Went to the Cambria dealer who has 12x12 samples of the Waterstone collection. My future cabinets are stained a sort of milk chocolate and the sink is slate-colored (Kindred). So I thought Torquay or Waverton was the solution. When I held the cabinet door and a representative slate color against the Bellingham sample, I was blown away. Perfect match, lots of movement, loved it. But I'm still torn with going conservative (Torquay) or taking the risk and hoping I won't regret getting Bellingham.

So what did everyone purchase - an Elkay or a Blanco? Months (or years later) are you happy with it? I've had a Blanco Silgranite and liked it a lot but did find it got a little scratched (maybe because it was a lighter color - biscotti) And oddly enough, about 2 years after it was installed, somehow, it got cracked. To this day I have no idea how. Maybe the cleaning woman dropped the stove grates when she was washing them?!?!? I don't know. Blanco did send us a new replacement sink and although it was challenging finding someone to install it, we did and never had a problem for the next 5 years that we lived there. New house now - doing a little kitchen updating and really considering going with an Elkay sink this time around but searching GardenWeb for some insight and others' experience.

I have Cambria Torquay in my kitchen. It is so beautiful & I could not be happier with it. I too had a terrible time getting my kitchen design place to get a sample so I finally ordered a sample directly from Cambria & it came in a couple of days. Cambria shipped it out the day after I ordered it. It seems that Cambria subcontracts out the job of supplying kitchen design places with the samples & the subcontractors do a really poor job of supplying samples. Cambria themselves were super fast. I had gotten so discouraged waiting for the kitchen design place to get samples that I also ordered samples from Silestone (Lyra & Lagoon) in case I wanted to give up on Cambria. I liked Cambria's Torquay so much better. Torquay's white is whiter instead of being just shades of gray or slightly muddy. It is a very serene design to me. If you have any doubts about what you want and you cannot find a sample, just order a sample. The cost is nothing when you compare living with a countertop pretty much forever. BTW, Cambria's samples are 12"X12" so you get a really good picture of what it is like, not like looking at a 1" square!

Ok. Glad that I find this post. I, too, am considering this One-bowl Elkay sink (Model# HD523566) because I want the largest sink I can get for my 30" base cabinet. This one is 27"; the best I can find in the market. I picked up from Home Depot. It looks beautiful, gorgeous, large and heavy. Installing is not an issue for me as my plumber will do it. I'm concerned with the rust and the upkeep that a few reviewers mentioned. I have a sink from the builder that I've been using for 18 years. I would not believe that this is a better grade than this Elkay model. I checked Kohler's website for care instructions on their SS sink and noticed that their statement is just what Elkay mentioned. So, what's the difference? I think these are standard care for SS. I just got off the phone with an Elkay rep. She said that should not happen; however, by asking her more questions, I was able to dig further. This model is an 18 gauge (the thickness) and 301 (combination of Nickel and Chromium). That level of nickel & chromium is what makes the product more resistant to rust and corrosion. A 304 is better. So she gave me a comparable model LSR2722PD - same size with a 304. The price more than doubles. My next step is to check if there really is a big difference bet. the 301 & 304 in terms of corrosion. Is that what makes the difference or are these reviewers are now noticing problems that they probably have even with their old sinks? Overrstock.com just sent me a Kraus that they have on sale for $179 which includes all the accessories. The dimension might be smaller. I would not want to go smaller because I have a fairly large size kitchen but 30 in cabinet which limits me. Will see.