oh the nightmares im having lol yes 2 is a good idea one on each side. im also considering a beach entry, which sounds like a great option, but we will have to see how much more the pool will cost with it. we are surrounded by inground pools here, theres one to our left and one to our back all within 30 ft from our yard. and these people dont even lock their gates, ive watched the deer walk around our neighbors pool, i had one hand on my mouth and the other over one eye watching in horror! but they were fine (for now) but i wish they would close their gate! our other neighbor is ok and puts the latch on and i know they find mice in their pool often, never mentioned anything large though. but still i want the safest pool around. ill have to measure my dogs head to see if he can fit through 3". hes a 13 lb pekingese, hes over weight hes only supposed to be about 9 lbs lol, hes only a year and a half and gaining weight by the day. its my 2 yr olds fault he throws food everywhere in places sometimes i dont know of and well Chip the peke finds it quicker than my eye ever could. i guess everything will fall into place once the fence and pool are in, ill send a pic when its done bunny hole and all hehe, the rate their going i figure will have a nice cold swim in october, oye

I like that mock-up. That looks great Rebunky. I just made a "Globe Pendant" IdeaBook on Houzz hoping to find an island Erica's size & specific globe pendants sizes. So frustrating, as either the island size wasn't listed or the pendant size wasn't listed. While I was doing that, you made that great mock-up. I really like the two pics of the black island kitchen you posted earlier and the mock-up looks very much like that size & spacing. The outer pendants might be able to move just a tiny bit closer (a smidge) to the edge of the counter. edit: based on the mock-up, 14" pendants?

I think a tapered boxing would look better, assuming that the stairs rise over the kitchen. It's just too top heavy and the tapered boxing (with the front plane a right angle triangle) would give it some room to breathe. You can put some blue tape in the projected possible line of taper over the current box to try to visualize it.

During the build of your condo, the builder likely had multiple ways of installing the large countertops; crane, industrial fork lift, scissor lift, etc., so it doesn't mean he necessarily used the stairs. You have not provided sufficient information to determine if your new countertop will be able to be carried via the stairs to your unit. Remember, it just doesn't need to fit, it must be able to be carried by sufficient installers who need to be on the stairs as well. Quartz is heavy, and an almost 8' long slab will be unwieldy as well. Good luck on your remodel!