The edge will be less vulnerable than on an undermount sink, but it would still be somewhat vulnerable.

If you are doing a vintage style kitchen you could consider a metal edge which wraps the counter.

I've looked into using laminate because of the price. The problem is that laminate is basically made of paper with a plastic coating, and it's attached to a substrate like MDF or particleboard or plywood. You could theoretically use laminate with the vintage sink pictured above, but the bottom of the laminate will be exposed, and that's where the water will get in, even if you seal it. Both Formica and Wilsonart offer a rounded edge that's applied, so that might be something to look into, but I'd still worry that water would get in at the seams. And once water gets under the coating, your countertop is going to degrade. You could try it, if you are super-careful about drying off the edges of the countertop, but I wouldn't risk it. Can you use wood as in the picture? Or small pieces of stone on either side of the sink, and laminate for the rest of the countertops?

BTW, I think laminate is a great choice for countertops. I think it's a lot greener than stone, which I'm just plain getting tired of seeing! I think the sink manufacturers need to start designing great new drop-in sinks with thin edges for use with laminate. A lot of drop-in sinks are not very attractive.

If water gets under it, the laminate can raise for the base material. For that reason, and the ones mentioned, I would not try it

Would it work to apply laminate on the underside as well, to really seal the counter from water. Then the caulking at the sink and counter junction would add an additional barrier.

Enduring, it might work for a time, but who knows how long? It's a question of how hard you use the sink, how messy you are, and how lucky. You need a different material for an undermount sink, or a different sink for laminate, OR, you need to consider a different installation. If vintage is your preference, you are in luck as many salvaged porcelain sinks are prettier than the stainless drop-ins of the '70s and '80s.

The way to make laminate work with this kind of sink is to not treat it as an undermount. Finish each side of the counter as if you were placing your range in the breach, and raise the sink so that the porcelain completely covers the edge of the laminate and sits a little above it.

Good luck.

Joseph--Questions about bonding the solid surface to plywood AND bonding formica to solid surface? What 'glues'--bonding agents are compatible?

For instance, can I use solvent based contact cement to bond plastic laminate to Corian? And how to bond Corian to plywood. I'm assuming that biscuits or floating tenons might be adviseable...

(I've been wondering about this for quite a while. Glad to see this topic come up here on the forum.)

Intergra Adhesives makes a product called Composite Bonder which is designed to bond things with different compositions. It's great stuff and is like a hardened silicone.

Bond the solid surfaces to each other with methacrylate, clean up the edges, and bond them to the underlayment with the Composite Bonder. Belt sand the hardened squeeze-out flush and bond the plastic laminate to the underlayment/solid surface with contact cement.

Useful information. Notes made. And thank you so much for sharing, Joseph!

(That Composite Bonder is intriguing stuff. Looked it up and is sounds like it would be handy for a lot of difficult situations.)

On a slightly related topic, have you priced out some of the less-expensive wood counters, like IKEA's?

Fori echoed my thoughts exactly while I was reading this thread. There are even blogs that show you how to make your own if you are inclined to take your saving a bit farther.