We design our pantry with a small sink. I now wish I had more shelves to store food. If your kitchen sink is close to your pantry don't bother unless eg... - you entertain a lot and want to hide dirty plates as they cycle through the dishwasher in the pantry - have your fridge in the pantry and need to wash vegies, rinse out food storage containers, or - intend having you mixer/thermo in the room and need to rinse or drain food prep. Personally I think I'd rather be in the kitchen with family than working in a pantry.

I put a lot of thought into what kind of sink to install ino my new kitchen: single vs double, stainless steel vs other materials, dish drainer or not, and finally undermount vs top mount. I went safe and chose industrial grade steinless steel, double sink without a drainer but with aditional part with multi purpose. I was very indecisive about the last thing: undermount vs top mount sink and finally decided after reading this - I will go top mount.

Do you know that you have posted on the Australian Houzz forum? I don't think that either of those products are available in Australia so you won't get much feedback from here. Dr Retro of Dr Retro House Calls

Hi helennick, I think someone may be having a lend of you about Butler sinks being hard to get in Australia and that they are too heavy for cabinets; these are certainly not our expierience. The only problem you may have is that you want to use timber tops. This is because the constant exposure to water against the end grain over many years of use can become problematic especially if your tops are not polished properyl and it breaks down, wears or is damaged over time with use. For your handle selaction, I think choosing tapware with gold trim or gold and porcelain from Perrin & Rowe or Bastow or the like would be a good option. Hope this helps, Malcolm