I purchased a SS Kraus sink about 2 years ago and it is easy upkeep and also came with a really nice sink grid. Same upkeep as the 20 year old sink I had when I purchased my condo. I use Bar Keepers Friend and a little spray of Twinkle stainless steel cleaner and it looks great!

Those instructions are ridiculous!

The caution about chlorides is good. It applies to old sinks as well. If you want to buff and polish you can, either regularly or occasionally if you get a cleaning-'til-it-sparkles bug. If you don't it will eventually look like your "old" SS. Personally I think that is fine. It's clean, it looks clean, it just doesn't look unused.

We have an extra deep, brushed stainless steel sink that looks exactly like this (although maybe a little wider):

We wipe it down with a sponge after we do dishes and sometimes dry it if we really want it to look clean (but rarely). Honestly, that is all we do. We have had it for about 10 years and it still looks great but I think that is partly because of the brushed finish. Water marks and scratches don't show up much.

I LOVE our sink. Especially since it is so deep and wide. I can put a full cookie sheet down on the bottom to scrub.

We have scratches--they started on day one, so I'm not too picky about scratching. I'm the only one who bothers to clean the sink, or even rinse it, even though there are three adults in the house. I usually just wipe with the soapy dishcloth and rinse it daily, or whenever I load the DW, and then once a week I use a mesh scrubby and the same crystals I use the in DW, to give it a good scrubbing. I read somewhere that sinks need to be scrubbed to remove the bacterial film that develops on the surface. I don't recall ever drying it with a towel.

Occasionally, especially if I've rinsed meat in the sink, I'll squirt some diluted bleach solution around the drain, but I rinse right away--I learned the hard way, with the bathroom sink, that bleach left sitting in the sink will corrode the drain flange.

Oh yeah, I do also spray it down with a homemade anti-microbial/disinfectant spray after working with meat, let that sit for a few minutes, then spray down with hot water.

I rinse, wipe with a soapy sponge, and rinse again. Done. Still looks and works great.

Thanks everyone for your responses. We need to get a sink quickly and we've been between a couple Elkays at Home Depot or a couple Frankes at Lowes. But then there's one one Amazon that's a lot more expensive but gets all 5 star reviews.

Here's the high maintenance Elkay we were ready to go with: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Elkay-Innermost-Perfect-Drain-Dual-Mount-Stainless-Steel-33-in-2-Hole-Double-Bowl-Kitchen-Sink-HD523637/203247480

Here's the Franke: http://www.lowes.com/pd_625016-1475-FBSLG904-18BX_1z0u60sZ1z0u6h1Z1z10rmgZ1z11wwyZ1z1291fZ1z0u6mb__?productId=50277411&pl=1 wish it were USA made.

Here's the Amazon one: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DSRQF2E/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=2II6WIQ6PY8BS&coliid=I1LV7YSDCVJHUB

There's also this one, but I'm not crazy about zero radius for our traditional home: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007DQ1Z4O/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=2II6WIQ6PY8BS&coliid=I2647ZUUFXPD04&psc=1

Many have recommended Kraus, but the only top mount I've foun is only 25 inches. Have no idea what it would be like to go from 33 down to 25. Except that we'd get more counter space.

I really appreciate any/all help!

Celine

There are tradeoffs to each product. Stainless scratches, but is easily refinished.

I have this Elkay Crosstown sink from Home Depot. I rinse it thoroughly and wipe it down with a sponge when I'm done doing dishes. Every couple of days I clean it with Bar Keeper's Friend powder. It does have scratches on the bottom, but it doesn't bother me at all.

Joseph, I had no idea. Never heard of refinishing a stainless sink!

Btw, I got another reply from Elkay when I said in effect, "Are you kidding me?" about the care instructions:

When a sink is new is has manufacturing residue on it which tends to hold the water. When the water evaporates, it leaves a residue either a brown spots or water spots. If you clean the sink with a powdered cleanser, and Scotch Brite pad in the direction of the grain, this will remove this residue. In time the sink will develop a patina, and you will not notice spotting so much.

This seems to contradict the care instructions above, so I asked her if those official instructions are for OCD types, and the instructions she was now giving me were for every-day types who don't care that much. Told her a patina is fine with us.

I also have an older (67 yrs young) hard working SS sink. We replaced the wall mounted faucet this year as it was totally worn out but the sink is fine. I clean it with soap and water and occasionally shine it up with kleen glo. I doubt there's any finish left on mine but it has a good patina and is rust free. :)

We went ahead and got the Elkay sink and will trust that it's not going to need as much babying as they'd like us to do. Thanks, everyone!