I recently had a stone sill placed on my kitchen window that isn't too different, dimension-wise, from yours and it was no problem. Both my GC and the fabricators had zero issues with it and, at the time, I had no backsplash under the window (3x6 subway tiles have just been installed). I wonder if your GC isn't familiar with stone sills or if your fabricator is concerned about too long of an overhang? My original wood sill/frame measured approx 70" x 3.25". I don't have a very good photo of the wood sill removed, but you can see from the photos below how simple it actually was to install the stone sill. They were able to keep the thickness of the sill the same as my countertops, 3cm. Before (the wood sill to be removed includes the unpainted part below): During (entire bottom of window frame removed): After: I would've liked the overhang to be about an inch or two longer than it turned out and my fabricator wouldn't have had a problem with it... I just gave them the leeway to make it however they wanted. I know that when they ripped the walls out under the window, there were about 2 wall studs below that my stone sill may be sitting on. Can you post a pic of your current window sill/ledge?

True - most "Kitchen Designers" are nothing more than cabinet salepeople. Whether at Home Depot or a cabinet / kitchen showroom. If you need layout / design help you need to hire a REAL Certified Kitchen Designer - an Interior Designer (not a "Decorator" either) who specializes in kitchen design. Pay upfront just for the design service - make sure they do not sell anything! If you want to understand cabinet construction quality, then get a good book on cabinet construction - it will explain the good, the bad, and the ugly. I have lots of books on furniture making and joinery, and two on kitchen cabinets. Of them the only one I recommend (for cabinets) is "The Complete Kitchen Cabinetmaker" by Robert W. Lang. Others have good reviews as well, but of the ones I have that is the best. You don't need to be making your own cabinets to benefit from the information. As for face-frame vs. frameless, Alku05, I find it odd that a cabinetmaker who does face-frames cannot do frameless. Frameless is a lot easier to build because QUALITY face-frame cabinets require a LOT of special tools and jigs. Maybe your guy has no clue about cabinetmaking at all because real face-frames require mortise-and-tenon connections of the face-frame itself and dadoing or rabbeting the frames onto the cabinet fronts. Cheap face-frames use pocket screws, in which case I'd opt for frameless as well. As for the material, OF COURSE the thickness of the sides makes a difference! It's like comparing a wall with studs placed 16" OC vs. 24" OC - obviously 16" is a lot stronger. So, 3/4" is a LOT stronger than 1/2", and furniture grade plywood (no voids) is a LOT more stable than ordinary plywood. And dadoed backs are a lot stronger than rabbeted backs (backs keep the sides together), and dovetailed drawer boxes are stronger than dadoed boxes, which are stronger than rabbeted boxes (and ALL drawer bottoms MUST be dadoed between the sides). As for particle board and MDF, they both crumble and disintegrate if they get wet, so they must be laminated with melamine to protect them, but if that gets a crack and gets wet the joints will fall apart. I've seen this first-hand with MDF - I bought it once for the back of a painted DVD shelving unit because it was less than half the cost of plywood (and more than twice the weight). I forgot to clean up my scraps outside and it rained - I came back to a pile of sawdust; the book confirms this and warns that such cabinets can never be repaired once the material gets wet. Granted, modern plywood quality has gone WAY downhill, so some people like MDF because it has a more uniform surface; this is a MAJOR gripe among woodworkers. So, if you are looking for very high quality cabinets like they were made back in the day it will be custom and VERY expensive because furniture-grade plywood is VERY expensive. Solid wood is actually cheaper, but that has it's own problems with expansion and contraction, and even the best woodworkers are loathe to use it because you have to make sure the grain is running in the proper directions to avoid uneven warping and cupping. Some woodworkers will use solid wood, but none that I know of will guarantee that it won't warp and cup; in fact most will make you sign a contract stating that you know the faults and they are NOT responsible for any future problems.

I can completely understand your concerns. I looked at granite for 8 weeks. Every visit to each slab yard just confused me more! I went from Juparana Super Classico to Espirto Santo, to Golden Ray to Juparana Persa. Once I found a slab of Espirito Santo I 'loved', called my fabricator who told me it would be $1000 more for that material. As we near the end of the remodel, there is not an extra $1000 lying around to spend! He suggested that we visit the yards together. Within ten minutes, we found we found two very unique slabs of Madura Gold that I must have walked past countless times and never noticed. When he pulled the slabs out, put my cabinet door and flooring next to it, I knew we had found it! I realized that he has spent 20 years installing granite and has seen every type installed. He had a great eye for the look I was trying to achieve. (Even better that the designer who I paid to go with me three times!) Maybe your fabricator can help. Another great source I found was Planet Granite. They have their entire inventory on line. You can see pictures of full slabs. Even though they would not be the slabs you would purchase, it gives you a nice overview of how each material might look. Just click on search inventory and then choose a granite from the drop down menu at the top. Good Luck! Here is a link that might be useful: Granite Photos

Here you go! The post you are looking for is about half way down the page, entitled "how to seal your stone" Here is a link that might be useful: READ ME