Lots of people pick their granite and design their kitchen around it. You may have to pay storage fees to the stone yard if it goes beyond a certain time frame, but it's not a big deal. Just be careful to mark your slabs carefully and visit them occasionally to be sure they are still there. There have been cases where the stone yards have sold people's pre selected slabs to other folks.

I agree that you should select slabs ahead of time - you don't want to be in a time crunch, and then pick something you don't really love. You should talk to the stoneyards in your area and find out their policy on holding the slabs. My experience was that the slabyards are much more comfortable holding slabs if you have a fabricator they work with regularly. Many will only sell to fabricators and the fabricator then re-sells the slabs to you along with the fabrication and installation fees. Some places will require a deposit to hold the slabs beyond a couple of weeks, and then will ask you to pay for the slabs in full if you want them held more than about 60 days.

Even though it's a pain to deal with, it's worth it because there is so much variation in the slabs. The next bundle of whatever color may look dramatically different from the current bundle. It really pays to work with a stoneyard that has a good reputation - there are many stories of people's slabs getting sold to other customers. Take photos of the slab, write your name on the back in sharpie (maybe after you've purchased the slabs)- all good advice.

Good luck!

Wow, thanks. I didn't think it was possible, but now I'm going to check into it! I don't mind paying, and if I get into this, I will carefully photograph the slabs I buy and mark them largely with.....what? A grease pencil?

We picked our granite slabs first and we actually had some of the cabinet colors color-matched to the granite using a small piece of granite at Sherwin Williams. I would definitely buy slabs first, since you can get the perfect accompanying cabinet color a lot more easily than the perfect slab of granite once you already have a color and scheme.

I have had my granite on hold for months and haven't even settled on my floor plan! It is a dramatic colour and the cabinets will take second place to it, so I am matching the cabinets to the granite. When my plan is settled, I can pay a 50% deposit and have the granite moved to my fabricators where I will be able to visit it. Currently it is a half day's drive away.

A stone yard here will hold slabs indefinately if you put 1/2 down for the job(this fabricator is also the slab yard. If you buy elsewhere, I'm not sure it would apply). My husband is anxious about doing it as it is possible the slabs could be damaged or "lost" in the time, depending on the amt of time they are being held, but if I found something I REALLY had to have, I'd snatch it up. Once I find out if my husband has a permanent position at his job, I'll be looking for THE granite slabs.

I don't mind a deposit, or even paying in full. One of my concerns would be that they could go out of business before I'm ready for the installation. Not that I'm aware anyone's headed that way, it just seems everywhere I go businesses that seemed in good shape are gone.

If it could be a year or more, I'd wait. If it is 6 months out, I'd mosey around and start to look. I'd also ask the yard if they will call you when new batches come in of your specific granite to be sure you get first dibs on seeing the new ones to be sure that the ones you selected are still "the ONES".