Thank you all! This has been truly valuable resource, the best on the web. When guy from Vetrazzo asked me where I heard of them (not available directly in Canada yet), I proudly touted how much I trust this forum. And rightly so! All the advice with the side serving of couple of chuckles, too. Couple of things I'll do before committing to corian: - find that elusive high-end laminate shop; they seem to be hiding in cabinet makers showrooms(?), and no KD in their right mind will give me access to them - they earn lots of money on whole package. - explore DIY for laminate - but I think this is least likely to happen in 2 kids - 2 careers family. - get some more quotes for quartz: I just got pleasant surprise from somebody from Kijiji - 3300 for white quartz for whole thing (appx. 50 sq.ft. - $66 cad per sq.ft.) worth exploring. Other reputable place gave me 4000 - 6500 range, depending on a color (who new that they have so many whites?), so I'll try to bargain (is that allowed?) - think about stainless steel - maybe they can do brushed for little more? I'm still nervous about all the scratches I see in showrooms, even in brushed, it is glaring. I do expect we are going to continue to drag plates across (island is boundary between kitchen and dining room), so scratches are inevitable. I've tested with corian, my corelle plates don't bother him, but SS? I noticed that corian with bullnose looks more plastic-y then plain square edge, so I'll keep that in mind. Also looking at glossy white corian, it really looks high-end, almost quartz-y, so I'll inquire if countertop can be refinished later (just prior to sale) to that look. We do plan to move out (middle school not the best one around) in about 3-4 years, so yes, I'll have to think about resale value now. But I guess if I find somebody in Toronto that likes uber contemporary, they could be fine with corian too. One more idea that I've got from browsing italian on line catalogs (never ending story) is combination of steel and corian (or maybe quartz). Why not combine best of both worlds - having steel next to cooktop and quartz for rest. Now I just have to find somebody brave enough to commit to doing it. From Kitchen

I've removed linoleum (vinyl actually) and it's a horrid job. The thing that helped was a heat gun, but you have to be careful not to set your house on fire. My tip is bite the bullet and hire someone to help. It doesn't have to be high-priced help. Around here we have a Millionaires Club where you can hire unskilled help pretty cheap. Supervise them carefully and feed them a really hearty lunch and they will be wonderful. Some jobs are worth DIY and some are not, methinks. Or take "patience pills" and you'll still cuss a lot. I hated that job more than I can tell you. I had a copper sink and I hated it. I was forever having to polish it. I finally gave it to my ex, who wanted it. It was like revenge. lol!

Thanks everyone for your help! Iharpie, we are not looking for anything super thin. Just 12mm or so is good. cpartist, we havent completely given up on Neolith yet. We plan to visit the showroom in Toronto today to ask them. But some of the experiences others have had with 'inexperienced' fabricators that are posted on this forum does not instill too much confidence!! Joseph, but when we called the fabricators in Toronto up (those listed on Dekton website for Toronto), they were ALL hesitant on working on the 12mm slab. And of course, we read many horror stories online about how fabricator cracks the slab around the sink, etc.

Centered means centered. Draw two imaginary lines--one from middle of the side wall all the way across the vanity and the second from the middle of the drawers/doors to the back wall--then the sink holes would line up right where those lines intersect.