I got a note someone had commented on this old post. Interesting to read the old 'news.' It is kind of interesting to read the comments people made regarding patience and being 'nice' to suppliers. I tend to give people one chance, then invoke the nuclear option. I learned way back you get what you accept and hold people accountable to their word. Probably a USMC thing. Ya'know, bring a gun to a knife fight, bring a bigger gun to a gun fight, bring a nuke in any other situation. You get what you accept. Looking at my situation it was my fault, assuming the supplier had integrity, and Lowes would act quickly to resolve a problem that should never had occurred. The Lowes rep said I had to pay up front, which is when I should have walked out. Live and learn. My wife says I do not like the work other people do, and in general she is right. In 30 years of living in my house, rebuilding from the studs out, there are a few things I have not personally completed: Install wall to wall carpets, install the counter tops, put in a new electric service panel, glass shower enclosure Counter top story is here, the carpet guys had to redo a shoddy seam, the electric guy, middle priced quote out of 4 was perfect. The shower guys took out their work because they did not like how they did the job, I didn't have to ask. My wife comments on 'her' plumber, painter, ceramic guy, sheet rocker, cabinet maker, window installer, roofer, electrician, finish carpenter, deck builder, masonary guy, hardwood installer and finisher. She is right when she says I do not like how most people work. When I got to people's homes to see work done, I am warned to not comment. But even now my wife says things like 'why did they accept that work?' Anyway, a couple of 4 year later comments on Curava counter top material. The counters are nice, durable with a couple of exceptions. Since the stuff is manufactured with ground up glass it does have some possibility of chipping along any edges and even in the field of the stuff. We have a couple of spots where small pieces of glass have chipped out. I repaired one or two by cleaning, filling the small ship with clear epoxy, then trimming with a razor blade. Worked fine. One other issue I would caution customers with. Every here and there we have pieces of blue glass mixed in with our brown and amber colored glass chips. If you do not look closely, you would not see them but I would recommend a very thorough, complete agreement before installation and a close inspection of the surface after install or of the tops before they are installed. Maybe that manufacturing problem has been fixed. I think they may have a few more color choices now so I guess its possible for more color schemes to get mixed at the factory.

Okay. Update on removing countertop(s). We took the first (of 2) countertops off. Abbisgram, you were correct, and there were only a few screws attaching the top. All came out easily except one which was impossible to get to without disassembling the whole cabinet, so we got out the sawzall and took care of that one. Decided for several reasons not to special order countertops. We bought a sheet of 3/4" plywood (4x8), had it cut in half lengthwise, and that will do all the new countertops. Got the first one on and will need to put the tiles and edging on. Regarding the comment from the guy at Lowes: He was correct in the sense that the cabinet was very flimsy; however, it didn't 'fall apart'. The front (where the doors are attached) is pretty standard, however the sides of the cabinet are 1/8" (at most) luan, and there is no back piece at all, just a 1x2 strip fastened to the bottom of the (old) countertop, then screwed to the wall. Thankfully, the shelf inside the cabinet seemed to help keep it all together til we got the new top on it. Once the new plywood was on though, it is as sturdy as it was before ... lol. Not sure if I mentioned that this is not our full-time home, it's a mobile home that we purchased in a resort town, so we are not there to work on it every day. Hoping to go back next week and remove/replace the 2nd countertop, then cover them. Bottom line is that it wasn't nearly as scary as the Lowe's guy made it sound. And thanks, abbisgram, for the encouragement. :) As a side note, the finished countertops will end up costing under $100 for approx. 13-14 feet of countertops. I'm not the best at taking pictures, but will try to post some when we finish. This post was edited by danandcarol on Sat, Sep 27, 14 at 22:44

Thanks for all of the replies guys! Sorry for the confusion about the new cabinet pics. The cabinets right now are part of a basement apartment. We no longer need the income from that and need a big open space for kids down there without a big kitchen.....plus I need a new kitchen upstairs! So the cabinets will come upstairs instead. We are a young family with 4 kids and this was a great option for us to have a new kitchen/cabinets without a crazy big budget. As you can see that wall is being removed and since it is load-bearing and full of plumbing/ducts and electrical that has eaten up almost all of our tiny budget. The kitchen downstairs right now has blue countertop and accents and I loathe it. The dark brown/red DH has picked I don't consider to be neutral.....I am afraid with one long wall of it it will look like a big chocolate slab. I thought a more mid-toned or lighter brown/beige would be a better option, but I don't want everything to look washed out. I guess in my head the kitchen will need something to tie the floor and cabinets together.....or should I just treat them like 2 seperate entities? The colours DH likes are: Formica Walnut Quarstone and Wilsonart Brazilian Topaz. The colours I like better are: Arborite Mississippi Bedrock and my favourite Arborite Montana Sunrise. I don't have links to the colours but maybe someone knows them? Cheryl

Thanks Joe Olddryer - it's not the cabinets with the sink. I watched the guy doing it but didn't look close enough. He eyeballed the line where he installed the left side of the sink (made a mark with a tape and then hand drew the line) - and when he screwed in the support it shifted upwards a bit. I though he corrected it at the time - but I guess not. for the record I saw many of these issues (not the sink) before the installers even left. I had an email into the owner that he needed to come out and see this mess even before they were done. From his initial response I thought he was going to make it right - but I guess as he realized how much that was actually going to cost him he changed his mind. At this point My wife and I are considering this an expensive $1,700 lesson (that's about what we paid for the initial deposit) - plus the $400 sink - and are going to contract with someone else and do a complete replacement with both a higher quality stone and fabricator/installer. we knew at the time that we were going down a "budget" route and weren't expecting perfect (we repainted the cabinets instead of replacing them after all). But there is "budget" and there is "wrong". This is just wrong. To Sophie's point about a Malibu vs an SL500 (we actually have an SLC and a Buick, so I understand the difference) - I still expect the Malibu to pass state safety inspection and have a standard automotive paint job without dings and scratches when I drive it off the lot and be able to hit 100mph - even if it can't do 160MPH or have nice leather seats.