Thanks. I don't comment on fixtures often, but I do have to say I think the Memoirs is a lovely sink. The sink itself is large, the wide rim I absolutely love, and it has a good-sized bowl. It is indeed a nice sink. We had the same feelings over the backsplash. We went back and forth between painted wood or teak. I thought the teak backsplash would make the Memoirs pop more due to contrast, but my wife didn't want too much wood grain in the room. So we did painted wood which I topped with a teak cap. If my wife ever did want teak, I told her I'd simply glue a teak veneer over the painted wood. It's still painted. That run of cabinetry changed a couple of times during the design process. It was originally going to be a spacious 2-sink vanity. My wife really insisted on one sink! So that freed up space for the floor-to-ceiling storage closet on the left and what we call the "toilet pantry" on the right. The design has worked quite well for us over the years, I built it around 15 years ago. My daughter, who was 7 or 8 years old at the time, designed the profile for the toe kick cutouts. That was quite a bit of fun "working" with her. If you go in another direction, no worries. Choose what works best for you.

Thanks again for everyone's input. The templater came back today, remeasured everything and listened to our problems with the install. I suspect the problem was in the fabrication and not the templating, since you all have assured me that poster board is OK and the templater is one of the veterans of the company who is professional and seems extremely competent. Thus far, both the office manager and templater have been sympathetic and supportive about our complaints, and the templater agreed that there were fabrication errors in two of our four pieces of stone that were inexcusable. DH is supposed to hear from the head of the company later today about steps to correct the problems and try another installation.

Lowes contractors are hit and miss. Call the manager of the department and have them come out to look at the work. Explain that it is unacceptable. and needs to be redone correctly. A few years ago we had similar problem with carpet wood floor installers from our local Lowes. After the manager saw the quality of installation they were removed from our project and we were supplied with a new contractor that did a wonderful job. Not sure I would ever use one of their contractors again even though the second one did a professional job. I think Lowes has a satisfaction guarantee. Good luck.

GC agrees and is fantastic - I use them on every project. My post was to get some objective viewpoints because after looking at it for a week straight, I've lost perspective on the two options. Faced with an option to just "accept it and move on" as live_wire stated is appealing on one hand because we are several weeks behind schedule (COVID supply chain issues) and without even basic use of the kitchen for 10 weeks now - so the thought of just plowing forward and getting this done is enticing. However, we did pay a premium for an upgraded feature from a reputable and experienced fabricator...having to look at something that is "a solid B" when that isn't what we paid for nor were promised, and doesn't match the quality of the rest of the project will probably irk me to see each time we walk into the kitchen. Again, was looking for some perspective on if this is acceptable or poor from professionals or people with more experience with mitered edges than myself. The chastizing over the inherent pitfalls of renovation and "overdone fad features" really is just white noise - this isn't my first or even 10th reno, but I'm also not a stone fabricator. But then again, who doesn't enjoy armchair quarterbacking other peoples' projects from behind a keyboard? 🙂