there will be a lot of storage underneath and I won't miss the counter space that's devoted to sink.

P.S. I bought the sink recently on sale at Lowes for $200 and I think if you're in the market for a top mount it's a good one to consider.

I know of one person in my entire life who changed a sink without changing the rest of the kitchen (she went from a double to a single sink by removing the sink and having her granite countertop re-cut on site to fit the new, larger sink). I say if the size works for you, go for it!

FWIW there were plenty of kitchens on ikeafans with disposals in 24 in cabinets, and here's someone who undermounted the big single domsjo (not recommended by the pro ikea installers over there when the site was live, although several folks here have also done it) and says they had no trouble with the disposal:

http://www.cape27blog.com/2012/07/how-to-undermount-ikeas-domsjo-sink/

no photo, but mention of disposal in reply to question in comments.

EDIT The domsjo under mounted would be deeper than the bredskar.

Fwiw, we did change a sink without replacing cabinets. Our first house was a small duplex and we were young and broke so we diyed a kitchen remodel/refresh. I painted the existing cabinets because we could not afford to do new. We replaced the counters and the sink (as well as the flooring, appliances and lighting). The existing sink was stainless and it was not rusting or anything but it was about thirty years old at that point and looked a little beat up as well as being double iirc so we put in a shiny new single sink to go with everything else being either new or freshly painted.

My mom replaced a sink once that I know of without touching anything else in the kitchen--she had Initially chosen a white sink and really disliked how it looked with her off-white counters and replaced it within a few months with a black sink.

I did the initial ikea planner layouts for my kitchen with a 24" sink base and a 30" sink base. The 24" base didn't look right in the layout and 24" didn't seem like enough sink. The old sink was a 32" double bowl. Ended up with a 30" Kraus SS sink in the 30" base and it's a nice size for the size of the kitchen. (100SF galley) I wouldn't have wanted to go bigger and give up counter space. It turns out I also probably would have disliked the 24" cabinet because it wouldn't have had enough storage space.

In a one wall apt kitchen I would choose the 24" to maximize space, but not in a bigger kitchen.

Forget about the sink base ... but I don't think I'd be happy with a small 24" sink. I'm happy to lose a bit of storage to get a really big, comfortable sized sink. I agree with the person above who says, "No one has ever said, "I wish I had less sink."

As to whether people ever change the sink without changing the rest of the kitchen, I doubt it's a common exercise, but that doesn't matter. What DOES matter is that you choose correctly in the first place!

In general, people on this site seem to agree on large single-basin sinks and off-set drains. You'll find disagreement on stainless steel vs. Silgranite, on garbage disposals, and other details ... but we tend to be pretty unified on these basics.

but we tend to be pretty unified on these basics.

Umm, well, I have cooked in many kitchens where I thought, "why did they waste so much space on the sink when they need storage so badly," and I'm not totally sold on single bowl sinks either.

Those may be majority opinions, but they're not unanimous here by any means. Just look at all the single vs double sink threads to see how much variation there is.

I don't prefer a large single bowl and I don't recommend it unless you (1) have a sink base < 33" wide or (2) have a separate prep sink elsewhere.

If you have one sink and you have a wide enough sink base, I think a two-bowl 60/40 or 70/30 is better - you can have one sink for prepping and one for dirty dishes. I know some say "you can use a dish bin ", but I do not have room in my kitchen to store a dish bin!

Lots of useful points here, thanks.

After doing some measuring, we would up tentatively deciding that we'll put in a 36" sink cabinet. We'd have so little room in a 24" cab around a garbage disposal (assuming same model we have now, and assuming the drain is in the center) that we'd be hard pressed to store trash under the sink. So with a 24" cabinet, we'd probably wind up losing 15" somewhere else to making a dedicated trash pull out. Thus it's actually efficient to just go to the 36" sink base. (The 30" doesn't work as well as 24 and 36 sizes, for various reasons involving window placement and ikea sizing.)

If we stay with this decision, it seems we'll have a lot of latitude in selecting a sink size / configuration. I'll almost certainly go ahead and move to a larger sink - the question will be whether to maximize the potential of the large cabinet or keep the sink scaled to down a bit since the kitchen is smallish and the window in front of which the sink will be set is just 30".

With the current cabinet choices open to me, my main work areas in the kitchen will be 33" to the right of the sink cabinet base, and 54-61" on the left of it. Plus however much smaller the sink opening is than the 36" span of the base cabinet. A little more prep space is always a good thing, but so is making dirty mixing bowls disappear.

"Well, have you ever changed out a sink in the past, just the sink, without redoing the kitchen?"

Yes, I did this yesterday. It took 12 hours and the cabinet face and doors have not been altered and reinstalled yet. The faucet had to go to the side; no room on the new back ledge:

^ Interesting approach!

It's so great learning from each other. Thanks to Morton5 I have this setup in my kitchen and love it. It's a great use of space. I used a 36" sink base and two 18" drawers. Kudos to Romy for that inexpensive cloth drying rack idea.