"Can anyone who has a 16 gauge sink comment on whether it flexes when you push the bottom of it? i have an 18 gauge sink and it flexes a bit." It isn't the gauge of the steel; your sink is improperly mounted. It's probably a double bowl with no stanchion between the bowls and it's probably clipped or blocked in place. A strapped 20 gauge double bowl sink cannot budge as that would defy the laws of physics. If your sink is flexing, it's leaking. If it's leaking, it's unsanitary, creating bug habitat, and endangering any reinforcement rods in your top.

Thank you hestia_flames! In the mean time, I did go to a local plumbing store and looked at three models that I am considering: * Price Pfister Ashfield * Delta Allore * Kohler Vinnata The Price Pfister looks beautiful and more traditional with a lovely tulip shaped spray head, but the spout was cheap and thin. While the price is attractive ($281) I could see a dent in the display and can only imagine what a big stainless steel pot pushed up against the faucet would do. The Delta Allore is much more sturdy and has the magnet clasp for the spray head. I wasn't wild about its looks; I think it was a bit too contemporary for me. I could get the Delta Allore with 10% off, so it came in at $360, which is reasonably priced. The Kohler Vinnata is beautiful, I guess I'll need to shop around because they quoted me $561 as the contractor's discount for the stainless steel. I have checked the local craigslist every day, but haven't seen one yet in my area :-(. I wasn't able to see the Simplice, but my son saw it at Home Depot and said it wasn't good quality at all. The Moen Woodmere has all the same features as the Vinnata plus the stop button. I haven't seen it in person. I have seen the Vinnata on Ebay, but in the chrome finish for around $369. Of course, the stainless is at least $100 more. I've probably over analyzed the faucet situation. The local plumbing store had never heard of the Moen Woodmere, which I wanted to see in person. It appears that GWers know more about what's going on in terms of faucets. Go figure...

I can't speak about Moen but I have Forte faucet in polished chrome - I selected it because (1) switching between spray and stream regimes is easy, no need to hold down anything, and I didn't like the feel of any push-down buttons on other faucets, just felt flimsy to me, (2) I can turn it off in any position which means next time I turn it on it 'remembers' the temperature setting (most other faucets I've seen I had to return the handle in the original position), and (3) it was within my price range, I tried to stay as low as possible on my budget. Of course, I like the looks and I am not a big fan of the high long-neck faucets. I've had it for couple of months and am as happy as I can be (gosh, it's a faucet, not a husband - lol). It has a good reach, height is just fine for my bigger dishes (and I have a 7-1/2 inch deep sink undermount on livingstone, so abt 8in total). As far as splashing goes, I found out it's me who does the splashing, not the faucet. I had a cheapo tiny faucet before that barely reached above the sink edge, thus no splashing. With higher faucet I tend to put things higher when I wash them and it (I) splash a little. No big deal though and I may be able to retrain myself back :)

The water is pretty dumb where I live and can't find it's way to the drain unless it runs downhill. Probably 99% of the sinks these days are installed in dead flat counter tops, and spills easily drip to the floor. With top mounts, splashes have to jump over the rim to get into the sink. Even with bottom mounts (in addition to their other problems) splashes are just as likely to find their way to the floor as into the sink. My favorite sink was in my first house: a cast iron monster with 2 drainboards and a foot-high backsplash. No seams to gather wet gunk. My second sink was stainless, totally seamless with the counter top and backsplash -- a custom job by the former owner. In my current house, I've had to make do with a stainless sink that has only one drainboard. But I want something better. I love the Clarion Farmhouse Drainboard Sink. It's like my first one, but too overpowering for my current kitchen. Ditto the many styles of commercial sinks. Then I found the Elkay Lustertone Series. It has 2 drainboards and I can fit a dishwasher under one of them. It has a modified raised lip. It has an integrated backsplash -- though I wish it were a little higher so that I could install a wall faucet through it. And it can replace an entire 6 feet of countertop surface, thereby mitigating its cost. The kitchen is still in the planning phase, but I know which sink I'll be buying. Take a look at it before deciding on Silgranite or the more common stainless sinks. Here is a link that might be useful: Elkay double drainboard sink