Barb, You are breaking my heart!!! I abandoned my desire to have that sink because it was so expensive, and I couldn't justify that purchase AND the Bluestar AND the Bluestar hood AND ... well, I'm sure you know how it goes. I swear, the decisionmaking in remodeling is possibly more difficult than the inconvenience and the crooked contractors! Ok, so, IMHO, I do not think that black would look good at all with your sink. I have a small 1924 bungalow (a Sears kit house, if you happen to know what that is), and I'm trying to decorate and remodel in keeping with that time period. I felt that the Life in the Country sink, aside from being unique and pretty, did kind of have a vintage-looking design. After struggling with the decision on a type of counter, I decided on marble, both because I love the look and because it is a classic look. Here's the sink I ended up buying: And even though I didn't get your beautiful sink, I've stuck with the decision on marble. But don't ask me if it's installed yet. Of course not. I then had to learn about marble, and grades, and availability and honing and fabricators, and then I couldn't find any slabs that I liked in Wisconsin's extremely limited selection. I do plan to have a honed marble, mostly white, and lately, I've been fixated on Carrara. I'm attaching a link to recent post on GW that shows a beautiful pic of a white granite, tho, that may work for you if you prefer granite. Apparently, you can even have honed granite. At any rate, I'm no decorator, but even if you're not decorating in the time period style that I am, I still think a plain, light colored counter would look best with your sink. The sink is a work of art in and of itself and should be the focal point, not to mention that you don't want the whole look to be too busy. Whatever you decide to do, please post a picture of the finished room, so I can enjoy it vicariously. I'm so jealous. They didn't happen to have any more, did they? ;) Here is a link that might be useful: White Kitchen Countertop post by redwood15 on 3/24/11

A few years ago, when I was first looking at sinks, I really liked the more square shape of the Franke sink. They weren't selling the V & B model then (that i ever saw), but the Franke had the company name printed right on the front apron of the sink. I wanted a plain front, so I decided against that sink, and got the very lousy Porcher American Standard London farm sink, because the price was good, and it had the same square shape. It chipped/pitted like crazy after 18 months of gentle use (all over the front top lip where it is very noticible) and the company basically said "too bad for you." While looking for a new sink last year, I found the V & B version. I liked it (was still trying to avoid the curves of the Rohl), but the top edges were thinner than the Rohl. After my chipping issues with the Porcher, I wanted the biggest, toughest lips/edges I could find. So I went with the Rohl. Btw, my Rohl is very wonky and crooked, so not without issues. To install it looking mostly level, it won't fully drain! Ah, the price of beauty! (Tho not everyone has this problem.) I have a real love/hate relationship with fireclay sinks. Or maybe I should say that I love them, but they hate me! :-) Francy

Unfortunately, I can't get both. My kitchen is too small to have two sinks. I am putting a Domsjo sink in the nearby mudroom as a laundry sink. (I think I'm going to have my husband build a cabinet with a skirted front. Cute!) Thanks for that link. I'd looked at it before, but read through it again. You know, maybe the fireclay Orca is the answer. I can't get the fitted cutting board, but I can get the raised shelf. Do you think the shape is too modern? I haven't seen the Kohler cast iron apron sink, but I did get to see the new Kohler cast iron. It was so glossy and glassy! Shiny. I know it's supposed to be super hard, and I was all prepared to love it, but sadly, I didn't. Thanks for helping me mull this over in my head. Does anyone know if you can mount the fireclay Orca with a slight positive reveal? Or is the top of the sink entirely unglazed?

I had this same dilemma and ended up going with silgranite. The white wouldn’t have worked as well in our color scheme and the silgranite was a better option budget-wise. I’m so very happy with my decision. I had originally ruled silgranite out thinking it looked too modern, too cold, etc., but it’s actually really lovely. Ours is a Blanco. We’ve had it since last September and so far I have zero complaints. Cleans up beautifully, completely functional, and (I think) looks great. I know this was not your question :) Just throwing a third option out for you. Feel free to disregard!