I've posted this before, but there is a copper sink photo gallery available that might give you some ideas - I have placed a link below. There is also a good article on that same website about what to look for when buying a copper sink. I've bought from this company before and they were outstanding to deal with (and their pricing was a good value for the quality of products they sell). There are many different types of vessel sinks. We even have two teak wood sinks in our master bath. ...it just depends on the look you want. More modern? Consider a glass sink. Rustic or "old world", consider stone or copper. I looked at the dreamline sinks. There are better priced onyx sinks on SinksGallery.com. I believe they are less than $500 and according to a friend that bought one, they will send you a picture of the exact sink you will be receiving (since they are all slightly different due to the nature of stone). We have a copper sink in our kitchen and since we chose one of the darker finishes, we paired it up with an oil rubbed bronze faucet that we bought from the same company. Very pleased with the look and the sink/faucet. Good luck! Here is a link that might be useful: copper sink photo gallery

To me, there's nothing wrong with mixing "high end" and lower cost, functional good-quality kitchen components. More important to me is to avoid the waste implied in buying things that will not last or that will certainly become unfashionable. I live in a working class neighborhood, mostly little 1950s houses with lots of retirees, including myself. Although our lot is on a lake, this property will NEVER command top dollar because of the settlement pattern of the community. The recession has really hurt home values here; I thought our house was $275,000 to $300,000 because of previous improvements, but I believe that it's now $220,000 and that was before we launched a major addition, geothermal, and new siding, etc. No matter what we sink into the house, it's for us, not for resale or peer pressure. We have decided to retain the 30 inch refrigerator we bought last year (an emergency purchase) but to put it in a position where a larger unit could some day fit. No wooden housing around it. We are keeping our old electric range, but are adding a portable induction burner that can be set out on the countertop to increase functionality. There is room for another oven on a wall outside our new G shaped kitchen, but I don't think I will be the one to buy it (unless my grown children move back to live nearby); a portable roaster oven will suffice to augment the baking and roasting for large gatherings. We use our outdoor gas grill in all seasons for grilling. My husband enjoys the ritual of being the griller and he shovels the access space before dinner parties. The broiler in the old range suffices if he doesn't want to venture outdoors. We are retaining our existing dishwasher. Our big innovation is to add a second sink to the kitchen. All sinks and appliances are white. My muse is the idea of a "workshop kitchen." I am not trying to reproduce any particular theme, unless it is a farm kitchen that processes a lot of food in season. I do hope to make the kitchen work as a functional, welcoming space for myself and husband now that we're empty nesters and for events when we have visitors, whether large or small groups. Laminate for countertops is sufficient and my ego does not require anything more dazzling on the countertops, although there will be slabs of butcherblock on either side of the stove. Hubby decided to go with hardwood floor and install it and finish it himself, although I was ready to order the vinyl. We have found a local cabinetmaker who said he would meet the price of a sample plan of readymade cabinets from the Big Box home stores. Now, we're adding custom touches to the cabinetry plans, not in decorative features but real utility features, such as tapping the space that was wasted in "spacers" between boxes. All materials are American made, or American harvested. Except for the old siding and walls and flooring, very little is going to the landfill. Furnace went to the scrap metal guy. My own eccentricities will add all the "pop" and pizzaz that this kitchen will need. Fabric, color, laminate choice, color of stain, art, displays of collections-- a creative outlet without a high end price tag. We have splurged on a bank of windows and a few light fixtures (No, we're not putting in "cans" because the ceiling feeds to an attic where we're fighting heat loss.) We are working very hard to live within our means, following the requirements of good sense and ignoring consumer manias. When I get myself too fired up about making a more upscale purchase, I remind myself that the photos, the ad copy, the home shows and the open houses, are all there to facilitate SELLING, not living. Here in Minnesota, where granite is quarried, I know that some of the rock countertops are fairly reasonable, but as I have declared elsewhere on this forum, I refuse to purchase anything that is sold with a "how to care for it" bottle of something and some warnings about how to protect the finish. In many ways, by definition, I am free from the pressures that other posters feel in order to keep up with the neighborhood, to make a kitchen that defines a house value, or to prepare for the brutal house market. I don't envy the young and broke. But I was there once and I not only survived but thrived on it. The original kitchen in this house was painted baby blue without concern for the cathair? gobs in the paint and the kitchen 'table' had a hinge so we could access the refrigerator. My hubby and my carpenter father and a different local cabinetmaker came up with a sufficient re-do that we have appreciated since right before the Bicentennial. I raised two sensible daughters in that modest kitchen. This doesn't mean I'm not agonizing over choices today, though. "Leave me alone, I'm thinking!" is a common mantra right now. Today's musing: Do I want to order fancier cupboard doors? It's always something. Enjoy your day. Florantha

A month of so ago, I started getting emails from Zillow (have no idea how). They show a picture of a kitchen, the total cost, and then, when one scrolls down, they show a breakdown, by category, of materials and labor. It was a HUGE eye opener for me as I thought cabinets were a MUCH bigger part of the budget than they appear to be. One can subscribe to "budget", "mid-range", and "luxury" kitchens. I think the biggest price I ever saw for cabinets in a HUGE kitchen, was about $30-40,000. Appliances? Often $20,000. Countertops & backsplash were another high ticket area. And labor clearly varied, based on whether there was extensive electrical/plumbing work or blowing out walls. I asked my KD about this (he owns the company and also supplies the labor for most of the work), and he said that in the nearly 40 years he's been doing this, he has seen the cabinet percentage of a kitchen remodel go down substantially. He said this is due to many manufacturers doing semi-custom which cuts cost dramatically. He said it's a rare client who springs for total custom as they rarely need to be able to spec things to the 1/4 inch. He said there are so many ways to work around this and then do NOT involve "filler strips". My own kitchen is going to come in at around $25,000, $13,000 of which is cabinets. But my kitchen is an anomaly as I am reusing my kitchen counters/integrated sink, all the undercounted lighting can be reused, ceiling pot lights were done over a decade ago - only 1 new one added, existing hardwood floors are being used (finished on site 13 years ago), and we're even reusing the Perrin & Rowe faucet - it's still made and now twice the price it was when I bought it. So, in reality, I'm doing a $40,000 kitchen, I just paid for much of the high cost stuff over the years. Did I make some compromises? Of course! I wish the cabinet interiors were wood, not a thin veneer of maple melamine (they will be painted wood on the glass doored cabinets), but it was not worth several thousands more to get this. No one sees them but me and they will be easy to keep and clean. Am I getting every single thing my little heart desired? Again, no! But this is due to the fact that I have an 11 x 15 kitchen and there is simply no room to build in the microwave or get other appliances off the counters (without sacrificing valuable real estate which I was unwilling to do). Is it going to be a show piece? What kitchen that size is! No island, just a $99 Ikea 17" wide cart. I hope this helps you. Try to subscribe to the Zillow kitchen emails - they are invaluable when pricing things.

We used Rohl’s Perrin & Rowe lineup in our bathroom reno and couldn’t be happier. Exposed thermostatic shower system, sink faucet and tub filler for claw foot tub and a whole host of accessories. The quality is tangible. We had a minor issue with the diverter valve in the shower (it worked, but it didn’t feel smooth) which Vintage Tub & Bath replaced, no questions asked. Fortunately it was an easy fix on the exposed shower (a few unions). And Rohl’s polished nickel finish is exquisite Now were doing our kitchen and another bathroom and we keep going back to Rohl. We’ve found few options which tickle our fancy and the ones we have, (Lefroy Brooks, Graff, etc.) we’re unsure of the quality. Being a car guy, I like car analogies: A Lexus LS460 is in the same class and possesses most of the same features as a Mercedes S550, BMW 7-Series or Audi A8, and may even give you less problems than the German marques, but a Lexus will never have that same “carved from billet” feel.