I'm sending this -my first post to the bottom of the page. The link below is to my post that I would love to get some input from anyone in the know. Thanks very much! Here is a link that might be useful: my new post with questions about marble fabrication and templating

It may depend on whether you're doing an undermount sink installation or not. We are, and before they'll come and template, our fabricator told us to have the plywood layer on top with the hole for the sink cut out and the edge routed so that the sink sits in - flush with the top of the plywood. They also specified that there should be 1/4" of wiggle room. I don't know if this is typical or not. Good luck!

I am a fabricator. backsplash; some stones will not survive being cut down to a 2" wide piece; it will literally fall apart. Quartz and some stones are fine but regardless you'll probably have more backsplash seams with 2" material because 2" pieces are so fragile. "Negative reveal" = overhang. Reveal means some amount of the top flange of the sink is exposed. My shop does a very slight (1/16") overhang because it hides the caulk joint and eliminates the exposed rim that eventually gets beat up. The overhang generally goes from 1 - 1-1/2". More becomes an interference with drawer access and less than 1" makes it much more likely the joint between the countertop and cabinet is exposed. It's common for there to be a gap in some areas between the countertop and the cabinet. (cabinets usually aren't perfectly level and the backside of the granite is not perfectly flat.) The overhang masks the countertop/cabinet joint from casual observation. lots of ways to do "invisible" supports as per other posts. If they are as slight as some in the pics you might want the overhang rodded. Rodding is the process of embedding metal strips in the underside of the stone (like re-bar in concrete) so a big piece of stone doesn't go crashing to the floor in the event of a fracture. I am aware of 2 incidents where this happened; once when a teenage daughters football player boyfriend hopped up on to the counter and broke off the overhang. The other was a homeowner that came in with (2) 24 packs of beer and dropped them on to the counter.

My KD said they will template with the old counters in place. He also said I did not have to remove everything from my lower cabs, but probably the drawers ( or maybe remove the drawers? I'm not clear on that either) He said there will be no dust that could poss damage the drawer glides (this is what I read on this forum that had me scared!). He said it will fit perfect, virtually no sanding/grinding on the granite in my kitchen. In my opinion, it better fit damn well perfect for nearly $100/sq ft for a cat 7 granite! One of the guys that worked for my original GC when we built is going to remove my counter tops. He is the one who installed them, so I feel good about that. He said its just a matter of removing some screws. Some guy who is remodeling a double-wide trailer wants them, which makes me feel good they aren't going in the trash.