What do you mean by "hire someone to cut the sink?"

I don't know about the new version, but the problem with the old version (pre-Sektion) was that the back edge was unfinished, so you had a raw edge there to figure out what to do with. A couple of people who used it islands put a piece of wood behind it to hide that, but I never cared for that myself.

If you mean you are thinking of chopping off the entire deck, you would be much better off just finding a different regular farmhouse sink, IMHO.

Sorry, I misspoke, I meant the sink cutout. That's weird that just the back edge would be unfinished. Sounds like I'd need to find that out. Unfortunately I'm about 3 hours from the nearest Ikea, so no way for a quick drive by. Hopefully someone who has the sink can chime in! I haven't seen any other apron style sinks this small, and this is already as big as I can go.

Well, ikea operates on a scale where if they can save .001¢ per piece, that makes a difference in the bottom line.

Also, they have an annoying tendency to decide how you should do things and design accordingly, like their bathroom sink tops that deliberately have almost no space outside the actual sink, because they think you should keep everything put away out of sight, and too bad for you if want a place to keep your stuff on the vanity top. So they think your sink should go against a wall, and that's that.

However, I think it's possible that the new design domsjo deck may be flat enough that you could use caulk. I'm not near an ikea, either, but I may be near one in the next week or two and I'll try to remember to check for you.

Use the Kohler Whitehaven. It's just about as foolproof of a sink for a novice installer as exists.

Thanks Writersblock, if you happen to be in one in the next couple weeks and check it out that would be great! Definitely don't go into one for the sole purpose of doing that though, I swear it takes 45 minutes just to walk through one as fast as you can. At least the ones I've been to only seem to have one exit and you seem to have to walk the whole maze to get to it! I have a girlfriend who lives pretty close to one, so I'll have her tell me next time she's going to it so she can check it out for me.

The Kohler Whitehaven does have a 23" sink but it's undermount and waaay our of my sink budget!

I have a Whitehaven and love it - worth every penny. I fainted at the price too - just put off my refresh a few months till I had saved more. Online the 23" Whitehaven is about $750 and the Domsjo is about $350.

I considered the Domsjo. On one hand it is inexpensive, but most report chips and sometimes crazing within 5 years. Do a houzz search of it in design dilemma or on the gardenweb in kitchens. In 5 years your Domsjo could look worn while a Whitehaven, if not abused, will look like new.

I'm only looking at the Domsjo single basin so it's currently listed at $186. Thanks for the recommendation on where to search for problems JHMarie. I'll do that. the other sink I was considering was the Blanco Diamond Composite Granite in cafe brown to blend with the island countertop rather than contrast with it, as in the case of the white farmhouse sink.

If you can use black, here's one to consider

152163686918

A Kohler 3942 may be $300.00 more than the Dom, but what a nicer sink.

I would certainly hope that for twice the price it would be at least twice as nice! Believe me if I could buy the best I would, right now we're not in a place where there is going to be new savings for awhile. We just bought an old house that is needing a lot of work. I'm on a tight budget for the kitchen and it's really the main "luxury" work we're doing, since the kitchen is functional and I don't technically need an island. I just really want a dishwasher and more counter space! I need to stick with a 20"-24" sink due to space constraints and I need to keep the cost of the sink around $200ish. I wasn't really considering the farmhouse style sink for the island until I saw the small Domsjo. Whenever we can replace the main countertop on the back wall I will change out that sink and probably will go with a large apron front sink since I love them and they fit the style of the house. I will definitely save to get an awesome sink for that, but that is ways down the road right now, the current countertop and sink are in fine shape and there are lots of other priorities.

This does really have me thinking this may not be the way to go through, if there is that much concern about this sink. Already I was worried about if there were problems that it would be difficult to replace since another of the same would probably be the only option, even that small Whitehaven seems to be smaller than the Domjso so it wouldn't be possible to easily trade up later. A more traditional drop in would be easier to replace if needed without having to replace the whole countertop. Ha, I don't want to plan for things to fail but don't want to get myself into a corner where the only fix is an all new everything!

On a budget, nothing beats a drop in sink and a laminate counter. Butcher block isn't that cheap, and you don't want a drop in with it as it traps moisture and rots it out at the edge.

Sophie, DH will be making the countertop himself, we have a bunch of reclaimed oak in the barn and he is experienced with working with wood. Would an undermount be better for not trapping moisture? Isn't there a seam either way? Don't you caulk around sinks to keep the moisture from getting under them? Sorry, I don't know much about it, these are the assumptions I have!