ugh.... we are just at this point now and realized that our new counter/breakfast bar is 12' with the sink cutout dead center. My wife is stuck on an undermount and we really wanted granite... we will, of course, be getting a few fabricators to bid it. But is it feasible to do the seam with a cutout at the seam? The front edge of the sink seems a bit vulnerable to me. Also the current layout has the dishwasher adjacent to the sink and I guess we'd need to get the cabinet built with a support at the seam. If we can seam at the sink it would be small, just the length of the front setback (breakfast bar transitions to countertop there)... how well does the bullnose normally line up on a seam? Do they polish it on-site? Are we better off getting used to NOT granite? The 12' counter is not negotiable in our design.

I am a laminate lover that now has granite in the kitchen. In the neighborhood we built in we had to choose granite or quartz (or marble or quartzite) to match the quality of the homes. We asked if we could downgrade to "fancy" laminate but they wouldn't let us. I wanted Formica 180FX in Travertine Silver. They did allow us to put it in our bathrooms and we love it. The reason why I love laminate is that it's quieter, not ice cold, and it really is extremely durable. We've never had a laminate counter get scratched, chipped or stained. I feel more comfortable with laminate because it's much cheaper than the granite & quartz patterns I like so if I were to ruin it or want a change after 10 years I wouldn't mind so much. We will never ever be replacing our granite unless the whole counter cracks in half, haha. It wasn't cheap and it's heavy and a pain to remove. I hope we like it forever! Quartz is great I've heard but it's not necessarily damage proof, it has its faults as well. One of my new neighbors (we both moved into our new homes 3 months ago) got quartz and it was installed with weird streaks and a few scratches on it that couldn't be removed by hand. The installer had to buff it out somehow. Another neighbor got a different quartz and I think it stained from some sort of kid's paint or maybe food. It's only 5 months old maybe. Hopefully the stain can be lifted. I loved only one quartz I looked at for my kitchen...I'm not a fan of the marble-look quartz nor do I like the speckled options or the ones with glass chunks/glitter and I think the reason why I didn't favor most of the quartz choices were that they didn't have the depth or glow of natural stone...they were just missing something. Some of the Cambria options looked like swirled melted plastic or crayons to me (one of the popular choices here on Houzz). The one I liked was from Caesarstone but when it came down to choosing we went with granite (I love discovering new details in it daily) partly because it was around $1,000 less and we had to budget for many upgrades and since I knew I would be happy with either counter I chose to save money. All counters have pros/cons but I consider laminate to be extremely durable.

Nic's,,the 4" piece should come off easy enough. you may tear the paper on the backsplash, which is ok if it's not too deep into the drywall. I guess if you were on scene you could have asked them not to install it. I mean, what difference is it to them whether or not it goes on the wall? to say it would be more money not to have one, is ridiculous. it takes more time to cut one and finish the edges! but, whatever. as for the design, it's a herringbone. and those I've shown you come on 12" sheets so you don't have to do the actual design (which is very difficult) the first one is calacatta marble in a 1x2 herringbone (also comes in a 1x4, which I like better). You can find this all over,,,even Houzz carries it. If you want the marble, then stick w/the Calacatta not the Carrara. carrara is a blue/white and will clash w/your counters. calacatta has a warmer tone to the stone. the 2nd on is a tumbled travertine which you can get here: https://www.pebbletileshop.com/products/Cream-Herringbone-Stone-Mosaic-Tile.html#.WhX_BLaZNT4 this will give you an idea of what it looks like installed (you can turn it longways as well) If you search "herringbone mosaic tile" you should get lots of ideas and places to buy them. this one is from Lowes, allen and roth. you could buy one and bring it home to see how it looks this is the basketweave this would also work. crackle glass by Merola tile. Olean Glass mosaic. I think Home Depot carries thesenothing wrong w/doing a little color. pale green, blue or gray would also work well. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Merola-Tile-Chester-Sage-3-in-x-12-in-Ceramic-Wall-Tile-1-sq-ft-pack-WNU32CSG/300341310 these would also look nice,,,they have them in different shades https://www.mercurymosaics.com/shapes/field-subway-tile/

Do any of you think it matters that he hasn't finished yet? I'm trying to be hopeful here, because if I have to go another route it's going to be a few weeks wait from other companies and I'm going to have to handle the situation of not paying him. I know he not going to folk up the $ for me to repurchase, so I'm going to have to just withhold payment.