I am not sure what your KDs are thinking of. We have owned Swanstone sinks for almost 20 years. The bathroom sinks are indestructible, and our kitchen sink, installed in 2003, has been a delight. It is quieter and frankly, easier to clean than the top-notch Kohler Executive Chef porcelain-clad cast iron sink that was replaced. Which, BTW, was in perfect condition when it was removed, despite hideously hard usage. Nonetheless, we were glad to replace the double EC with the single Swanstone. Note that aluminum pans will leave the same "gray marks" on solid surfacing that they do on clad cast iron sinks. These scrub away very easily with Softscrub or a quick soak with a bit of bleach (but if you use bleach, ALWAYS rinse well after a few minutes - especially for clad cast iron; it will eat the coating away). As I said, the Swanstone solid surface sink cleans much, much easier than the Kohler. You may believe whomever you wish, but my DH has often commented to me that the Swanstone sink was the best thing we did in a $26K updating of our kitchen and bathrooms. One thing matte sinks are very bad with is leaving wet cans (we have to rinse cans before they can go into the recycling bins) overnight: they leave a rust stain that takes about a month to go away. Note that uncoated cast iron cookware would probably do the same thing. I don't clean the sink extensively more than once a month; it simply doesn't need it. One either likes the matte finish of Swanstone/Corian or one doesn't. Many people like the high-gloss look and think solid surface sinks always look "dull". Our kitchen is extremely high-glare - I get sun in the windows 365 days a year, all 24' wide and 16' tall from picture windows, so we are very anti-glare. Best of luck with whatever you choose to do.

Thynes! Thanks so much for giving me the exact name and number for your tile. I had seen your expanded kitchen post and couldn't find the exact tile. You have such a lovely kitchen, so warm and welcoming and the tile really makes a statement. I also see they only have one USA distributor. Your tile in your kitchen looks totally different than on the website..were you able to get a sample or see the tile in a store? I've sent Saltillo an email as well..so we shall see. Thanks again for the information. This post was edited by harleysbud on Sun, Mar 31, 13 at 15:25

Quartz names do not vary by region, the manufacturers use the same names nationwide. Its easier to find solid white colors in quartz than granite. Its very hard to find a granite with a pure white colors. To see the different quartz colors go to the manufacturer's websites as they all show the colors they make.

We ended up going with Pristine, and it's absolutely beautiful. It's been a year, and it looks brand new, no stains or issues. I love it even more than expected. My husband is thrilled and the whole room looks elevated. We used BM Simply White for the cabinets and SuperCore oak natural for the floors. Check my profile for pics in progress (old floors, tho). We've chosen Satori venatino marble subway tiles for the backslash and all these whites are compatible-- no issues with warm/cool undertones fighting. I'll be sealing the marble on all 6 sizes via a dunk in 511 sealer. Can't wait to see it finished-- the marble could've been risky against a marble-look quartz, but it looks absolutely perfect and gorgeous together.