We are doing an updating of our kitchen that includes a Silestone
counter top and new sink. The counter top is plenty expensive enough,
so I do not want to buy more stainless sink than I need. As always,
when I don't know about a consumer product choice, I check Consumer
Reports. The last time they did kitchen sinks was in ~2002. They bought
a whole bunch of them of all types and prices. For the stainless set,
they found there was NO correlation between price/gauge and dent
resistence or resistence to scratching or noisiness. That's with 18 to
23 gauge steel. And the noise pads made no reliable difference in
noise, either. They ended up no even ranking the brands as there was no
correlation of anything with brand. This is NOT what the Home
depot/Lowes people say about gauge thickness, they always claim the
thicker gauge will scratch less which is ridiculous since scratches are
a function of hardness, not thickness. End of credibility for them.

This CR result is not what I expected, but I do like the result. Means
no point in blowing $500 and up on a sink when a $200 one will very
likley work as well in all regards. I never could understand why a
piece of press-formed stainless should cost the many, many hundreds of
dollars (even thousands) some of these things cost, anyway.

So, I've been checking e-Bay and the Italian C-Tech-I brand seems
attractive. I can pick up a nice one or two bowl undermount for about
$200. Other brands are close to $100.

Anyone care to offer an opinion on C-Tech-I sinks?

Thanks.

- GRL

"nopcbs" wrote in message

....
For the stainless set,
they found there was NO correlation between price/gauge and dent
resistence or resistence to scratching or noisiness. That's with 18 to
23 gauge steel. And the noise pads made no reliable difference in
noise, either. They ended up no even ranking the brands as there was no
correlation of anything with brand. This is NOT what the Home
depot/Lowes people say about gauge thickness, they always claim the
thicker gauge will scratch less which is ridiculous since scratches are
a function of hardness, not thickness. End of credibility for them.

I have not read the report, but can offer a few comments here.

I do not know if all SS sinks are made of the same material. There are MANY
alloys which are called stainless.

Then there's hardness, which will also impact stiffnes or resistance to
scratches. Thickenss itself should have no impact on scratching, but on
resistance to denting. But it all depnends on alloy.

This CR result is not what I expected, but I do like the result. Means
no point in blowing $500 and up on a sink when a $200 one will very
likley work as well in all regards. I never could understand why a
piece of press-formed stainless should cost the many, many hundreds of
dollars (even thousands) some of these things cost, anyway.

I have not shopped for a sink lately, so do not know what material is used.
I'm not even sure that what you read is correct, as it may be a generic
description.

I suspect some sinks are made from "whatever the purchasing people get" for
that run. Hence the results CR has obtained.

RichK

True enough, but I have yet to see anybody give a hardness number or
which SS they use..In the absence of that info, you have to just go
with the CR conclusion of no correlation possable. So don't waste
money.


RichK wrote:
"nopcbs" wrote in message

...
For the stainless set,
they found there was NO correlation between price/gauge and dent
resistence or resistence to scratching or noisiness. That's with 18 to
23 gauge steel. And the noise pads made no reliable difference in
noise, either. They ended up no even ranking the brands as there was no
correlation of anything with brand. This is NOT what the Home
depot/Lowes people say about gauge thickness, they always claim the
thicker gauge will scratch less which is ridiculous since scratches are
a function of hardness, not thickness. End of credibility for them.

I have not read the report, but can offer a few comments here.

I do not know if all SS sinks are made of the same material. There are MANY
alloys which are called stainless.

Then there's hardness, which will also impact stiffnes or resistance to
scratches. Thickenss itself should have no impact on scratching, but on
resistance to denting. But it all depnends on alloy.

This CR result is not what I expected, but I do like the result. Means
no point in blowing $500 and up on a sink when a $200 one will very
likley work as well in all regards. I never could understand why a
piece of press-formed stainless should cost the many, many hundreds of
dollars (even thousands) some of these things cost, anyway.

I have not shopped for a sink lately, so do not know what material is used.
I'm not even sure that what you read is correct, as it may be a generic
description.

I suspect some sinks are made from "whatever the purchasing people get" for
that run. Hence the results CR has obtained.

RichK

We bought a relatively inexpensive sink at Lowes or Home Depot based on CR
opinion that thichness did not matter. It is stainless steel and nice and
deep which is what we wanted. It is relatively thin and noise is not an
issue and so far no dents. However the thinness does affect how much wiggle
the faucet attachment has which is a point CR missed. The faucet feels a
bit cheaply atttached because the stainless steel sink is thin. I don't
believe it is a problem but it might bother some people.


"nopcbs" wrote in message
ups.com...
We are doing an updating of our kitchen that includes a Silestone
counter top and new sink. The counter top is plenty expensive enough,
so I do not want to buy more stainless sink than I need. As always,
when I don't know about a consumer product choice, I check Consumer
Reports. The last time they did kitchen sinks was in ~2002. They bought
a whole bunch of them of all types and prices. For the stainless set,
they found there was NO correlation between price/gauge and dent
resistence or resistence to scratching or noisiness. That's with 18 to
23 gauge steel. And the noise pads made no reliable difference in
noise, either. They ended up no even ranking the brands as there was no
correlation of anything with brand. This is NOT what the Home
depot/Lowes people say about gauge thickness, they always claim the
thicker gauge will scratch less which is ridiculous since scratches are
a function of hardness, not thickness. End of credibility for them.

This CR result is not what I expected, but I do like the result. Means
no point in blowing $500 and up on a sink when a $200 one will very
likley work as well in all regards. I never could understand why a
piece of press-formed stainless should cost the many, many hundreds of
dollars (even thousands) some of these things cost, anyway.

So, I've been checking e-Bay and the Italian C-Tech-I brand seems
attractive. I can pick up a nice one or two bowl undermount for about
$200. Other brands are close to $100.

Anyone care to offer an opinion on C-Tech-I sinks?

Thanks.

- GRL

see if the sink your planning on buying is magnetic...

non magnetic stainless is better and more expensive

wrote:
see if the sink your planning on buying is magnetic...

non magnetic stainless is better and more expensive

Why is non-magnetic (low iron) better?

- GRL

non magnetic is much more rust resistant. i have personally seen
stainless gas grills with light rusting all were magnetic stainless.
many knowledgable friends say buy only non magnetic stainless. its much
stronger harder and more durable but costs more and is way harder to
machine. according to my best friend a machinist...

i suspect most stainless sinks are on magnetic, when i bought ine about
10 years ago all but the cheapest were non magnetic.

in general the lowest price anything is rarely a real bargain, it was
made to be cheap

the highest price stuff is made to maximize profit.

the mid price stuff is generally a good compromise and likely more
durable

as important is the faucet, since they get lots of use.

I've noticed the biggest price jump occurs with the depth of the
sink.

Ikea has a nice 10 inch deep sink for $125.00.

I would go with a composite granite sink. They are quiet and SS always
looks dirty one hour after cleaning it!

You are spending big bucks doing the countertops and undermount sinks
are VERY difficult to replace so why cheap out there over a 100 bucks?

Check out this site

http://www.plumbingsupply.com/blancogranitesinks.html

Wayne

nopcbs wrote:

We are doing an updating of our kitchen that includes a Silestone
counter top and new sink. The counter top is plenty expensive enough,
so I do not want to buy more stainless sink than I need. As always,
when I don't know about a consumer product choice, I check Consumer
Reports. The last time they did kitchen sinks was in ~2002. They
bought a whole bunch of them of all types and prices. For the
stainless set, they found there was NO correlation between
price/gauge and dent resistence or resistence to scratching or
noisiness. That's with 18 to 23 gauge steel. And the noise pads made
no reliable difference in noise, either. They ended up no even
ranking the brands as there was no correlation of anything with
brand. This is NOT what the Home depot/Lowes people say about gauge
thickness, they always claim the thicker gauge will scratch less
which is ridiculous since scratches are a function of hardness, not
thickness. End of credibility for them.

This CR result is not what I expected, but I do like the result. Means
no point in blowing $500 and up on a sink when a $200 one will very
likley work as well in all regards. I never could understand why a
piece of press-formed stainless should cost the many, many hundreds of
dollars (even thousands) some of these things cost, anyway.

So, I've been checking e-Bay and the Italian C-Tech-I brand seems
attractive. I can pick up a nice one or two bowl undermount for about
$200. Other brands are close to $100.

Anyone care to offer an opinion on C-Tech-I sinks?

Thanks.

- GRL