"The granite is Delicatus. Some fabricators won't mess with it because it is fragile and often breaks during fabrication. Once it's installed, it's as strong as any other granite though." I love your granite and it's an exotic: this is great to help understand the resin process: You have mesh on the back of the Delicatus: (also: granite from India and Absolute black is probably the very strongest granite in the world /most dense) Exotics are beautiful and just make sure no one stands on them! and wipe up all messes quickly! "The more fragile marbles & granites have also a reinforced backing support, usually in a form of a fiberglass mesh. This solution gives a strong and durable surface for transportation purposes and to avoid breakage. In this process, the main material used with the net is a polyester resin. Although not a very strong glue, polyester resin in marble is still the method of choice, mainly to reduce costs (and it still has sufficient bonding strength due to the relatively soft and porous substance of the marble). The polyester resin has also the added value of fast drying time, making it a perfect solution for automatic line manufacturing. Nowadays there are many different kinds of polyester resins, with different viscosity, color and hardening times. Some resins have even the capability of UV hardening, allowing a very fast curing time. Generally, the systems commonly used in marble processing are not satisfactory for granite processing lines. The main reasons for this lie in the different chemical structures of the two materials. Granite is much harder, with microscopic fissures and a different absorption rate. The very thin cracks represent an additional problem, since no polyester resin would have the capability to deeply penetrate in the stone, harden up and give a sufficient strength to the material. About 20 years ago, after some unsuccessful trials with polyester and acrylic products, a new family of products was tested. Using materials with optimum adhesion (epoxy systems) on granite, the typical problems were resolved and a new technology was developed. The epoxy resin has shown the capability to run into each of the cracks and fill all of the pits and micro-fissures present in the granite. Additionally, its long hardening time allows the glue to penetrate deeply into the stone before the complete curing will occur. This very durable and extremely elastic family of glues can also follow the different thermal expansion of the granite, leaving the treated product capable of sustaining a wide array of temperatures, making it suitable for inside and outside usage. They also provide a solution when there is a need to glue the granite slab to another material (either aluminum honeycomb, glass or steel). The extremely high strength of the glue helps to fix any structural defects, giving the slab a very strong and durable finish." http://www.marble-institute.com/

We have one dead center in the sink cutout -- I didn't want it there at the time, having read (on this forum and elsewhere) differing opinions about the wisdom of that, but the granite place insisted, saying they ALWAYS do it there and in fact, the narrow strip around the sink is the weakest point and better to have a seam there than have the pressure on a solid, but thin, piece of granite. In reality, it's completely invisible. (The sink is rodded, of course, but I don't think they did any other reinforcing.) We also have a single strip behind the rangetop, seamed at both ends. They did it that way without asking if I had any other preference (I didn't!) I imagine you might notice any seam a little more with a more uniform stone -- ours has lots of movement and lots of different colors and the seams just blend right in. Front and rear sink seams:

Thanks all, very very helpful info. Boxerpups, special thanks for these great photos, would never guess where the seams are in your counters. If things would work out so well for us, I would prefer they use caution with my handpicked slab and add a seam. You make a very good point about my confidence in the fabricator also. I think that must be the true source of my uneasiness. I do feel they are competent because they give all the right answers to questions (that I learned to ask from this forum), and they are well established in this area, but I just didn't click with the salesman and I only overlooked that because our contractor, who is wonderful, overall likes them. The owner also is great. So every time the salesman tells me something, I don't trust him. So I think what I will do is ask about their ability to hide seams and show them your photos if you don't mind--to give them an idea what our expectations are. Then I can put this to rest and move on. Thanks so much again everyone! And please stay tuned for backsplash questions, that is the next step!!

jscozz, What was the title of your thread (so I can go review it?). I do have a bit of a problem following threads I'm interested in, cuz things move so fast on this forum. I also haven't been able to keep anything in 'my clippings'. I think I had them there for awhile, but they're all gone now- not sure if I'm missing something...? The one good thing about the company I am dealing with (I am the GC on our reno), is that they seem to be bending over backwards to make sure everything goes OK. Allright- it HAS been six months since I ordered cabinets and granite, and I STILL don't have all cabinets yet... but the manager has taken over our account personally and has probably spent close to 6-7 hours here (now I know that sounds excessive- but 2-3 hours of that was a second trip cuz we changed our minds about the overhang to go back to 9"- and when he came out to remeasure- he assured us he could do the 12" with rodding and it would be supported well enough- so we went back to the 12" again), just measuring and trying to figure out how he is going to fabricate/cut the granite. He prefers to overkill to make sure everything lasts a lifetime- and I really appreciate his enthusiasm and his attitude- just not totally confident in his lack of experience.