with metal, the lower the gauge, the thicker the steel. So 16 gauge is thicker than 18 gauge. Many of us have used the Ticor sinks. They are 16 gauge and very well made! The best place to get them is Ebay from a Galaxy tool supply. Many of his listing have the option to "make an offer". From my experience, you can offer 50% less and he will probably accept. I got two this way.

Here is a link that might be useful: Galaxy tool supply

"would I be much happier with a 12" deep sink as opposed to a 10" deep"

Will your sink be undermounted? That will add a few inches to your reach, and could be tough on your back if you're tall. My 10" deep sink is undermounted and it feels very deep to me.

The metal plate thickness is its gauge, a fraction of an inch. 1/16th is 16 gauge. Etc. Instead of mentioning it as a fraction all the time, the significant number on the bottom of the fraction is used as the handle.

18 gauge is good; it's used everywhere.

The more a sink is round, the more it holds itself together well. Rap your knuckles on the side walls to compare the amount it gives and how it sounds. This is important for people switching to SS sinks for the first time and they don't want something that "feels" flimsy.

A flat wall has more give. A flat bottom too; that is why all SS sinks have a rubbery asphalt-ey material glued to the bottom to rigidify it a bit so it doesn't feel tinny and flimsy, or sound tinny and flimsy. You can add more around the side walls or underneath to give it more insulated and solid feeling if you wish.

If you don't care about the above, you can get any SS sink, in any shape, without spending more on a thicker gauge.

Of course nobody needs a 12" deep sink, just as nobody ever thought of a 10" deep sink back in the days when sinks were all 6" deep. Undermounting it makes it deeper too. Personally I will only consider the installation successful if the countertop is high above the floor (e.g. 38" height) and the space between the sink front and the counter front is about 2" not a lot more.

Remember that countertop height is just one more arbitrary standard that has a loose connection to the body proportions of the average person, and that people are on average way taller than they were in the 40's and 50's when these rules-of-thumb became "standards".

David

Thanks for the information. David, I am not tall; I am more like the average person back in the 40's and 50's! So a deep sink would feel too deep for me, I guess? (our counters will be standard 36" height.) I was thinking more about completely hiding dirty pots and pans from view since we changed to a single level peninsula. A 12" deep sink could hide a lot of stuff! I do know that I definitely want an apron front sink; the only 12" deep apron sink I have found is a Blanco that is much more expensive than the Shaw's Original fireclay we have been considering. Since my only reason for the change would be the extra 2" of depth I'm wondering if its worth it or if I wouldn't even notice it (or if anyone can tell me any other reason why I might want the SS sink rather than the fireclay.)

i went with the ss apron front. i liked that it had a different feel (or should i say style) than the fireclay but still had the traditional apron front. i love how it ended up looking. but i will tell you, sometime i think i would like it deeper for the exact reason you said! i'm thinking particularly of my pasta pot that has the strainer resting in it and it sticks out of the sink a few inches. overall, i wouldn't trade it for a fireclay, but if that is the sort of thing that would bug you, you should think about it! Other than my tall pasta pot though, most of your dishes could be hidden!

keep in mind that a 12" sink will actually be over 13" depending on the thickness of your counter. That might be deep, especially when you wash dishes. I had a 10" SS sink at my other house and it was plenty deep... (plenty deep being deep enough to hide dirty dishes ;o)

Other reasons to love your ss sink: (mine's over 10 years old)
Easy to keep clean, water spotting and scratching haven't been problems for me.
Not loud or splashy in stream or spray modes
Appreciate the 'give' it has for my dishes, kind of like wood floors are for my feet and back.
Love the look; enough to repeat in the renovation
Not a fan of farmhouse style but could be if it were stainless, sounds cool!

just reread one of your posts, victoria.. if you are tall, you want to be carefull.. that would mean more reaching/bending down depending on just how it ends up. if you could test wash some dishes somewhere or see a 12" undermounted to make sure it isn't too deep, I would do it before you make the commitment..

please post what you decide to do.. I'm afraid of fireclay for chips and wear/tear. I love SS, but in our farmhouse.. well, modern isn't really the look we were going for.

I thought too that in any case (fireclay and SS) the apron front would protect the soapstone or whatever counterop we get from chipping... I tend to bump things into the front of the sink (at least I did in my other house).. if it were SS, I wouldn't need to worry about damaging our counter.

In addition to guage stainless comes in grades - you should check the grade of stainless and see what its' properties are. Consumers Reports tested 18-23 guage and concluded guage doesn't matter, they also didn't find any significant difference brand to brand. I felt drain locatiom was important - we only considered sinks with rear positioned drains to allow the most usable space in the cabinet below.

Here is a link that might be useful: info on stainless

if it was only for bathroom use, then it would not matter much of the gauge, IMO gauge does matter when you are washing dishes, it determines how easy it is to leave a dent in the sink,

16 gauge is about 20% thicker than 18 inch so if you can find it, but that's not offered by alot of brands

I couldn't find a single source that thought 16 guage was necessary (and I looked) but most recommend a minimum of 18-20 guage. Consumer's testing was for kitchen sinks. My Mom's old sink was 22 (like most builders' sinks) and she washed all her pots by hand and at 20 plus years old it wasn't pretty (which has more to do with the grade) but it didn't have a dent in it. No question 16 is thicker but necessary? IMO no, unless you are washing rocks and are planning to drop them into the sink from a great height.

Danielle - no height anywhere to be found in this house unless you count the enormous dog - we are the short family (but scrappy! lol) Now I am obsessing about having a 12" deep sink. I mean, what *couldn't* you fit in it?? Also from an aesthetic standpoint, our design has changed to the point where a SS farmsink would probably be more appropriate than the fireclay. I love the Blanco blancomagnum stainless steel with the apron front but the price is outrageous. Has anyone ever made a lower offer on an item on ebay that was not listed as "make an offer"? Or is that considered against the rules?

Sorry...I have to disagree with what an earlier poster said about 16 gauge being equal to 1/16" of an inch. Gauge has nothing to do with the top part of the fraction being left off. The gauge system was developed to secure some uniformity in the sheet and plate iron industry. 1/16" of inch is .0625". where 16 gauge is .0595".

you can make a lower offer-- blanco makes lovely sinks. costco is carrying some of the blanco sinks now too- you might want to check with them.

"...The gauge system was developed to secure some uniformity in the sheet and plate iron industry..."
1/17" is .0588"
16 gauge is .0595"
1/16" of inch is .0625"
I'd guess that the 0.030" difference is due to sanding polishing losses. Three one-hundredths of an inch. I'd guess that the 3/100" loss is the allowable loss. Maybe it's even required. Let's see if someone can dig that up. The allowable tolerances in thicknesses. I'll bet we're close. I don't expect it will get into the thousandths or ten-thousandths of an inch.

-David

David, I am not saying that it makes a difference in this case, I was just pointing out that the gauge is not the same as a just using the lower number of a fraction. That is simply incorrect information. If that were the case, 4 gauge should be .25" and it's really .2043" to .2245 (depending on the type of sheet stock). 2 gauge is closer to 1/4" at .257. Your way might be a good rule of thumb, but it's not accurate. I work in the metal fabrication industry where these numbers DO matter.

When I first started looking at sinks, and since I wanted to do things *right* I thought I wouldn't be happy unless I ended up with a 16-ga sink. DH works with sheet metal and isn't into skimping at all when it comes to things like this and he felt that 18-ga would be fine. We ended up with 18-ga Blanco Precisions (super single and medium) with flat sides and flat bottoms and I've never found myself wishing for something else--it makes no flimsy sounds and hasn't dented in the 3 1/2 years it's been installed. The sink was one of the last decisions and I was really glad to save the extra $$ I would have spent on a similar 16-ga sink.

Our 10" deep sinks are undermounted and are plenty deep for hiding lots of stuff (everyone has to pass through the kitchen when going from our entrance to the rest of the house so hiding dirty dishes is an important thing.) I wouldn't want the sinks any deeper. You also have to consider the space the sink occupies under the counter. Our sinks hang down below the opening to our under-sink cabinet so there is a couple of inches of sink visible when the door is open. You would want to think about how much stuff you are going to have in the cabinet (we don't have instant hot or a disposal. I love having a lot of open space in that cabinet for getting large items out of the way when necessary.)

According to Wikipedia the gauge measurement is dependent on weight of a metal so 16 ga will mean different thicknesses for different metals.