The of the money in granite countertops is mostly in the fabrication. Fabricators generally don't like to work with slabs that they don't have some input into picking. There can be issues of quality that they have to deal with that they wouldn't have had if they had a hand in sending you to a specific slab yard. Which is to say that if you can find someone to fabricate these slabs for you, it may turn out that they were on the scrap heap for a reason. Or, it could turn out that you've struck gold! The only way to know is to find a local stone fabricator. STart with the Yellow Pages and look under Granite or Stone. Don't be surprised to learn that even with the slabs there free that it will still cost thousands to have them fabricated. Stone itself can run $10 a square foot and the other $60 is for the labor of transporting/fabricating.

Thanks for all the thoughts. Sounds like tile on slab would be firmer on feet than wood on slab. I'll also look into the Marmoleum Click suggestion. Have to admit I'm a bit of a snob on the idea of vinyl but I should look at it. Thanks for the shoe suggestion! I have a chronic plantar fascitis problem and have been fighting peroneal tendonitis for over 2 years. I am always in either my Birkenstocks (use for house shoes/slippers) or sneakers with custom orthotics. Every step. I miss being barefoot -- was a total barefoot person before. On transitions my concern if I go with wood is it would be an big opening from the kitchen to the LR/DR which has a wood floor that I cannot continue there (rustic boards nailed in - I don't think it can be matched on the slab and it has gaps that I don't love for the kitchen (have it in my kitchen now). So I'm not sure how it would look to have a big wide opening changing woods. Like the tile examples above I guess some boards placed across the opening framing the transition point.

That matte tile looks lovely! I love tile, I actually prefer it to hardwood to be honest, maybe because I grew up in Florida, but I just think it’s more durable. I have five kids (had all of them in 4.5 years) and it was never a problem with my kids slipping on tile in any house they grew up in UNTIL we moved to our current house. By that time, they were all young teens and preteens, but this house has a huge foyer that originally had shiny, slippery, white tile in it. Everyone except my hubby busted at least once on that tile, even with a rug at the entrance! Thankfully, we didn’t have any serious injuries that resulted in long term issues, but I was initially worried about that when I slipped and fell down straight only one of my knees! We replaced the tile, now I have a stone look, dark charcoal, matte tile with matching charcoal grout and I couldn’t be happier! I also despise the sweaty footprint marks left on glossy floor surfaces whether it’s tile or hardwood. (My hardwood is glossy... eventually it’ll be refinished and I’m going with a non glossy finish for sure!) So yeah, for floor tile I would never go with a slick finish, it needs some grip!

I appreciate all of your input. Let me get into all of the details to answer all of your questions/concerns. We have lived at this residence for more than 10 years and have had the same neighbors all of those years. In response to @Virgil Carter Fine Art and @chicagoans the gray block wall is a retaining wall as the neighbor's ground is just below the top of the gray block wall. We have never had issues with drainage from the neighbors. In addition, the neighbors do not have any dogs or young children & they've always stored their trash cans closer to the front of the house, which has never been a problem over the 10+ years. Even if they did have dogs or young kids, we would welcome them all :-) And yes, @chicagoans, we're in southern CA with wonderful weather :-) The concrete slab that is currently under the grill that spawned this discussion was poured prior to the pavers being placed. I'm not positive but I think it may be approximately 12-18" deep. As for the "pavers".....these are 36"x36" units that are set in place in dirt. They are NOT poured concrete. There is a small amount of concrete on the perimeter to keep everything in place. As for each of the footings for the trellis posts, they were all quite big (see photo below). They needed to be substantial enough to pass inspection so I believe they were each approximately 2-4 feet deep and at least 4 feet wide. (forgive my estimations, I'm not a professional in this industry). Let's move on to the wall/fence/property line. As you can see in the following photos, we lived with a deteriorating fence for 10 years, assuming that it was on the neighbor's property since we were looking at the backside of the fence. However, once we begun our permitting process, they ordered a survey which revealed that the fence was actually a few feet over OUR property line. After discussions with the neighbors, we agreed to replace the fence on our property, leaving more than necessary square footage on their side, out of respect. As you can see from the new fence photos, the fence is not right on top of the block wall. Therefore, I'm curious if any of this new information changes any of your opinions on how to move forward with all of the existing information. I hope I have addressed all of the concerning comments. If I have left anything out, feel free to let me know. I appreciate all of your time, thoughts, concerns & input!