OK, we can let this one sink to the bottom, because my sister was able to find a new fabricator through the retired one. And many thanks to Breezygirl and GHarborwa for their input via email for her, too.

For granite yards in central jersey - 1) there's OHM in Monroe - indoors which may help when trying to see what it will look like inside. You need an appointment so call ahead. 2) Also in the same area, try European in Jamesburg. I almost got my granite from them - I like them because they are really picky and honest about their slabs. If it's not a good slab, they'll tell you. 3) Cosmic stone in New Brunswick. They had a large selection and some really nice slabs but not in the stone I wanted. 4) Ankur in Jamesburg or Monroe (you can google their website.) I didn't get there because they were closed when I needed to find a slab, but several people here got great slabs there at good prices. 5) MSI in Edison. I ended up getting my granite there at the last minute. They were ok, but not as helpful as I'd have liked. The didn't want to move slabs around without a lot of persistence, even when there was clearly a different lot in the back. For fabricators, I used Natural Stone and granite in N. Brunswick. They were fine - reasonably priced and fast. But I don't know if I'd use them a more complex job. In my case, I didn't need seams because of the layout. I almost went with Stone Surfaces of Central NJ in New Brunswick. I heard good things about them and they have a great rating with BBB. They were pricier though. If I were doing it over again, I think I'd go with Benchmark for fabricating. They have offices in Lakewood and in north jersey somewhere (can't remember.) You can e-mail them and they will give you a quote based on your layout. They have a decent showroom and work with many of the large granite yards. I've never heard a bad story about them. They use laser templating and seem to do a very good job with seams, matching etc. Their pricing was about the same as stone surfaces. good luck, and have fun!

I used Bracho Marble & Granite in Newark. I got 3 estimates and they were the cheapest by a fair amount and also Da Vinci Marble, where I got my marble, recommended them. But I will say this, if you want to specify how to template the slab, make sure they mark front and back. One of my pieces ended up backwards, which I actually liked better, but still, be very specific how you want it laid out. Oh, also, Henry got me a discount on the stone even though I had chosen and had a deposit on it already. I can't remember how much I paid, I will find out tomorrow and let you know. Marble install was one of the most exciting days of my life, ok, well, you know, you get a little TKO when you spend any time here on GW.

We are in Woodside and used Tikal Tile in Redwood City on Bay Rd. My GC uses him and we were very happy. I didn't deal with him (Jose) directly, but did visit my slabs once they arrived there and also after they templated to see where they would be placed on the slab. I bought my slabs at All Natural Stone in Santa Clara (San Jose?). When I went to pay for them, and said who my fabricator would be, they automatically gave me his discount. Tikal Tile also did my backsplash and did a really nice job on that, too!