I have a Blanco black composite granite sink, and i HATE it! It looks nice in our kitchen, but it gets a whitish "haze" on it. And yes, I do clean it! The best way I've found to minimize the hazey look is to clean it well and then oil it liberally with mineral oil, let it sit overnight, and then wipe it down with a paper towel.

I'd never have another black sink. In our new house I'm going for good old stainless steel!

@tvq1, thanks for the info. Do you have the Anthracite black? Hard or soft water?

I have the plain black (although I don't remember it being called "Coal Black"--it was a few years ago) We have hard water, but use a water softener. I'm sorry to be so negative, but it really is a pain to keep clean. Maybe the Elkay sinks are better.

Our black sink was in the house when we purchased 3 years ago, so don't know the color name, but I could not keep it clean looking. Switched to stainless last year.

What kind of color flecks does the anthracite have and where are you seeing these samples? Everything is out of stock everywhere so I didn’t think to look in stores for samples—would love to though.

I have the anthracite Bianco sink. Semi-Hard water. It cleans up well with some Bartender's friend. One small spot I can't remove completely where a contractor set a paintbrush down. I simply prefer to minimize the stainless steel appearance in my kitchen.

Does the anthracite seem truly black to you? I’m afraid it won’t next to my black countertop although my black quartz countertops will have some little (transparent) flecks too. I’m slightly more nervous about the wait for the coal black and I only have two choices in the size I need and I don’t like the reveal on the Kohler. The anthracite is identified as “black” but it looks like a dark grey in all the photos.

I have also been debating between the two. I saw they were installing a bunch of blanco sinks for the display at the store I went to today and I think they were installing the coal black as it looked pure black but was dusty from the installation. I think Anthracite is almost black with specks. I plan to go back to the store when the display is complete.

Here is a photo I found if it helps

I also think the texture might be smoother on the black coal but did not get a chance to properly compare them

I saw the coal black today in an appliance store near me. It is very smooth, and a really nice deep black color. The one I saw was like a half farmhouse sink; I loved it! A ture black.

Did anyone ever by the coal black? Love the striking color but worried about our hard water. About to order so if anyone knows, please advise!

@makay - I've had two previous kitchens with the BlancoDiamond Super Single in anthracite. Both homes had slightly hard water. I even tested the water pH at the most recent home and it was at 9%. My understanding is that above 8.5% is considered hard, so 9% is not very hard. That was all to tell you that I never had any kind of white film, and found the anthracite sink very easy to clean. In fact, it never showed anything, and I had to remind myself to clean it. In my current home I have a stainless steel sink, and it shows hard water white spots. The water spots are easy to clean, but really, no sink material is perfect, and you just have to decide what you are OK with.

You can buy the pH test kit on Amazon, the one I bought was by Hach, but there are others.

"but the Germans at Elkay have got them beat by a mile"

I know that comment was from a year ago, but I need to clarify that it is Blanco that is a German company. While Elkay is multinational, it is a family-owned American company located in Illinois, and has been for more than 100 years.

Thank you for your help. I had the cafe brown (I think) in our last house for 12 years and it held up great in my opinion. Just wondering if the matte black of coal black shows more than anthracite with a bit of sheen to it. Thanks!

As others have said, avoid Blanco Silgranit sinks. I and a friend, both had them and both hated them. We had white. they are soft and will scratch and chip. They stain. I'm not interested in learning some unique maintenance and cleaning requirement for a unique sink material that should not exist in a working kitchen. They belong in designer kitchens that are never used and probably don't even need a sink.

@First Last - it has been reported many times on this forum that the Blanco Silgranit white and cream colors behave differently from Blanco's darker colors. If you had bought a Blanco Silgranit sink in a darker color, you would not be posting to complain about the sink. As I mentioned earlier, I have had two Blanco Silgranit sinks in two different homes. Both were in anthracite, a charcoal color. I liked the first sink so much that I bought the same one for the house I moved into next. There was no "unique maintenance", and in fact, I had to remind myself to clean them because they showed nothing, and always seemed clean. When we moved out, the sink looked like the day it was installed, and we were not careful with it at all.

Light colored Blanco, maybe 8 years old, beaten to death last week.

I've had the Blanco Anthracite for 2 years and absolutely love it! Would never do any other sink again. I have hard water but with culligan water softening system. I forget to clean it because it always looks clean. Every few months I oil it with food grade wood oil.