Thanks all. isle2isle... good memory. I ended up getting Caesarstone eggshell color. I wanted light counter top that was maintenance free. Basaltina was too porous for me. I did not want to use a sealer. It's the weird chemical decision making for me. We eat all organic food and I just did not want to put chemical on my countertop that will have food contact.

Thanks to graniteshop for jumping in here. Now that I have seen what an air vent is (they are not required in my area), I have a better understandiung of why it may have cracked. Another fabricator wrote the following: "The hole for the vent is drilled all the way through the material like a faucet hole and is most likely an 1-3/8" diameter just like the rest of the faucet holes. There could be a couple causes of the crack. It could have been cracked during the install and not noticed until this point. It's also possible that they crack was caused when the hole was drilled. If they did it on site with the wrong style core bit enough heat could have been built up to cause the stone to crack. Also, if the cabinets were not level or if the top was not properly shimmed the top could crack after install. If the top was cracked before install it will still probably be perfectly flat. If it was cracked after install then you may be able to look down the top and see either a high point or low point in the top at the location of the crack. " Seems like good info to me.

I would wait. If you aren't completely set on it you may never get one. You need to make sure the hole is the right diameter for the product you ultimately buy. Instant hot dispensers are are less than $200 so if you can't quite justify it now, when it makes the most sense, I don't see why you would change your mind in the future. Some people have been able to put their instant hot dispensers on a timer so that they are only on during normal awake hours not 24 hours a day. You may want to look into that if you decide to get one.

Thank you to everyone who responded, very much appreciate your iput. The owners of the company agreed to replace the counter at their cost and do it correctly - this was achieved only because we could back up our claims of an incorrect install based on the information provided by you all! Sammy - unfortunately, my sister lost her two dogs and cat in the fire; she was not home. The cause of the fire was the slight reverberations of the built-in microwave caused a screw in the mounting bracket to slowly over time rub the the casing off an electrical wire in the wall; the fire investigator had never seen this before and is now using this in their training. She would trade all of her possessions to have her pets back, a year later it's still devastating for her to have lost them. Again thanks to all and hope everyone has a happy, healthy, safe and prosperous New Year!