I'm sorry the owner is in the hospital, but that unfortunate circumstance shouldn't affect your decision on accepting/rejecting countertops that will be in your house for a good long time - 20 years? On the gap behind the sink run: If your planned backsplash tile will cover a 1/4" gap, that is fortunate, but be aware that the industry standard is half that - 1/8". Sink cut-out: just sloppy. When we were looking at stones, we went to a place with "examples" of finished pieces. Every sink cut out in the place (mostly bathroom sinks) was "off." The cut out wandered with respect to the sink edges. This is 3 years later and I still remember that irregularity with a cringe. It wasn't so bad that it's the first thing you noticed, but once having noticed, it was hard to ignore. We crossed that place off our list of possible companies based on those "who cares?" cuts. Cook-top cut out: Their bridging solution may be acceptable in some markets, but doesn't seem to be a first class solution to this common installation issue. The better way to do this is to embed rods in the uncut undersides of the bridge sections rather than cut and paste. I suspect that better fabricators install the rods and then make the cut most, but not all, of the way through the thickness of the stone at the shop, and then finish the cut on site. The issue is breakage in moving the stone. Here is another way of dealing with narrow pieces. The brace was just for moving purposes. (This is a sink cut out, not a cooktop, but the method is the same.) If I were you, I'd be inclined to reject the whole job considering how much it's costing you and how long you'll have to live with it. Here is a link that might be useful: Marble Institute of America installation standards

Go_figure01: thanks so much. The room is 13x28. The island is 3.5x9. I like having the work zone protected by the island. I can prep, cook, and clean up without my kids or guests underfoot. The other side of the island is where guest congregate, and it is also the main walkway from the back door to the rest of the house. So far, it is working great. I also am very happy with the bluestar range. The powerful burners boil water very quickly and the low simmer burner is great for rice. I've also been impressed with how even the heat is over a large pan. I think it does a wonderful job of evenly browning meat. The broiler is also great. No complaints.

Thanks so much for your input, hollysprings and nosoccermom. I understand what you're saying, and when we decided to stay in the same footprint I immediately thought we'd keep the floor. Then I started googling images of off white cabinets with slate floors to get an idea of how it would look. That's when I realized that while I prefer the multicolored slate with stained cabinets, I was drawn more to the solid color floor with painted cabinets. So, it was both the color and pattern of the current floor that I was questioning in our remodel, since now would be the time to make a change, if any. I thought using a slate in just one of the colors from the ledge rock in the fireplace might work better with the off white cabinets and still complement what we have. I'm glad to find out that my floor doesn't "need" replacing though, just based on aesthetics. It has been a great floor - hides the dirt almost too well and easy to care for. Here are some pics I found of white cabinets with multicolored slate floors - all very nice, just a somewhat different look than the solid slate. I'm not sure I found any pics of painted cabinets with the diamond pattern slate floor. Maybe I'll be posting my own soon :-) This post was edited by juddgirl2 on Sun, Jul 6, 14 at 16:24

I did install the macabus on the counters and backsplash and really love it too. It is very durable and like kstuy there have been no staining or etching issues. It really is maintenance free. It is up there in price though - higher than a lot of granites and quite a bit more than carrera but less than calacutta marble.