When I was doing my search, I spoke with Bramati, in Frederick. I had been to Marva and mentioned them to Christian Bramati. He told me that Bramati, NSI, out by BWI, and Marva, pretty much buy their stones from the same, and best supplier. The Marva store I went to was in MD; LOVED the stones but didn't like the salesman - could have been me though. Anyway, after having visited all of them a billion times, I found that those three actually had the better looking stones. Each had various selections though. I ended up going with ArcStone in Capital Heights, MD. My Fabricator - GranTops in Frederick was great. They have stones too but charged me extra to buy the stone at Arc. I went with it because I was just plain ole tired of this nonense. I worked very close to Arc and had been there probably 20 times (if not more). They knew me by my name. That day, I just got up from my desk and headed there. The stone I picked out just stood there looking at me. Arc has nice stones but every once in a while they have GREAT stones. Guess I was lucky that day - I love it, especially since it's installed. I've been to most of the places mentioneed here and I don't think you'll go wrong with either of them. The stone that you pick out will stand up and salute you - trust me. Everyone here told me that, and sure 'nuf, after 6 months of looking, mine did. Good Luck!!

I install decorative appliance panels for several contractors an of the various cab shops they sub contract too, Coval is the only one that seems to bend over backward to satisfy the customer, even where applicable, correct some of the contractors shortcomings when they affect their product. I will not mention the others because the customer comments imply questionable integrity. No I do not work for them, I work for an HOA maint. co in south OC. Appliance panels are a side job.

Thank you beth4. Do you happen to recall the names of the yards (and locations if possible)? Or at least how you found the yards? I have found a few listed online, but I'm not certain of their size or if I am missing some. What fabricator did you use for the fabrication and installation? I'd love to know since you sound very pleased with the countertops after 5 years. Thanks!

christine40, were you able to wander around yourself and see what worked for you? So nice that you found something you liked. I went to Great Lakes yesterday in Redford and I had to pick which ones I wanted to see in the showroom from the samples they had. The sales guy told me the samples were pretty much what they had. Then he called into the warehouse and had them pull out the 3 slabs I said I liked and took me back to see them. I was able to see the other slabs that were stacked in their bins as we walked over to see my choices, but didn't feel I could really walk around and see what struck me. I did ask about some of the other slabs we walked by and a few he named were not in the showroom. It wasn't really a positive experience. But it's my first trip out to a granite place, so I have more to go see and hopefully I'll have a better experience. If you want to post pics so they shows up in your post, you need to upload the pics to a service like photobucket.com. The link I posted here will explain how to do it. Have fun at the hockey tourney and good luck Tuesday! Here is a link that might be useful: Posting pics.