"The rounded edge on the inside of my sink and the two outside side edges cost a total of $150 more." This is why I keep preaching that fabricators should sell this option instead of that gawdawful ugly cheap "pencil" edge at sinks. One chip, and that's "when", not "if", and you've paid me nearly $300.00 to fix it on site. Pulling the faucet and sink, profiling and polishing a proper round over, and reinstalling the sink and faucet to reduce the risk of future chips could be $500.00 or more.

Good, I’m hoping I’ve saved you a few weeks of anxious fretting. My finding is that soapstone is a bit more maintenance than my old formica, which did not show oil spots. Even though the spots will evaporate eventually I find that I can’t leave the kitchen at night if there are splatters or rings of oil on the surfaces. But its all okay, as long as I know _how_ to clean my new counters. My sister asked if I minded that it is more work, and really I don’t . Somehow, dealing with a natural (and not shiny) stone is just soothing —wiping them down just makes me happy. From what I’ve read they will darken naturally over time, but I think maybe not to the degree that mineral-oiling would accomplish. The edges around my sink are already showing up a bit darker, but that looks really cool. Congratulations on getting your counters in. I totally love mine and think you will too. :)

Pick a different stone or shorten the island. Leathered never ever looks right with a seam. The edges don’t either. It’s a rare shop that carries the diamond brushes to leather anything in the shop. That’s done at the quarry. A 120’’ island will generally always need a seam as stone slabs average 108”. You’d need something closer to 127” to get 10’ feet of cabinets covered. That’s 123” of yield needed. Granite isn’t generally square enough to get 123” out of 125”. 127” gives 2” each side for wiggle room. You get slim and slimmer choices for 127” natural stone slabs. You have to find a slab first, and then design the cabinets to it’s dimensions when wanting a super Long Island. You’ve done this the other way around. You may find you need to move to Jumbo quartz.

"considering Brizo bridge Artesso in polished nickel" I do not like a bridge faucet. I realize others like them, but the bridge faucet is something I could not live with. Every time you have to turn off, turn on, adjust the hot, adjust the cold, it's with two hands, two handles. As opposed to a single-handle faucet that you could do all those things with the back of one hand if that hand is chicken-y for example. Then you have the forest-of-fixtures look - the two faucets and the side spray, and then you might also have a hot/cold water dispenser, and a soap dispenser. All holes that need to be cut in your counter, and then to be cleaned around, rather than one or two holes. Speaking of the side spray, they are not as good as a faucet with an integrated sprayer. The pressure isn't as good, you have to keep holding the handle to stay on spray, and plumbers will say that a side sprayer is more repair-prone. A polished nickel finish is higher-maintenance than polished chrome. If you love it, and are fine with that, go for it, because it's really pretty. Polished nickel needs polishing periodically or it gets dull and tarnished. This occurs more over time, as the top coat wears off. I have beautiful polished nickel faucets in my bathrooms. They tarnish, though they didn't for the first year or two. Getting out the silver polish in those nooks and crannies is not a chore I wanted, and I often just live with the dull look. If I were doing it again, I'd get polished chrome, as my polished chrome kitchen faucet is several years old and looks like the day it was installed. For a traditional faucet that is also practical and beautiful, I recommend the Kohler Artifacts. The sprayer has 3 settings, a berry spray for gentle rinsing of berries, a regular spray, and a sweep spray in a fan shape so that you can rinse a dish in one motion. The sprayer head is ergonomic and feels nice in the hand.