As you can see, being even a little bit off on something that is supposed to match can look awful. This is one of the reasons why some clothes meant for Saks end up at Stein Mart or TJ Maxx. This seam would look best if it were matched, but would look WAY better than it does now if they had left it random. Since you have an agreed upon layout, I would stand my ground and make them fix it. The problem is that you may not end up with book matched slabs that match the rest of your counters. You may have to choose between book matched slabs and matching materials. Personally, I'd go with matching materials (if there's some of the original bundle left or turning one of the sections around). Either way, it has to look better than what you have now. And as others have said, I too think that seam is very poorly done. When I looked at your photo before reading the text, I thought that the seam was the point of contention. For a $3k Home Depot granite job, perhaps its par for the course. For something that was probably north of $15k, absolutely not.

It's an open plan so I presume the floor is for all the space...? If you don't mind going with lighter color floor, as in you haven't decided yet, the lighter flooring would create a better contrast with the cabinets. Unless we see the other floor darker than it is in real life. If for the sake of the whole space you highly prefer dark floor-I feel you should consider lighter cabinets. Even if the space is very large,open, and gets a lot of light...the expanse of the cabinets is still too big, it will be too much black on dark brown. (I went for a very little contrast cabinet and flooring myself, not that it can't be done at all-but it was in a bathroom, much smaller space, and the colors were more medium-toned. ) Otherwise, it's a very pretty scheme you're going for.

Thank you again for all your responses. Perhaps we should all contact Tesla to request standing seam solar panels? Wouldn't you think that they would be even easier to produce than the shingle and tile styles they have now? In response to Sammy, we originally designed the house with a propane gas log fireplace, a gas range as well as gas tankless water heaters. We then decided to eliminate the fireplace and range mostly for indoor air quality reasons which meant installing a new propane supply and piping to both wings of the house just for hot water. At that point it made sense to consider other heat sources and I thought that electric tankless would be the answer especially as they can be installed close to the points of use. We could always return to having propane tankless, as like you, we have been more than satisfied with this arrangement on our current house but it would mean dedicated gas tank(s) for the tankless heaters. CP I will take your suggestion to post on the plumbing forum. Your endorsement of electric tankless keeps us considering them as an option. I have been following your building story with interest as we began ours around the same time (and I believe from your posts that we are about the same age). I foolishly anticipated that we would be going through all the stages of building at the same time as you and since you are only a few miles down the road from us, thought we would be comparing useful notes! Yet here we are, you are starting to put in lovely finishing touches to your new house but for various reasons we have not yet moved from first base! As far as the location of the laundry is concerned, thank you for the warning. I am sorry that your mother's health declined the way it did despite taking such good care of herself, it is certainly a cautionary story for us all. My father was still easily climbing on to his roof to maintain it, digging drainage ditches and riding his bicycle many miles until cancer abruptly felled him at 82. My mother, a cancer survivor at 87 years lives alone, maintains her own garden including still planting trees, mowing the grass, doing all her own cleaning, decorating, shopping etc and walks 2 or 3 miles a day, and sometimes up to 6 miles to visit her friend. She would be shocked that anyone would think this is in any way exceptional. I know my parents' active lives do not guarantee that I will be so fortunate, just as your mother's decline happily does not bode ill for you. You are right though that we should plan for any eventuality. In our case we decided not to limit our current active lives in order to be braced for possible disability in the future. Our new property is not suitable for a disabled couple. If the time comes when we cannot haul our small amount of laundry the approximately 50 feet from the master wing to the laundry we will be out of there. The property is 3/4 of an acre with a dock, boat and seawall to maintain so we will only stay there while we are still fit and healthy. If a disability is temporary we can get help until we are back on our feet. Our plan is to leave as soon as we can no longer maintain the property. Thank you once again jln333. So much to think about.

Krista, those are fabulous pictures. Thank you so much! I love my Mme Isaac Pereire as well, she is one of my favourite scents (and flowers), although she is more of a shrub than a climber for me because of the amount of winter dieback! Your weather would be similar to mine so I will plan for Lady Emma Hamilton near the front of the border. I'll be able to smell her better that way anyways!! For Munstead Wood, if it is thorny and not too large, do you think that a large pot would be a good home? Some roses just seem to do better in pots than others ... and thank you both for the tips on Brother Cadfael. Whenever online descriptions say thornless, I am always sceptical. Very few are actually thornless. But he sounds like a rose to have anyways, large blooms and great fragrance ... he's a big one though, right? The way descriptions go, it sounds like he should almost be a specimen plant ... he's too big for the front/mid garden, but to put him at the back would mean you can't smell him ... do you think that is accurate? (as context, I have very few "specimen" plants ... not enough space ... but I do have Evelyn who is a fairly large plant here and I put her at a corner of the garden so she is the closest I have to a specimen plant. She's a bit of a diva afterall. I could find a similar situation for Brother Cadfael if that would suit him well). As I'm having trouble deciding between Young Lycidas and Falstaff, perhaps I'll hold off on that choice until next year. Every time I see photos, I flip flop in my mind which one I like better lol. I can't choose!