I have stainless countertops with integrated sink. It is awesome and I love it but you do need to accept that brushed stainless will show scratches. Lots of restaurants used brushed stainless in their kitchen -- see if you can get a look at some of their counters, that should give you a good idea of what to expect.

I have a friend -- an architect -- who has stainless counters and he said once they got pretty thoroughly scratched up, he did a pass with a random orbit sander to change them from brushed stainless to a more matte finish. He said they turned out well -- I haven't seen them in person, so can't comment. Possibly something to think about though.

If you're getting a steel countertop fabricated, you might be able to have the fabricator weld in your sink -- we did this and it looks great: the seams are finished so they're invisible. However, I think you might need an undermount to do this. If that sounds interesting, you should definitely check it out with your countertop fabricator.

There are some photos of our integrated sink in the thread below:

Here is a link that might be useful: Stainless counter with integrated sink.

Thanks so much for the reply! I just re-read my initial post and realize that I wrote that the Elkay sink is brushed satin. Obviously I have been spending way too much time reading about SS and have become delirious lol! Actually it is polished satin, which is the whole reason I was worried about a mismatch since I've been advised to avoid polished for the counter. What I'm hoping is that in time they'll both get enough small scratches that they'll look the same. I WISH that the sink were brushed. I also like the look of an integrated sink. But that Elkay is so fantastic that I am willing to put up with the drop in to have it. I just hope it's polished satin finish doesn't eternally look horrible up next to the countertop.