Probably stainless. That said, I have a Whitehaus fireclay and LOVE it! People on this board tend dismiss fireclay as a viable option, stating lots of problems with it, but I haven't found this to be true with mine. I do have a full-length stainless grid across the bottom which prevents issues with chipping. I imagine there are quality differences between brands, too.

You do need to consider the overall aesthetic of your kitchen when choosing materials. The apron-front fireclay works well in my kitchen but may not jive in someone else's -- it would have looked totally out of place in my previous kitchen. There, I had a stainless sink that I was perfectly happy with, stainless can take pretty much anything you throw at it.

L.B.:

Your question is similar to asking "What's the best vehicle?"

That depends. If you're a busy soccer mom a minivan is much more appropriate than the recenty-divorced-40-year-old guy continuting his mid-life crisis with a chick-magnet Mini Cooper. Kids, groceries, and babes will fit in each, but with varying degrees of success.

To answer your question and criteria, it would be difficult to beat a stainless steel sink. With a basin rack and a lower gauge (16, 14), it will be more difficult to scratch and dent; two of stainess steel's downsides, however, it is easily refinished to like-new.

I'm not a fireclay fan. It gets unrepairable cracks at the drain sometimes and, like cast iron, chips are virtually unrepairable. Many sinks, including the colored composites, come with a lifetime guarantee. They're going to ship you a new sink, but you'll have to spend several thousand dollars to have it changed. No, the top is not pulled to replace a sink; the old sink comes out and the new sink goes through the cabinet front when it's pulled.

...a chick-magnet Mini Cooper"

Mini-Coopers are chick magnets??? What the heck part of FL do you live in, Joseph?!? LOL!!

Mini Cooper chick magnet? Yeah, well Sarasota is a far cry from Palm Beach, Boca Raton and Miami.

i have never in my life thought of the Mini Cooper as a "chick magnet". It must be regional. I don't live in Florida. And it assumes that the "chick" cares at all, and doesn't have her own income to buy whatever car she wants for herself rather than looking at a man's car to gauge his attractiveness.

To answer the OP's question about the sink, since you were asking solely about durability, that would be stainless steel. It won't chip, it won't crack, you can pour boiling water into it without a thought, you can dump a wine glass and leave it there overnight and it won't matter. The SS needs to be the thicker 16 gauge or 14 gauge (the lower the gauge the thicker the SS) so that you won't have to be concerned with denting either. While stainless steel will scratch, those scratches blend into a patina in a month or two and you don't see them. I swear it. People seem so afraid of stainless steel scratching, but it is actually a non-issue.

"People seem so afraid of stainless steel scratching, but it is actually a non-issue."

Stainless pretty much comes out of the box looking beat up, which is the beauty of it -- it always pretty much looks the same as when it's installed. :0)

"Stainless pretty much comes out of the box looking beat up, which is the beauty of it -- it always pretty much looks the same as when it's installed. :0)"

What?? That is entirely untrue that a stainless steel sink comes out of the box looking beat up. What kind of stainless steel sink have you bought that you received looking "beat up"? Tell us, so that we can avoid that brand. Stainless steel sinks should look beautiful, glossy and shiny when they come out of the box. And they should stay that way except for the floor of the sink will develop a soft patina of scratches as I mentioned. I currently am in a house with a 20-year-old stainless steel sink. It is shiny and sparkles after a quick clean of BarKeepers Friend.

When I think shiny and glossy I think of a highly reflective surface. I've never seen anyone's stainless sink that has been this been this way. Never. You yourself mentioned the floor of the sink will develop a "soft patina of scratches". This is not a glossy and shiny surface is my book. This is no way means it isn't clean or that it isn't attractive -- it's the way stainless sinks are supposed to look. Pretty much right from the get-go. It's the nature of the material and what I meant by my comment.

"Mini Cooper chick magnet? Yeah, well Sarasota is a far cry from Palm Beach, Boca Raton and Miami."

It's a guy magnet anyway; my girlfriend has a bright blue 5-speed. She bought it new in Miami.

I love thread drift.

I swear, today it is "Bizarro Day" on this Kitchens Forum. For example, there's been someone saying they are keen on sustainability but who then makes un-sustainability suggestions, there's a comment about Mini Coopers being chick magnets, there's another post of just a random list of things like "garbage bags" and "spoon drawer", a comment that a $500k kitchen is "realistic" and a $250k kitchen is "mid-priced", and some other posts with weird non-sequitur stuff. And now we have @mxk3 saying new sinks out of the box look beat up. I wonder if Blanco, Franke, Kohler, and Elkay know that their millions spent on quality control are allowing their sinks to look beaten up when new out of the box. @Joseph Corlett, LLC, since you install sinks for a living, is it your experience that new SS sinks out of the box look "beat up" and non-reflective?

I don't know why I am spending time on this non-sensical stuff, since it is apparently "Bizarro Day" on this forum. Other than it is 5 degrees out today so little else to do. But mxk3, yes, shiny and glossy does mean a highly reflective surface. And although you have never seen a stainless steel sink that is shiny does not mean you can declare that no stainless steel sink is. In any case, the OP can go to any kitchen showroom, or to Home Depot, which have stainless steel sinks on display, and see them looking shiny, glossy and not beat up.

My Franke single bowl stainless steel sink came out of the box shiny. It is still that way, except where the feet of the sink grid have dulled the surface. Some SS sinks are given a brushed appearance in the factory, so any scratches won’t be noticeable. Others, are not…and arrive shiny. Neither arrive at the consumer’s home ”all beat up.”

THIS is a chick magnet. And a guy magnet:

He could look like Quasimodo for all I care -- some dude pulls up next to me in that thing and I'm goin' for a ride...

Problem is, I'm past the point in life where anyone wants to pull up to me. LOL!

I'm loving this exchange. Personally I'd like a Mazda Miata or Nissan 370 but for now my $$ needs to go on the kitchen. It sounds like it's stainless for me.

Stainless steel sinks look good out of the box.

I wouldn't call this patina.

I would call this refinished.

Bizarro? You want bizarro? Here's bizarro for you. Me several weeks ago:

The anesthetic/psychedelic Ketamine may be legally ad mistered off label for depression and anxiety. While my sister may disagree, I don’t think I suffer from either of those, although my testosterone replacement therapy probably helps in that department. I’m seeing results from the positive changes I’ve made in my life recently, such as selling my business (I had no idea how soul-sucking employees could be until they were gone), and finally taking Social Security at 68 years, 2 months old. I’m finding it difficult to be depressed when I may earn as much in retirement as I did when I was working.

I saw an ad for Ketamine therapy on Facebook, called, and was given an initial application/interview; of course I was a good candidate and that lead to a call from a real headshrinker. She was polite and professional and tried to sell me the 6 session package for three thousand dollars; I opted for a onesie to start at around $600.00. No, this isn’t covered by Medicare apparently.

Like a colonoscopy appointment where you’re given intravenous Fentanyl, you aren’t allowed to drive yourself to or from the medical office. This is an excellent policy as I was in no condition to operate a motor vehicle afterward. Matt, my administrator, had to pour me into the passenger seat after walking me out the door.

Matt explained that they had only been in this location several weeks, which is why it still said “Dentist” above the doors. It did look kind of sketchy initially.

We sat in a former dental office with me in a nice recliner while Matt explained how he would administer the ketamine through a vein in the back of my hand, which gives him great control over the dosage. The new age music was soothing, the light was dimmed, and he put on some lights that looked like swirling stars.

There was a tray in front of me holding my cell phone. Matt had dialed a nice therapist from North Carolina who would be Facetiming me throughout. I wish I could remember her name, but she was attractive, and her voice was soothing. Clearly not her first trip.

Matt let the ketamine flow and I felt the effects within 5 minutes. Mainlining does that. I never hallucinated, but I would pick up my hands and move my fingers to make sure they still worked. I felt like I was melting into the chair a bit, but it wasn’t ever unpleasant. Ms. North Carolina kept asking me questions like “How many hats have you worn in your lifetime?” and while my thoughts came immediately, I had a delay in my speech. I could probably have a better life if I delayed my answers more often.

I lost my sense of time. I couldn’t tell if I’d been in that chair for 10 minutes or 10 hours. You never know how much your ability to sense time adds context until that sense is gone. Again, it wasn’t frightening; I knew someone had to let me out of there eventually. I started to feel like I was coming down, but then I zoomed up again.

Matt came in, disconnected my IV, and taped a little cotton ball over the puncture. He gave me a bottle of water and I was surprisingly thirsty. We talked about my experience. He said that first doses were standard, but that they were “baby steps”. He can tell how high you are by how long it takes you to answer the questions they ask. The experience was so powerful, I had never been this high in my life, that I knew I’d need several days to digest it. It’s only now, nearly a week later, that I’m able to write about it.

I’ve got a follow-up call from the headshrinker coming up; I think I’ll just read her this. She’ll probably want me to take another treatment or several, after all, this is a moneymaking operation, and I’ll probably take her up on it. Matt says everyone could benefit from ketamine and I’m inclined to believe him. It’s not addictive and there aren’t any serious side effects.

I do a lot of cooking and baking so lots of hand washing pots, pans and baking sheets. Previous kitchen I had a SS sink that I really liked. It was well made and wasn't loud. My SIL SS sink is garbage, it has a loud ping whenever you put something in it or accidently hit the side.

In my next kitchen I got a composite sink and regret it. It isn't Blanco but the other one. I dream of the day I can replace it with an SS sink.

"My SIL SS sink is garbage, it has a loud ping whenever you put something in it or accidently hit the side."

That pinging sound is usually a function of a thinner stainless steel gauge. I had advised the OP earlier in this thread that a kitchen sink's stainless steel needs to be the thicker 16 gauge or 14 gauge. That is so that it won't dent easily, but also it will sound a lot better when you drop a fork in it or something like that. Your SIL can also buy a sink noise dampening spray or sink noise dampening adhesive pads. Either one is low-cost and easy to apply. For the OP - a good-quality SS sink would not need these.