"see examples of their work" Excellent point. There seems to be a lot of problems lately with people being disappointed in their granite fabrication. I have to really hold back in posting things like "did you see examples of their seams? did you discuss the edge? Did you see this or that? Did you pick out the slab, the layout? Did you bring samples home to test and to see how it looked in your house" etc. You should ask for references and actually go see installed granite in a home. I actually asked our salesperson (yard and fabricator, all in one shop) if we took the longest and was the most PITAs. She laughed and said No of course. I visited the shop 4 or 5 times. I had numerous samples I kept for months. I saw granite in their showroom on each visit. I saw granite installed in a home. It was actually a friend of mine who had used the place but if I had not seen hers I would have asked for a reference and asked to see the installed granite. I called repeatedly and asked lots of questions, even speaking to the owner. Reviewed the contract in detail. I spoke at length with the templater and then the installers. Watched every move. BTW I visited and got estimates from eight different shops before choosing the one we used. Maybe this was done before....but a thread on how to purchase granite might be in order. Starting at the beginning....how to find a fabricator, what to ask for, what to expect, etc. How we handled the granite decision is how we handle EVERY decision. I know most people (not all) that I know IRL say they just don't have the time or patience to spend the time we do on these things. But they are the ones who call us when they need advise.

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!!

Thanks for all the feedback! I definitely will go to see the seam. I'm just so curious about what the technique is and if the seam is really virtually invisible - I've never heard of this before. It does sound challenging to create the piece with seam at the shop and transport and install it without breaking. I wonder if it's not so much a "new" technique as something they just don't like to do routinely. The photos and the link were interesting to see, thanks all! I can barely see where the seams are in the posted photos, but hard to judge from a distance. My island is pretty much identical to the one in stonegirl's photos (is that giallo veneziano?), except that ours bows out where the eating counter is. I don't think there's really any way to lower a part of the island at this point (the end pieces are already built) without a major remake, but I have thought of the possibility. Will start thinking in those terms if I don't want a seam, regardless. I hate these kind of decisions too, michellemarie! lilyfreak - I have found a big difference between what various fabricators told me with respect to my situation - don't know if the same would be true for you (maybe the experts on this board will weigh in) but it's worth exploring. For example, I was told by many fabricators that it was "impossible" to transport and install an 11 foot island when I had already been to a place that told me it would be no problem with adequate entry to the house and enough workers to transport. Ran into the same thing when asking about seams. One fabricator told me that it is impossible to get a seam under 1/8 inch. Another told me that he had never seen or heard of a slab over 130 inches. When I mentioned finding these elsewhere, the next day he came up with six from his supplier! I am sure he knew - he just wanted to sell from his own inventory first or didn't want to deal with the more difficult job. I can understand that - I just wish they didn't imply these things were impossible for anyone. On the other hand, I've run across some absolutely terrific and helpful fabricators - they helped me search for slabs, referred me to their suppliers and were always completely honest about what they could and could not do. It's interesting though - I never would have gone past the first place recommended to me if I hadn't started looking into large slabs. I imagine most people don't!

According to the Marble Institute of America: "Joint (seam) widths between two stoneunits should equal 1/16" (1.5 mm), with atolerance of �1/64" (�0.4 mm). In such cases where a larger joint width has been specified, the tolerance is to be �25% (� �)of the nominal joint width. Joint width does not include the dimension of an arris (a smallchamfer, approximately 1/16" x 1/16") on the stone edge. When an arris is used, the perceived joint width may be greater than the actual width due to the seam filler occupying the width of the arris." There should be no detectablelippage at the front or rear edge of the countertop. Maximum allowable lippage at the center of the countertop is 1/32" (0.8mm). Visiblejoints between stone and other materials(e.g., cabinetry, gypsum wall board) shall be1/8", with a tolerance of �1/16" (�1.5mm), and filled with a soft, elastic material