http://www.theswancorp.com/products/kitchenSinks/index_qrtz.php

We like the quality of the Blacno - haven't seen Swanstone yet but like the style of their large/small bowl undermount granite sink. They say its made with 80% natural quartz - I assume similiar to the silgranit

Thanks

Do Not Use:
Abrasive cleansers, abrasive scrub pads, or
alkali cleaners such as ammonia.

Sounds to me like it won't be very scratch resistant.

The swanstone was not available when I was shopping. I looked at the link you posted, and I'd just say they look a bit too fussy with the curved back side. I think that will date a kitchen like crazy and would mean a whole new counter. My kitchen was aiming for a 1920s look and this wouldn't have worked in any case.

I have that sink sitting in the box and it's beautiful. Of course I haven't had the opportunity to use it in the box but boy is it pretty.

I love the lines of it (but I love round edges on everything, I would live in a circular house if I could). The "ascend" part of it is really cool.

It looks really sturdy overall, I've had different tiles placed on it, rubbed across it and no scratches that I've noticed.

I have the granito color.

Thank you, Alice, for the heads up regarding binding agents: I'd always assumed all the '80%' stuff was the same. The warnings on cleaning are troublesome-- if you can't scour them, how are they going to stand up to a cast iron pan?-- but I think some of these apply to some stainless sinks as well. They don't want you to scour off the brushed finish, for instance.

It's so hard in the modern world to know which warnings to take seriously, and which are just 'CYA' stuff from the legal department.

Swanstone, however, veneers their kitchen counters over high-density particleboard. This was fine with us, I would never tolerate any cracks or unevenness in a solid surface product. I love that the seams are absolutely invisible, too.

The Granite sinks sold by Swanstone should not be confused with sinks made of the Swanstone solid surfacing product. They are two different animals. Swanstone brought the Granite models out to compete with Blanco, just as their Veritek product is offered as a cheaper alternative to Swanstone bathroom products.

Scouring on all of these types of sinks should always be done with low abrasive products, such as Softscrub or Bon Ami. Many an otherwise indestructible porcelain-clad cast iron sink has been ruined by scrubbing with high-abrasive cleansers such as Comet, et.al.

Note that aluminum pans will leave the same "gray marks" on solid surfacing that they do on clad cast iron sinks. These scrub away very easily with Softscrub or a quick soak with a bit of bleach (but if you use bleach, ALWAYS rinse well after a few minutes - especially for clad cast iron; it will eat the coating away). As I said, the Swanstone solid surface sink cleans much, much easier than the Kohler.

You may believe whomever you wish, but my DH has often commented to me that the Swanstone sink was the best thing we did in a $26K updating of our kitchen and bathrooms.

One thing matte sinks are very bad with is leaving wet cans (we have to rinse cans before they can go into the recycling bins) overnight: they leave a rust stain that takes about a month to go away. Note that uncoated cast iron cookware would probably do the same thing. I don't clean the sink extensively more than once a month; it simply doesn't need it.

One either likes the matte finish of Swanstone/Corian or one doesn't. Many people like the high-gloss look and think solid surface sinks always look "dull". Our kitchen is extremely high-glare - I get sun in the windows 365 days a year, all 24' wide and 16' tall from picture windows, so we are very anti-glare.

Best of luck with whatever you choose to do.

I've yet to see these sinks in real life.

Does anyone have pictures or more information on Swanstone's granite sink?

That bit about the acrylic resin is particularly interesting.