I would really love to replace my stainless steel sink, which was already old and worn out when I bought this place 2 years ago.  The water is so hard here, it shows every hard water spot.  I have tried every kind of cleaning product to clear them up, but at this stage nothing really helps.  I would love to get one of those sinks made out of some material (composite?) that looks like granite, kind of gray speckled with black flecks or something, with a flat finish instead of shiny.  Same principle as when buying carpet - get something that won't show the dirt so much.  LOL  

Surely there is a company in your area that will install the water filtration equipment to soften your water. How can you stand to take showers, do the laundry, etc. in such hard water? (We have very hard water here in our county and we have "tanks" in our basement that I joke look like leftover torpedoes from submarines from WW II.)

Many would not recommend this. I have hard water as well and a stainless steel sink in the kitchen, I scrub it with the green part of my scrub sponge........yes I know they say not to do that but the sink stays shiny. If it is real bad you can use something soft like a plastic scraper to scrape away a lot of the scum first. 

Your former kitchen sounds very pretty, but I bet those counters were a pain to clean. I watch a lot of HGTV or those renovation shows and when people are looking at a place that has tile counters, that is the first thing they want to do over.

All I can think it - dizzy!!  I love quilts and quilt blocks, but not this much.  HAS to be a joke - right??