Is it best to have the drain in the center, rear center or rear corner? Please explain. Thanks in advance... IMO, rear or rear corner drains are best. They provide a lot more space for other things below the sink, as the space behind the drain is essentially inaccessible, especially with a disposal. In my case, I got a sink with a rear corner drain for my prep sink. In an 24" cabinet, I not only have the sink, I have a large disposal (1 HP), I also have a foot pedal controller for the faucet, and an air switch. I have (most importantly) a standard kitchen (13 gallon) trash can in the same cabinet. I store 3 one-gallon jugs of liquids, plus a couple of bottles of cleaning spray, all in a single 24" cabinet. I could not store half of that stuff, especially the vital trash can, if I had a center drain. IMO, there is no downside to a rear or rear-corner drain, except that it is harder for the plumber to install it. The only thing to watch for is if there is enough space for a disposal, especially with a corner drain. The disposal is much larger in diameter than the drain itself would be.

Unless someone welded it in, look from underneath the sink for screw rings around the sink basket. The exterior is normally threaded and the rings screw up from underneath to pull the basket tight to the sink. If they are corroded enough they may have to be cut to remove them (and yes it is a PITA in the small space and access under an installed sink).

Thank you, all, once again! Diy crazed, we are living with two Ikea "Udden" units flanking the range right now. They are topped with stainless counters and one has a small integral sink. They've been surprisingly functional and it was the convenience of being able to set hot heavy pans right on them and not having to worry about stains that first made us consider the stainless. The look, especially in winter, leaves me a little cold. One of my favorite kitchens in my files has ivory cabinets and zinc counters. We were so keen for zinc in the early days (zinc counters paired with a patterned encaustic tile floor a la french bistro--at least as reimagined by Thomas Keller--if you can believe it). In the end we decided to try be truer to the Victorian provenance of our house, but with quite a bit of allowance for contemporary conveniences and eclecticism. I'm having a difficult time visualizing the soapstone though. Thank you for your read of our kitchen. We may be too close to evalutate. Malhgold, those are my concerns exactly. The marble reference in the drawing is from an earlier iteration. We've made the decision for perimeter counters to be all one material. But I do know what you mean about the soapstone changing the tone. Next to black, lighter colours often read as white and texture fades. The other surfaces are not white because we were going for a kind of neutrals plus texture look. One of the considered options we will still have is to put a different patina on the bricks, or even paint them in the future. I installed them myself, to match the existing brick and concrete pillar. We're also having our cabinets hand painted on site, so one thing we've been contemplating is painting the island much darker. The entrance to the kitchen is through a small library (not yet installed) with dark stained, possibly black bookshelves and a white oak herringbone floor that our neighbour, a master woodworker, is going to be installing for us in the spring. Anyway, all this is to say that we've tried to build allowances for change into our plans and although the overall light look was our favourite for some time, we're starting to feel the need for some anchoring. Kitchendetective, unoiled soapstone is definitely something I'll consider. It looks almost like zinc unoiled and I think that softer colour will pick up some of the more subtle veining in the marble. I'm just concerned that it will darken regardless.--but the evolution of its surface is also appealing. Finally after my long winded response, Vtkitchengirl. My pendants are called "Franklin pendant". Their finish is antique silver (and they do tarnish!). I bought mine at Ginger's in Toronto, but if you google the name, I think you'll find other distributors in the US.

Since you're retrofitting, I'm not sure but if your fabricator has any experience with counters, she can probably weld in a sink you purchase that fits the hole (once you pull out the old one) or even fabricate you one from scratch. The last stainless counter I had installed wasn't really very different from what you're doing. My GC put down the substrate and the stainless guy came in and templated. It might have well have been an old laminate counter! Pin down the fabricator and ask if they can weld in a sink or custom fabricate one. It should be not much different from doing a job from scratch.