Plywood underlayment is only used under 2 cm granite and still does not absolve the contractor/designer from engineering some sort of support for a stone overhang. Plywood provides very little support for granite. It's too flexible. Corbels or angle brackets will be needed, and the back of the cabinets also has to be strong enough to attach the brackets to and to transfer the weight load down to the ground. Since this is an aesthetic decision as well as an engineering decision, the selection of the style of brackets should be made by the homeowner in conjunction with your contractor/designer after consulting the specs that the particular granite fabricator will have. Since you are DIY, you need to double check that the cabinet backs are at least 3/4" and go all the way to the floor and you also need to select support brackets that are large enough and numerous enough to provide proper suppor for the particular size of your overhang. My granite fabricators require support for any overhang over 6" and the support brackets need to be within 5"-6" of the edge of the granite and spaced no more than 30" apart. In slide in range, the thin section of granite at the back can either have seams at both edges and you only get charged for the square footage of the actual granite there, or it can be done without any seams at all (a cutout) in which case you pay for all of the granite including the part cut out, so it's significantly more expensive. The second method is preferred if the granite is a busy one with a lot of movement, but the first one is perfectly fine if supported properly by blocking on the wall behind the range. This is a discusion that you should have with your fabricator about which method he is using and and the reasons he is suggesting the cutout method instead of the pieced method.

Our granite was templated with a laser system. Here's a 3-1/2 min. video at the bottom of this page which shows how it works. I'm not sure why laser might have a hard time with outside (or any) corners. This is our outside corner. This was was never intended to have a backsplash, so it had to be right. All of our walls look like this. The wall opposite the peninsula towards the corner to the right is so not even. The builders 40 years ago placed the wall studs with one crown facing the kitchen instead of away which makes a bulge in the wall at that spot (just to the left of that last outlet). We had to carve the wall board a bit to slide the granite into place and repair it afterwards, but the counters hug the wall the entire distance. This is where the sink counter dead-ends into the pantry, another spot where the edge would always show. You can see where they shaved a little so the pantry door would open properly. That was done on-site. The back wall is just as tight, although it eventually had a backsplash installed. I'm quite sure that there are fabricators who template with cardboard or luan or whatever and get really good results. The question is, is your's one of them? Here is a link that might be useful: Laser templating

In most American kitchens - a dishwasher (d/w) is in the 30" width department (if my memory serves me right).... When cabs are set - the "standard"dimension for the selected d/w is calculated by the cab install crew - it's then "allowed for" when the cabs are set, so whether or not the d/w is available until even AFTER the tops are installed...won't stop the process or slow it down, or even be a blip on the radar...... HTH kevin

xoxosmon- I would say by the remarks in your last post, that you have some serious "red flags" that, if left to their own ends, will probably become "problems"... It's not at all unresonable for your expectations to be high, BUT - since it sounds like your Fabricator has little experience, I would be very....very careful. Check out some of their most recent...well.. OK, within the last 6 months - work...... Having only 6 months exerience doing Granite slab work, having a serious communication problem, is a bit disconserting.... hearing repeatedly from the owner that everything is "going to be OK"... brings back memories of Kevin Bacon's character in "Animal House".... "All is Well, Remain Calm... All is Well" (while everyone around him was in a stampede...) The last thing you want to be in, (figuratively) is the other famous scene Kevin Bacon was in - the "Thank you sir, may I have ANOTHER?" spanking sequence - which YOU may be the "spank-ee" I'm afraid - if you continue down your present course. Here's some FREE Professional Advice: In MY Opinion, you need to (at least) seriously talk to a few other competent fabricators that can communicate with you IN ENGLISH.. and... UNDERSTAND with demonstrable results, that they KNOW not only what YOU want, but also, WHAT THEY ARE DOING... Not a slam against non-english speaking people.... It's just that most mistakes in Fabrication are made because of either poor communication or a lack thereof...The detail was important to YOU... but not communicated well enough up the chain, so the same detail was NOT important to THEM... See what I mean? seen it waaaaay too many times sorry for the negative vibe, but I get called in to look at stuff that was done wrong - mainly - because of the things you are listing - this a problem that - right now - is preventable... It's better to do this right - ONCE - the first time, then have to do it over AND see you get charged for an inspection fee ($1500 to $3000 + expenses) to tell you what I just wrote... (just want to help you stay happy and save your money for other things) hope that helps kevin Kevin M. Padden MIA SFA Fabricator, Trainer & Consultant to the Natural Stone Industry www.azschoolofrock.com