I have a 33" Vigo ss apron sink. It's been installed for 8 months but we have only been in the house for 6 months. The outside of the sink looks as good as the day we got it. The inside does have scratches but that is to be expected. It is only dh and I, we don't have any children yet. I am pretty careful in the kitchen but Dh is not at all. I also found a thread in the metal working forum debating different ways of removing scratches from stainless steel. Of course everyone seemed to have a different opinion. Here is a link that might be useful: Thread on removing scratches

Monika and HU - I wonder if you're having problems because the Kohler plant had a fire several months ago and are really backed up in production, and thus, things are being rushed or done half ass to try to keep up with orders. I just replaced a double sink Kohler (can't remember the model but it was 20 years old) and wanted to go with a single basin. When I looked into Kohler, I was told (by Kohler) that they were back ordered nearly 6 months. (You could get it in almost any color but white, and white is what I wanted). I didn't have that time to wait so I went with a stainless steel (also by Kohler).

After 21 years of use, I am replacing a white Franke composite sink, as I am removing worn laminate countertops and replacing them with quartz. I have agonized over the choice of a new sink and have done much research about them. While I love my current sink, it has developed many small cracks around the disposal drain presumably from hot oil poured into the sink. You cannot feel the cracks, they are not raised, but there is a web of them all around the drain. Of course, this has been after many years of heavy duty use. Since Franke no longer makes granite composite sinks,(which has me curious as to why they discontinued them), I am down to a choice of SS, Silgranite II, or Iron coated with enamel. After much research, most chefs and other serious cooks recommend SS sinks. In fact, many of the current sink offerings for residential use are channeling the sharp angled configurations of restaurant SS sinks. On line reviewers and the salesperson at my local plumbing supply have experienced staining and chipping with cast Iron sinks. The salesperson told me that many companies will replace them if they do chip or stain, but they only send you a new sink, the owner is responsible for the cost of installation. Some reviewers on line talk about scratches in Silgranite sinks, especially on the darker colors. One magazine editorial that reviewed sink materials even included a picture that was taken of a showroom sink that had a scratch in the bottom that would not come out when the editor tried to remove it while in the store. From my on-line research, the cracking with Silgranite seems to have been only during transport and installation, however people have written about scratches that occurred during use. Missing from the comments on this site is the type of cooking being done by those offering their opinions. There is a big difference in experience with kitchen gear between a person who makes light meals for one or two people versus a gourmet cook who executes complex multi-course meals for many guests. As for myself, the utility of a sink is a more important consideration than how it looks. If I am in the middle of preparing a complex meal, I do not want to worry that I might damage my sink if I lob a heavy skillet or pot into it!

Somanyquestions -- I like the contrast of a white sink with black soapstone and frankly I just like the old-fashioned look of a drop in cast iron sink. I like that big roll of white enamel that's hard to clean over! The silgranit sinks are beautiful, I will admit, and probably a lot easier to keep looking clean. As for the radon issue, I know quite a bit about both radon and radiation. In fact, I recently installed a pretty significant radon mitigation system in my house. And I would be concerned about adding something (e.g., a "hot" granite) that would add to radon levels. But frankly I doubt that a sink made up of ground up granite and plastic (my idea of what silgranit is!) is going to be any kind of problem. And, I doubt much of the granite is either. Of course, the fact that say over 99 percent of granite is not a problem does not prove that the other remaining percentage is also not a problem. The world is not black or white; it's more complicated. I'm banking on the idea that most granite is not a problem and that the silgranit sinks are made of some sort of run-of-the-mill stone. Of course, time and time again we find out that corporations have not considered the health impacts of various materials that are used in our houses and put into our food. I'm not sure why most people on this forum either fall into "the sky is falling" category of worrying that all granite is dangerous OR the people who are just nasty and think that worrying about radon is stupid. If you don't think that smoking is good for your health because statistically speaking a large portion of cigarette smokers will get lung cancer, you wouldn't want to expose yourself to radon either. On the other hand, if you think that "nobody has ever proved" that an individual person contracted lung cancer from smoking or any kind of cancer from any kind of radiation (nuclear weapons testing, nuclear power emissions, medical) because you refuse to look at the epidemiological (population-based) evidence then you're just a hopeless anti-science person. Why the anti-science people have to be so nasty is really beyond me to understand.