I can't speak to SF. I can say that the absolute best work I get is from a place that templates with foam core and a knife. Have worked with 3 outfits using digital and won't use any of them again. There more to it it than tech.

The fabricator I've used for over 25 years on multi-million dollar homes along the so cal coast, uses luan lath strips, and a hot glue gun.

It's not the equipment, it's the talent behind it.

Truestone in San Francisco used an "old-fashioned" templating method and did a great job on our Ceasarstone counters.

My prejudice is showing. Our current kitchen has two sides where the granite buts up to a wall and turns a corner, and a cabinet side, and there is no backsplash or other cover. In both places the granite fits so well that there isn't a fingernail's width of gap. The wall at least isn't any straighter than any other 1970s wall, so it wasn't just a matter of whacking off the stone at 90º. You're right, jakuval, it isn't just tech, but tech helps. Tech also requires training and practice, which it sounds like your contacts didn't get, or maybe they thought it wasn't important. It is. Sounds like some of the "OMG! Look what they did!" jobs we see here and the fabricators tell the home owner that what they did is perfectly normal. I love the art of handwork in many mediums, but for my counters I want precision. Surely it's available.

sjhockeyfan325, I'll check them out. Thanks.

You can get a top notch job from an old school guy. I promise you. Don't restrict yourself from finding a quality craftsman simply because he doesn't have gewgaws as work aids. That is ALL they are. Aids. Tools. Take a look sometime at some of the luxury projects that some of the old Italian stone guys did in the 20's and 30s. No computer anything did that.

You can find poor workmanship among those who use any tool in the trade. You're not hiring the tool. You're hiring the skill and knowledge of the tool wielder.

We're Silicon Valley. If tech was that vital, we'd use it. :P

LWO, Ok, but only because you always give top-notch advice. I'm skeptical, but I'm looking.

Fori - "we" who? You live in Silicon Valley? Or you work there? Do you know someone excellent who fabricates at the other end of the Bay?

Our fabricators (IKB Stone in South San Francisco) did a magnificent job of fitting our marble to the wall using wood and hot glue gun templates. We could have just left it with no backsplash -- the stone followed our EXTREMELY not straight wall to a T.

Our seam was not matched well, though. The epoxy stained our white marble, and it is this dark line that looks bad. I learned after that you have to seal white marble before you expoxy the seam, or something bleeds in to the marble.

The point is that you can get what you want without lasers.

Our fabricators did a really nice job -- I wasn't there for measuring but they do use a cnc, seams matched beautifully (including up the short splash) and the flush reveals on the sinks are very good. But don't think I'd recommend them as I thought the front office left a lot to be desired. They're also closer to SJ than SF, so quite far from you. Keep looking, you'll find the right folks for your kitchen!

UPDATE: I took you at your word(s) and looked around for a fabricator with a good reputation locally. Not far from us there is a place which gets quite positive reviews. I was in several times talking to them and checking the place out, took DH over, and we decided we would have them do the work. Meanwhile, in addition to the kitchen, we needed a remnant for a dresser in the bedroom. We saw a piece in their remnant pile we liked well enough and they put our name on it. The oddest thing happened, that piece just mysteriously got 14" shorter after another customer needed a piece for a BBQ. Imagine that. There were several phone calls, each with a different story, none of which sounded particularly credible. Bottom line: "our" piece was now too short for our job. We decided to look further afield as a remnant is one thing, but it would be a whole other story if something happened to the actual stones we'd be choosing for the kitchen. There are some of those stories related here on GW, all very sad.

The upshot was that we found North Coast Tile and Stone in Santa Rosa. They do have the tech, but are rather new to it. They also carry a nice selection of stones on site, although there are a zillion more to be seen at their supplier in (guess where?!) Hayward.

Here is one of the reasons I'm so fond of tech: We needed one seam, but the two pieces to be connected by that seam needed to come out of 2 different slabs. The stone we loved has a lot of movement, so this was going to be tricky. The tech allows you to scootch two rectangles around on-screen, one on one slab and the other on the other slab until you find a nice match for the seam - no guessing and hoping. The screen image shows them butting together just as they will when installed. Having found the match, the coordinates are recorded in the program so the cutting machine knows exactly where to cut to get that match. This is our seam, can you find it?

The left end of the chopstick is pointing at the seam:

Now we can go hunting for the perfect backsplash!

I can barely see it now that you've pointed it out. They did a very nice job!

Did you buy the remnant or just put your name on it? If just name and no $$$ I would not expect them to hold it and they should not have offered to since they clearly did not...