Blanco appliances in Bristol

Sinks and taps are the whole business here. Heinrich Blanc set the company up in Oberderdingen, in south-west Germany, in 1925, and it passed a hundred years in 2025.

Blanco makes sinks in the three materials that matter: stainless steel, ceramic, and Silgranit, its own granite composite. Silgranit is the one most people come for. It is warm to the touch, takes a hot pan, resists scratching and comes in solid colours such as anthracite, grey, black and white, so it can be matched to a worktop instead of fighting it. Taps, waste bins and accessories are designed to line up with the sinks, which takes a lot of guesswork out of a kitchen plan.

Two honest notes. A composite sink wants wiping down rather than leaving, and strongly coloured things like turmeric or beetroot will mark a pale one if they sit in it. And an undermount sink going into stone or quartz has to be chosen before the worktop is templated, so decide on it early.