Claybabe, You are a goddess! Forgive the delay in response, I just caught up with mail and had missed this post on the forum. YES, those are exactly perfect and VERY VERY helpful! I can't thank you enough! These, along with the thread in the metalworking forum, should give us ample inspiration to go on. Was there a reason you decided to notch out the counter where it hit the sink, rather than leave it full thickness? Aesthetics or other? It looks fantastic, I must say. Do you know what substrate was used? We templated our mdf/plywood substrate this week, copper sheet purchase is next week. Starting to get excited! PS: Here's the stainless counter from the sink gallery:

That post is 6 years old. I am not wanting to offend Pharaoh, but I actually would not want an apron front sink like in the photo because the front is so thick. One of the advantages of an apron front sink should be that your body is close up against the sink, versus having to lean over 3-4" of countertop. That photo makes the front look even thicker than it would be if an undermount sink had been installed with a granite strip in front.

Considering your proposing placing the rim of the sink higher than the countertops, I don't know if the chipping issue will exist. I agree the caulking job needs to be good but I don't feel that it creates much higher of a risk. Caulking does get old and needs replacement every now and again, but considering it's used every where moisture is - kitchens, bathtubs, windows, etc, I don't view it as problematic. Do I have too much faith in this product? Another thing that can help mitigate (but not solve) moisture concerns is using marine-grade plywood as the base material. Also paint a moisture-barrier type product in the cutouts (and sink and dishwasher areas). And as you mentioned, it's certainly worth applying laminate edging around the sink cutout even though it won't be exposed. I meant to mention this earlier - the cutout will probably need to be pretty accurate, otherwise caulking will be difficult. I view this as your greatest challenge. You might even need to account for the thickness of the laminate material. Take my input and judge it with others and make the decision you feel comfortable with. Use the information to analyze the risks and determine if you can properly mitigate them. Most of all, Good Luck!

just wanted to commiserate with you on the plumbing problems. We have an old house were the plumbing was added later. They dug under one end of the house about 10x10 with an exterior entrance, and all the plumbing was put on that corner. We wanted to put in a bathroom closer to the bedrooms and move the kitchen, so we had to run the pipes under what would be the new bathroom floor. Kitchen sink had to be installed on the same wall as the bathroom sink, with the pipes and drain/venting going through the wall into the bathroom cabinet, then down into the floor. As it was, the distance was almost too long for the drop and to still be able to hook up to the outgoing line. That would have required a lift pump in the cellar, not something we wanted to consider. This is the bathroom side of the wall. If we ever have problems, our cheapest solution will be to hand dig a trench under the bathroom to access the pipes. Hope that never happens. I don't think we would have room for a garbage disposal either, as the drain goes into the wall and then down. Since we have a septic system, doing without a disposal was not a hard choice.