When you go shopping for stainless steel sinks, you will hear or see “18 gauge” and “16 gauge″ and you may be confused by the number .
GAUGE NUMBER
Basically GAUGE refers to the thickness of the stainless steel sheet used for the fabrication of sinks. It has nothing to do with the chromium/nickel contents in the stainless steel.
Technically speaking, the gauge number refers to the number of times the stainless steel material has to go through a series of narrow gaps. Each subsequent gap is smaller. So a lower gauge number indicates the sheet is thicker.
Typically 18 gauge is used to fabricate most standard sinks. 16 gauge or lower is used for square or apron-front sinks. 20 gauge is often used for small bar sinks which do not require a thick material to stay strong enough.