"this shouldn't be this hard."

It isn't. Use a 36" cabinet. You will have far more options that way. And no, you don't replace a sink with anything other than the same type, after putting in solid surface counters....unless you are replacing the countertop as well. So pick a sink you love.

I put 33" sinks into 33" cabinets regularly. It's not that big a deal.

" And no, you don't replace a sink with anything other than the same type, after putting in solid surface counters....unless you are replacing the countertop as well."

If you've got repair material, I can put any sink you please into a solid surface counter without replacing the top. With stone or estone, as long as the new sink has a bigger footprint, you can have whatever sink you please.

Still, it's a job for a counter guy, not a plumber, who is generally who I would call to install a sink. And I said 36" because she said she was looking at 30" vs 36".

But I defer to your expertise, as always! :-)

I had a similar dilemma. It revolved around centering the cabinet and sink in the window, and also I didn't want a huge sink because I needed all of the counter space I could get. We decided on a 26 " sink and decided to go with a 36" cabinet because basically with a smaller size, the space would be entirely wasted. Since we really didn't need the sink cabinet as big as it was going to be, we opted to put a tray divider in one side, and I have all my cookie sheets, etc in there. That was the best way we could come up with not to just waste the space, and it's working out well so far.

Unbelievable work Joseph!

Though I'm debating between a 30" or 36" sink cabinet, I will get the largest sink size that will fit the cabinet size chosen - no wasted space.

If I have a 36" cabinet, what INTERIOR size sink could I hope to fit in? What about a 30" cabinet?

I'm still confused as to how to search for a certain size sink, for a 30" or 36" cabinet w/o having to overly modify the cabinet. Some posters have "fit" a larger sink into a smaller cabinet then was recommended by the manufacturer. How can I determine which sinks I would be able to do this with? In an exaggeration, I couldn't fit a 36" sink into a 30" cabinet. What exactly should I be looking at to determine if we can make it "fit".

The Kohler website is nice because the specs with each sink tell you the minimum sink base required for each sink. This was helpful to me.

otoh...I was looking at the Kohler whitehaven and came across an old thread. Kompy (the Kitchen Place) said that although a 36" Whitehaven will fit in the 36" sink base...with inset cabinets she uses a sink base 3" bigger so the sides of the sink line up with the doors.

hope I'm not misinterpreting this.

Going to the Kohler website was helpful. I found this sink that is quite large (interior dimensions beat out many sinks that need a 36" cabinet). The reviews are fair, seems mostly because of too flat a bottom for the sink. Looks like Kohler listened to the needs of their customers!

Kohler Sink that fits in a 30" base

Here's is a thread that creates a lot of confusion about what sinks will fit into a 30" cabinet. Manufacturers say 33" but IRL they fit into 30"

Sinks Installed in a Smaller then Recommended Cabinet

ILoveRed, I guess it depends what overlay you have for the cabinets. Mine are almost full overlay and the sink lines up with the doors below.

Sink manufacturers are cautious; they want to make sure their sinks will fit, so they leave some play and subsequently waste space. They want to make sure you can tighten insert style fasteners. When you strap your sink, that's not an issue so you can go bigger than what they recommend.