Sorry to hear about your mom! Some shops use CAD but I'd still want at least a template photo emailed. If it's a gallery kitchen, they'd be no corner seams to match up but are there any seams at all in your kitchen? There might be a particular side you don't want interrupted by a sink cutout?

Thank you for your feedback! The sink side won't have a seam. The other piece has a slide in range cut out and there's a seam behind the range. Neither side will have an open corner, if I'm using the right term. All four corners butt up against something. I'm trying to imagine where the black splotch could end up that I'd be unhappy. But that's a good point Jillius. DH is out of town again and I don't think we've talked about whether he wants the splotch left in! He's the one who fell for this slab so I'll ask him.

I am sorry about you mom. Unfortunately I do think it would be a mistake to not be there. I had great installer and measurer I highly recommend them often. I was amazed by how many details they wanted to confirm with me. And there were some suggestions they proposed which I really liked and took.

I am sorry about your mom. As a horse person too, I know how healing just being around them can be. However, like the other posters above, I think you should go to the templating. In fact, it might take your mind off your sorrows. I found the templating to be interesting, and I enjoyed it! Also, if you do not go to the templating, you may be in for more stress--when your slab is delivered, what if you have surprises or disappointments because of decisions the fabricator made cause you weren't there.

Just wanted to say I like the granite! It will be beautiful!

So sorry about your Mom. I thought the templating part was interesting and fun too. I would definitely go and do it. You'll be looking at these counters for a long time and if something does go wrong (hope it doesn't) you will have wished you spent the time to template.

If there was any feature that you particularly liked in the stone, unless you are there to make sure that it ends up on your countertop, it may well be cut away.

well, I didn't show up, and the templater made my counter overhang too short, I mean there wasn't an overhang. It's being redone, I had to refuse the stone, that stunk. That being said, I'm not sure if that would've changed anything. Maybe he would have asked, maybe not. I think he looked at my modern cabinets and thought I wouldn't want one.

Best bet is to go with a business that will stick behind their work, just in case something does go wrong.

Here is a recent thread about templating:

http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/3653406/templating-our-fantasy-brown-what-do-you-think

You can see how with just that one stone, there were a lot of possible templates, and some of them were not nearly as good as the final template design

Joseph, that is poor advice. We have seen so many posts on this forum of people who regretted not going to the templating and the resulting bad consequences. Your flippant answer about "only paying half" ignores not only how much money the "half" is to most people, but also the enormous stress of having to fight with the fabricator, struggle with the credit card company which may or may not reimburse but will certainly require a lot of paperwork and weeks of waiting, and the resulting delays for the other trades, and the delays overall on the kitchen.

We know you're a fabricator, and your posts at times convey bitterness toward customers, but I am astonished at how egocentric your response was.

To the OP - in 2 kitchens I have done, both fabricators wanted me at the templating, and did not regard the customer as "hovering" and not "adding" anything the way Joseph does.

Edit: Joseph Corlett has deleted his post that this post was responding to.

I think the question is whether you and your husband are the kind of people who obsess over what the counters will look like. Stone counters are one of the big ticket items that generate a lot of feelings for some people. However, lots of people do not participate in the the templating and are fine with the results. The other issue is that in the event you do not like the final template once it is installed,, for example the black spot winds up somewhere you didn't envision it, you won't really be able to complain if you voluntarily chose not to participate in the stone layout.

My fabricator made large cutouts of the counter profiles and I physically placed those on the portion of the slab I wanted to use so there were no computers involved.

having a photo sent is one possible work around. Perhaps your husband could do it?

Beautiful stone, btw.

My granite company requires the customer to be at the templating, otherwise you must sign a waiver.

Most companies want you to be happy. If they use a CAD program for templating, they can email you a document that will show how it will work out. The phone consult about seams is probably sufficient.

I know you feel like staying home, but it might be a good distraction to make a short visit. Sounds like you are in good hands.

Thumbs way down for the horrible advise Joseph gave. Make sure to be there or change the date. What you may be envisioning is probably not what the template person is. I took my time with the template guy and went over everything that I wanted and he appreciated the detail. He said to me that it made his job easier. We also used the granite for the backsplash and needed it at a certain heights and to have certain cutouts so I had that to go over that with him. I then went over the job again with the installers. I had some juice and donuts for them and this helped us feel comfortable with each other. I was home for the installation and would check now and then and the installers would also call me in if they had a question. Communication...it works................so did the donuts.....and so did my granite installation.... We love it...

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Fellow columnist Fred Houston has some excellent tips on templating that readers may find interesting here.

Not going to my templating was my biggest regret in my last reno. I was exhausted from dragging small children to granite yards, hardware stores, etc, so I left it to the fabricator. It was so sad... my granite had big beautiful blotches -- including blue flecks -- that I loved. The fabricator thought these were the ugly parts and did his best to hide and minimize them, leaving me bland, bland, bland on my peninsula and other most-used areas. Every time I looked at the counter I cursed myself for not going!

I've remodeled several kitchens. I've never had the bold type stone but granite in all of them. I've always trusted the fabricator and never regretted it. I guess it comes down to the stone itself, if you trust your fabricator or not, and if you can dedicate the time to check out the layout.

Thank you all for sharing your experiences and common sense. If it hadn't been for GW, I wouldn't have even thought to wonder. Same thing for the measure. The measurer and I looked at sink photos from my ideabook, for example because we have a repurposed lab sink, undermounted and supported by a custom cabinet and thanks to GW, I could ask the right questions.

Stan Z, your comment made my day. :) amyfgib, I truly can't imagine doing any part of this with little ones! Jillius, I remember that thread, I was just learning about counters here and it was fascinating. wacokid, that sounds like excellent advice. Your counters are lovely. And thank you Joseph, I read that document and will forward it to DH, who will enjoy it.

Our sink is a bit tricky and although the measurer and I had a great discussion, as localeater and many others point out, I can see now the templater might have some questions. And although I think of the granite as not flashy after some of the GW counters I've seen, I think the advice is right that a templater might reasonably think lines could end or change direction in ways I might not enjoy.

I will go. rjknsf, I loved your comment and actually, DH would be a huge asset and probably really have fun. I hope he can make it. Thank you all again. Every comment helped me figure out something I didn't want to think about and wouldn't have on my own.

friedajune, it's mud season here and as much as I love my horses, whoo boy. :)

Barncatz, I am having a bigger problem this time of year with shedding (cold climate, in winter my horse looks like a yak) - huge clumps, which get in my eyes and mouth. Perhaps they roll in the mud to make you brush the hair out along with the mud. Having said that, there's nothing like a 40-minute mud-removal session to de-stress and get a good arms/shoulders workout.