Those Ronbow sinks and counters are gorgeous in real life... have you seen one in a showroom? We opted for Ronbow knock-off sinks, semi-recessed in a wood counter. I have to admit I like ceramic or porcelain as a material better than anything else. I've always had pedestal sinks before, of that material, and they just seem so indestructible and easy to clean. Gorgeous sink- be sure to post pics as your project progresses!

I don't have a conventional one, I have one of the glass bowl with the heater/fan in the lid types, like you saw on infomercials years ago, although now there's an updated version. I like it for a lot of things. For a lot of things I line it with foil and not much to clean. Otherwise, put a couple inches of hot water in it, few drops of dish soap and turn it on warm for 5-10 min. Occasionally the bowl needs some scrubbing, but not a big deal. They're great for little snack foods, like piza rolls. 6 min from when you put them in - they're done - no preheating needed. I use it to brown ribs when I'm going to braise them. I'll occasionally cook bacon in there and hamburgers go well in there too. Absolutely fantastic for baking potatoes! No sense heating a big oven for baking taters and you can put a lot of them in there. Frozen fries, tater tots and stuff too work well. Seems to me I paid something like $20-$25 for it.

I'd have taken a granite if we found one that had worked with our kitchen's look and vibe. We were going to use marble, but then decided it might be too grand for the retro modest look we wanted (and I was scared about how our 2 sons and my dh would abuse it). We decided to go with a cool looking laminate with a pattern and put chrome edgebanding on it. Then, when we went to order our cabs, IKEA was running a 40% off sale on counters (if you order enough cabs). We figured we should take a good long look at their choices again. DH fell in love with the display kitchen counter in Corian Rain Cloud. Since I had chosen most stuff (because he did not care as much) and this was important to him, I let him sway me. It really looks nice and we get a lot of compliments. I like how smooth (and not cold) they are. They have a pleasant light color without being too white and just enough pattern to not show every little crumb. The seams are what really sold me on the display kitchen, but the funny thing is that in our kitchen, we literally have 4 visible seams at approx 2" each, where our back ledge of our island comes down the sides. People get confused thinking it is one solid upside down "u" shaped piece. I'd have loved to see how the laminate/chrome plan would have worked, but Corian has worked well for us..... It has a marble vibe without trying to be fake marble.

We are considering buying a rental, so I asked my contractor for some advice on updating it. He said he buys small (1 or 2 bedroom, 1 or 2 bathroom, or duplexes), distressed properties and renovates them for rental. He told me he uses quartz counters in kitchens and baths, large format floor tile or wood-look floor tile, no carpet anywhere, shower-only in master (unless it’s large, then he’ll put a separate tub), solid surface shower floor, and tub/shower in second bath, and large usually white subway tiles on both shower walls. He usually has to replace windows and doors also bc the properties are distressed. He’s trying to attract graduate or med students, single young professionals or couples. He always tries to buy near the rail line which goes downtown, to the university, and medical center. He has found that putting high quality, easier-to-maintain, materials attracts the kind of renter he wants, and he can go a long time (trying for a 20-25 year span) before having to do another full renovation. If we decide to buy a rental, we plan on following his advice.