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joelle_chauncey

Stainless steel apron sink recommendation

5 years ago

Hello all, I’m looking to purchase a 33in stainless steal apron front sink. When I google “best SS farmhouse sinks” zuhne and Kraus come up a lot, but the bad reviews on amazon mention rusting. I’m so scared I’m gonna buy the wrong sink and end up w a bigger problem once it’s under mounts the countertop. I’m on a budget, but will spend for a trusted brand. Any advice would be great. Thank you for your time!!

Comments (10)

  • 5 years ago

    There is a lot of love for a Kraus sinks here, not necessarily apron fronted ones, though.

  • 5 years ago

    I just purchased a Kraus stainless steel that I love!! My water is hard And I get spots if I let them dry :-( so I‘ve been using Zep and I clean and dry the sink after last use so I don’t develop water spots. They are removed fairly easily as I just got the sink 2 weeks ago but I don’t want them to stain so I try to prevent them.

  • 5 years ago

    Home Depot and build.com have lots of 33" stainless steel farmhouse sinks with reviews. Home Depot sells a lot of Vigo brand sinks which I will say are very attractive -- and reviewers really like them. HD sells Kraus too. Many are sold with faucets and various accessories.

  • 5 years ago
    last modified: 5 years ago

    There are plenty of quality control and warranty reasons to stick with a well known American brand over an imported one. Buyer beware on country of origin on many of these brands that try to rename themselves to something British or German sounding for marketing reasons. Dig a little further.

    Calling something stainless does not ensure that it actually is stainless. Plenty of off brand “stainless” are impure alloys that will rust. There isn’t a lot of testing that goes on these days. Lots of imported plumbing parts are actually illegal to sell in America. No one has the consumer protection enforcement teeth to enforce that anymore. Just to tariff it. Read Starcraft Builders plumbing review site for faucets. I only wish they reviewed sinks too. http://starcraftcustombuilders.com/sources.faucets2.htm

  • 5 years ago

    Thanks all for the feedback!


  • 5 years ago

    I have a Zuhne ss apron sink, purchased on Amazon and we've had no issues with rust. We did have an issue almost immediately with the drain assembly not fitting properly so we had to keep a pan under the sink for a while. But they replaced it with a different one that fits right and no problems since.

  • 5 years ago

    Thanks for the info!!

  • 5 years ago

    Stainless down doesn't generally rust. But it's not entirely impervious. Fundamentally, it's still steel. And steel rusts. But stainless steel develops a microscopicly thin protective layer. As long as that doesn't get disturbed, you won't see rust.

    But if you clean with good old steel wool, or you leave chlorides (e.g. cooking salt) sitting on it, then you can get rust.

    People who live close to oceans can show you all sorts of stainless objects that have rusted.

    You can get marine grade steel to prevent that. But apart from full custom builders such as Rachiele, you won't find any off the shelf sink manufacturers that use this material

  • 5 years ago
    last modified: 5 years ago

    “There are plenty of quality control and warranty reasons to stick with a well known American brand over an imported one. Buyer beware on country of origin on many of these brands that try to rename themselves to something British or German sounding for marketing reasons. “

    I am sorry to say that is naive, as Kohler, Franke, and Blanco all sell Chinese imports under their own badges in their lower-priced sinks. I said “naive”, because people who don’t research think they’re getting an American, Swiss or German made sink cause of the names they see on the sinks. You will actually do better with a Kraus sink which has been getting great reviews on this forum for years, and is 16 gauge with a sink grid included. The brands I just mentioned sell their Chinese-made sinks at the thinner 18 gauge, and charge $80-150 more for the sink grids.

    If you can pay $1200+ for e.g. a Franke Swiss-made sink, or even more for a Rachiele sink, that’s great. But if you are not in that income level, and would prefer to pay ~$400 (or less with sales and coupons), you can get a fine sink from a brand like Kraus or Hahn.

    Regarding rusting - I’ll echo what @Joseph Corlett, LLC said above, and add that another culprit is water with iron it, which is fairly common. The water dries, the iron shows up as rust spots, and the sink is erroneously blamed. Cleans up in a minute. Don’t use Brillo.