First off...I wanted a double bowl no matter what. I like to use one side to air dry cast iron skillets, cookie sheets etc. We just finished our remodel and I went with 60/40 a stainless steel sink. It is a popular choice and looks good with my other stainless appliances. I do like it...it's taking me some time to get used to having to wipe it all the time though and I haven't tried washing my grates in it yet. I had a white cast iron previously and I liked it too, but it scuffed up easily and I had to "erase" black marks constantly. I didn't go with cast iron again simply because of color issues. I knew I didn't want white or cream (shows scuffs) and I could never get a clear answer on the maintenance required for a dark color like black or brown. I'm glad I went with stainless.

Very personal decision. I went from a double basin to a single basin due to wanting the largest sink for my 36" corner sink cabinet and was surprised how much more I like the single basin (its an undermount, stainless, near zero radius). I find it easier to move around in the sink when washing and the few hand-washed items we have are dryed on a matt next to the sink (which actually now get put away rather promptly now instead of lingering a longer when they were hidden in the double basin we had previously).

However, if scratching is a concern for you, stainless may not be the way to go. I haven't had an issue with this yet, but stainless in known to scratch (part of its "charm").

Good luck to you.

hmm - this is a tough question. We had a traditional double basin 60/40 stainless drop-in in our old kitchen and I hated how I could never fit anything large in it. Washing cookie sheets, roasting pans, large pits etc. was such a pain! While the stainless did scratch I never found the scratched offensive.

Now, I have a 30" single bowl apron. I LOVE the size. I can even fit my son's high chair tray in it easily! I also LOVE not having a lip of counter at the front edge of the sink. However, I HATE not having anywhere to put clean dishes, and I find it is already scratching after only 3 weeks of use. I find these scratches more bothersome than the stainless scratches, because they are a different colour. Also, it may be just our particular model (Elkay) - but the bottom is VERY FLAT and it makes it extremely difficult to rinse out the sink.

If I had it to do all over again, I think I would have gone with an extra, extra large double bowl 60/40 farmhouse stainless (and I would have paid attention to the slope of the bottom when choosing!

HTH!

Have you looked at Silgranit sinks? That's what we're considering. They look fairly maintenance free.

Single versus double bowl is something only you can decide. We're going the opposite way from most people here. I've had single bowl sinks for the last 20 years, but it has alway driven my wife nuts (she often puts plastic tubs in the sink if she wants to hand wash dishes). We're going with a 70/30 sink as a compromise.

I had a large 60/40 in my last kit and loved it. I kept the 4 clean for veggie/fruit washing and also used it to drain knives, cookie sheet and the occasional pan that didn't fit in the DW. My present kit is small so I went with one large sink and I really miss having the second. Cookie sheet was the only large thing that didn't fit before and I wash a lot more veggies than bake cookies. As for scratching, cast iron will probably scratch any sink if you are not careful. Stainless sinks end up with a patina eventually.

Get a sink grid to help avoid scratching. My 9 month old SS franke sink has zero scratching thus far. And I'm far from careful.

marcydc - not to hijack the thread - but, that's what I did after the first scratch. However, I am having a really hard time adjusting to the grid. I find it even harder to clean out the sink with the grid in place, and guck gets caught on the gird... Also, I thought it would be great to have the grid, to allow clean dishes to drain/dry in the sink (since it is single basin), but haven't really found this to be the case, since we are not very good at putting the clean dishes away, so they get wet/dirty again as soon as someone turns on the tap. Do you think I will get used to it, we are only 3 weeks into using the new kitchen...

My old kitchen had a corian integral sink that might have been 70/30, the small side was just big enough for a disposal. I wanted a large single bowl this time around. I went with a Whitehouse 30" farm and an Elkay lustertone 16x16 for the prep sink. Both have the grids in them. I like the size of the farm sink, but not so much the fireclay. I think food seems to stick, the water doesn't carry it to the drain very well. I'm always chasing food around the sink with the sprayer to get it to go down the disposal. And the white grid is no fun to keep clean. I've tried gel-gloss on the sink, and it helped a little.

The stainless however is a breeze to keep clean, food flows to the drain and the lustertone finish doesn't seem to show scratches. The grid is easy to rinse and keep clean.

If I had the chance of a redo, I'd go stainless for the farm sink as well. But as others have pointed out....it's all in what you like and there are many many here who love their fireclays.

We just choose our sink and went with a SS Franke. It is a 60/40 split I think. I wanted the smaller basin to be big enough to be usable and some were so tiny. I like to put dirty dished in the left side (off of the counter) and still have a usable space in the sink. I'm also use to having a double sink. I've had a cast iron sink and wasn't looking forward to cleaning black marks anymore. We haven't choosen granite yet and I knew SS would go with anything and is timeless IMO. I didn't even look into some of the composites.

Well, I don't think you can go bigger than we are... 5 1/2' Galley Sink, which is a single "bowl". At some point we'll get the 17" sink insert for it (and the divider, and a bunch of other fun accessories!), but until then I'm planning on doing the old plastic tub routine for when we need to hand wash more than one or two things at a time. That rarely comes up for us, which is why I'm very comfortable ditching my current double bowl arrangement.

It's stainless with a brushed finish; the designer says that when it does finally get enough scratches that it bothers you, you can renew the finish with an orbital sander and 120 grit paper. I love that that's an option for us.