I've finally been able to get back to the message boards. Gosh it is annoying when real life gets in the way of my computer time! LOL. Wow, I love all the stories of how you approached your granite selection. Happenstance has certainly played a roll in many of the final selections. I recognize many of the granite names of the light granites as ones I have been looking to check out. BTW pbrisjar: I happened to come across the Azul Macaubas and you are right it is beautiful. That is one stone that could definitely make me veer from the white, and as mentioned by gglks I think it could still fulfill my vison, however I won't even hazard a guess as to the price of it, so it is not an option. Costa Esmerelda is also a gorgeous stone. All the choices are beautiful, and I love hearing how you came to have them. I'll be heading out next Wednesday to hit the yards (locals don't have what I want)and hopefully will be able to tag my slabs in this single trip as I'm 2 1/2 hours away (not to mention I hate driving into the city). bluekitobsessed: only 23,542 yards huh? And here I am hoping to do it with 3! I have a list of possibilities which might speed up the process a bit. Has anyone come across Siberian White, Polar White, and Bianco Primavera or Alabama White. I realize that some may be names given by the local yard as the last 2 I've never come across except for 1 site, and that was in the US. Thank you Mairin I agree with your sage advice. I'll go with my gut and if I don't feel the tug to tag it right there and then it likely isn't yet "The One!". mom2reese: Your kitchen is fabulous. All aspects of it are exceptional and your crown molding is very similar to what I want. May I show your photo to my cabinet guy. The molding he showed me is too curvy for my tastes and not really what I wanted for my shaker style cabinets. I was going to just go with his recommendation but after seeing yours I realize that I need to speak up or I likely will regret it. I feel if he can see an example of what's in my head then he will be able to come up with one that will be in scale for my much smaller kitchen. Thanks everyone.

Ossiemom - I feel your pain and know exactly how frustrated you must be. We've been living in our basement (thank goodness for that since it would be an even bigger issue if we were in a hotel!) for 2 weeks now while the floor company tries to get our hardwood floors to look decent. And I say decent since I'll accept even that at this point! So what should have been a 4-5 day job is now going into week 3 and we still may have to start over - it's infuriating! Anyway, I'm sure they must have done this, but just thought I'd ask to make sure - did they seal all the granite when they put it in? The reason I ask is that we used 2 slabs of Cambrian black that weren't from the same lot and they looked completely different before sealing. One was much lighter than the other, however after sealing they look exactly the same to me. We knew this though PRIOR to buying them, so it wasn't a surprise. For some reason one slab already had sealer on it and the other didn't when they were brought to the stone supplier. We had them put sealer on a test piece from the lighter one just to see how it looked and we couldn't tell the difference. I would think that they would have sealed your granite if it requires sealing though, so then it definitely isn't acceptable if they look different! Good luck - I hope you get everything worked out to your satisfaction!

You write that the level is off by 3/8" inches from the front of the counter to the wall. If I understand you correctly that means that it is off by 3/4" over 4 feet, the usual standard I'm familiar with. That's WAY off and totally unprofessional. You write, "He also said that he didn't know that the cabinets were not level until it was too late." That's clearly malpractice--as he admits it's his job to shim. You cannot shim if you don't know the out-of-level. Putting a lien on your house means that he has to hire an attorney who might well charge him more than your bill. If it goes that far, disputing the lien means that you're engaged in a lawsuit. Perhaps you can look to the local BBB for assistance in dealing with the installer. Are they licensed in your locale? Perhaps you can appeal to the local buildings department. If all else fails I think you should send the installer a certified letter writing in detail of your concerns and backing that up with out-of-level measurements made by your contractor. Include the contractors license number if he has one, and include a refernce to his statement that the cabinets were level. Tell him that you are asking by this letter that he come and make it right, and give him a reasonable time frame. Tell him that if he doesn't, you will hire another installer to do the job and you will hold him responsible for ALL costs beyond what you agreed to pay him.

As I get older I find I drop glasses at the fridge water fill up thingy - poor tiles are cracked - good thing the tile guy left a few extra tiles for replacement purposes. We had beautiful white laminate that lasted 12 years before we got tired of the total white sterile look and not many broken dishs - just a few chips. We just put granite tops in and they look great! Do you think maybe we should go to BPA free plastic glasses or what? You guys are so funny! It is kinda scary after a few glasses of good wine setting them down on the granite with the big clunk sound - should I stop drinking wine now or get rid of the granite? Another new granite problem - my cat will not stay off the countertops - she loves them! Do you think it is the cool slick feeling or is she radon intoxicated? I wonder how short her life expectancy will be? I may shorten it myself if she doesn't stay off them! This thread is cracking me up...