I've had SS in two kitchens and never noticed a glare...but then I'm not all that sensitive to it. Can you get yourself a SS sheet pan, hone it nicely with a scotchbrite pad, and stick it under some good light to test it? It can't be as bad as shiny grnite.

As far as sinks, I've had them custom fabricated but could have had one welded in. I don't know if there's an advantage either way (aside from standing at the counter and sticking out your arms and saying "I want it THIS big!"). My fabricator did say he couldn't do well with some imported sinks because the material wasn't a compatible stainless and recommended something US or German made. Some sinks do have nice features I'm not sure you'd get with a custom sink, like the little shelves and rack and things. Not sure on price differences.

Thanks! A custom sink would be an advantage in terms of size because our old kitchen has a non-standard sink run.

I don't have SS in my kitchen, but I have a SS table from a restaurant supply store in my work space. Sometimes I like to leave the doors open (it's a large space with roll up doors) just to get some nice air in while I'm working. I have found that when the sun is at the right angle in the afternoon, I can't work facing it because the glare off the SS surface is harsh. I move to another side so that it's not an issue.

I'm not sure what your window placement is, but in my kitchen at home I don't think SS would be an issue because I never have that much light streaming in. My kitchen windows are large and south facing, but I have a pergola and trees filtering the light. So it really depends.

In direct light at my work space, SS is blinding, but I think any light polished surface would also be blinding.

I have stainless steel counters in a modern home with lots of windows, but the sun never shines on my counters in a direction that reflects into my eyes. In addition, my counters have an orbital sanded finish, so they look like brushed metal instead of a polished surface. The sanding causes lots of little striations that would diffuse reflections and the surface is also good at hiding scratches that would be obvious on a polished metal surface. Here is a picture and a closeup showing the finish appearance:

Thanks everyone! I do get late afternoon sun at certain times of the year, but I can control that with a window covering. I'm more concerned about the interior lighting because I do want my work surface to be well-lit. Maybe I will have to try a mock up as suggested.

Yeah, I'd be more concerned about UCLs than sun, but sunlight never occurred to me to be honest. I must lead a dark sunless existence! Never had a sunny kitchen!

If you go to a fabricator's workshop, you can see many surface treatments on stainless. Try to do that and test the glare effect in person. I have a severe migraine problem and am affected by glare, but when I worked in a lab with stainless steel counters, glare was not a problem because of the brushed finish. (The fluorescent lights were another story, however.

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Thanks for all the help! Kitchendetective, gah fluorescent lights are horrid.

We have a stainless countertop with integral sink in our mudroom. It's from the maker linked below but we got it through a restaurant supply store at something like 60% below list. Ours was a standard 6-foot unit but I believe custom dimensions are possible. (No great insights on glare except to say it's sort of a satin finish.)

Here is a link that might be useful: Integral stainless sinks

In the summertime I get a horrible glare on my countertop. I put a kitchen towel over the sun part. But it is definitely a glare. I love my SS countertops but sometimes get weird spots on them, like a chemical reaction, it goes away after a couple of weeks but I have no idea what causes this,, any ideas?