What you're seeing is what we call a "glue line" - This happens when two pieces of stone are laminated to create a thicker looking edge detail. This is common. The glue lines in laminating - no matter HOW good your guy is (even me - HA!) WILL be able to be seen if you look for them. This is normal. Some glue lines are not as noticeable as others (ie: look at Boxerpups - you can barely see them) ... This is attributable to the stone, and the abilities of your Fabricator, and the kind of glue they use (with or without tints) As far as remedies now - you can use some stone enhancer (Ager Tiger) on the edge and it might help disguise the glue line - but it won't make it go away entirely. As crazy as this sounds too - a black sharpie pen hitting the black areas will also help minimize the visual impact of the glue lines. Those of us making a living doing Slab Countertops have used this little trick of the trade for decades...... ;-) It's always advisable for Fabricators to SHOW you a sample of a laminated edge to alert you to the glue line issue - I always say that the glue lines WILL be there - and no matter how good I can get them - you WILL see them if you look hard enough for them..... hth kevin

Thanks all, very very helpful info. Boxerpups, special thanks for these great photos, would never guess where the seams are in your counters. If things would work out so well for us, I would prefer they use caution with my handpicked slab and add a seam. You make a very good point about my confidence in the fabricator also. I think that must be the true source of my uneasiness. I do feel they are competent because they give all the right answers to questions (that I learned to ask from this forum), and they are well established in this area, but I just didn't click with the salesman and I only overlooked that because our contractor, who is wonderful, overall likes them. The owner also is great. So every time the salesman tells me something, I don't trust him. So I think what I will do is ask about their ability to hide seams and show them your photos if you don't mind--to give them an idea what our expectations are. Then I can put this to rest and move on. Thanks so much again everyone! And please stay tuned for backsplash questions, that is the next step!!

jscozz, What was the title of your thread (so I can go review it?). I do have a bit of a problem following threads I'm interested in, cuz things move so fast on this forum. I also haven't been able to keep anything in 'my clippings'. I think I had them there for awhile, but they're all gone now- not sure if I'm missing something...? The one good thing about the company I am dealing with (I am the GC on our reno), is that they seem to be bending over backwards to make sure everything goes OK. Allright- it HAS been six months since I ordered cabinets and granite, and I STILL don't have all cabinets yet... but the manager has taken over our account personally and has probably spent close to 6-7 hours here (now I know that sounds excessive- but 2-3 hours of that was a second trip cuz we changed our minds about the overhang to go back to 9"- and when he came out to remeasure- he assured us he could do the 12" with rodding and it would be supported well enough- so we went back to the 12" again), just measuring and trying to figure out how he is going to fabricate/cut the granite. He prefers to overkill to make sure everything lasts a lifetime- and I really appreciate his enthusiasm and his attitude- just not totally confident in his lack of experience.

At a minimum, your sink should have supports between the bowls to stiffen the steel on the flat in the middle. This picture was taken with the sink lying upside down. The stiffener was installed by the sink manufacturer. Often times fabricators will clip the corners of the sink only. This leaves the center of the sink unsupported and the sink will leak, especially without stiffeners. A leaking sink may result in a catastrophic reinforcement rod failure.