The first sink I ever picked out myself was a tiny drop in basin for a bathroom so small I could touch both walls at once, and I chose it because it was cheap and white and I didn't think about it beyond that. It taught me that a sink is not a background detail, it's the thing your hand touches every morning before coffee, and if the basin is too shallow or the bowl too narrow you will notice every single day, usually while half asleep and splashing water onto the counter.
Sinks go wherever water goes, which sounds obvious until you start thinking room by room. A kitchen sink needs to handle a stockpot and a stack of dishes without you doing that awkward sideways tilt to fit things in, so if you only have room in the budget for one upgrade in the kitchen, go a size up from what feels necessary, you will use every extra inch. A bathroom sink in a small apartment does better as a pedestal or a wall mounted basin, because it leaves the floor visible and the room reads bigger, while a bathroom with more space can take a vanity sink with a bit of counter for the stuff you actually keep out, the toothbrush, the soap, the thing you always mean to put away. A laundry or mudroom sink is the workhorse nobody photographs and everybody is grateful for, deep and plain, built for muddy boots and paint rollers rather than for looking nice.
If you're starting from nothing, a simple white porcelain or vitreous china basin is the one to live with first. It goes with almost any faucet finish, it doesn't show water spots the way a colored or matte black sink can, and when you eventually want to change the counter or the walls around it, the sink itself never has to be the thing you're fighting against. Stainless steel is the other easy starting point for a kitchen, since it hides scratches better than anyone warns you about and goes with literally any cabinet color you'll ever choose.
On finish, plain white or a soft bone color wears the best over time, in any room. Brushed metal sinks are forgiving day to day, while anything high gloss black or very dark shows every water mark by lunchtime, so go in knowing that's the deal, not a flaw you missed.
A sink like this suits a home where the room gets used hard every single day, not just admired.