Of course if someone buys a slab of stone they are going to think they bought a slab of stone. Common sense. I don't see or know people assuming they can store leftover material at a shop's warehouse (for free) or they are demanding (free) delivery of a large heavy remnant. All remnants are not large or unmanageable and some, say for a vanity or small table top, could just be loaded in someone's truck and stored at their house. It's really up to the customer if they have, in fact, paid for a whole slab. Someone here had a series of cutting boards made. I am willing to bet they expected to (pay) for it. And maybe they want the leftovers for their beauty, not their decreasing monetary value, so incurring a delivery charge for larger pieces is a nonissue. Whether the apparently cheap and ignorant customer ever uses it or not is really not anyone else's business. If the shop prices based on keeping leftover material, that should be disclosed so there is no confusion and people are on the same page who owns what and what the options are otherwise. There is really nothing unusual or demanding about such expectations and communication. It should be understood and in writing as a business' s SOP. People buy a slab ... they think it's theirs unless told otherwise. Fair enough assumption, imo.

We are in the market for a countertop (remodel). I am looking at quartz, granite and Dekton. I feel there is not enough longevity with Dekton based on reviews I read to see how it has been holding up over time. We currently have a dark colored granite that hasn’t been well maintained (prior owners) but has held up decent over past 20+ years. However, do see discoloration near cooktop and sink. I am wondering how Pental and Cambria quartz have worked out for you over time? I was told by one of the fabricators that Cambria has good marketing but hard to work with! One person’s story? They do have good color choices though. We do use spices and cook multiple times a day. Any suggestions and tips will be great. Thank you! btw, how’s Dekton working for anyone who has had it for a few years? Mahalo!

We have been nothing but pleased with our Rubio coated floors. I am building a bedroom suite and seriously thinking about finishing it with Rubio when I came across this thread; and was a bit surprised by all the negative comments. I am neither a contractor nor a flooring professional, but finished the floors myself and found it was relatively simple and straightforward. Our floors have been in for over 5 years and look as good as the day they were finished. The floors are Owens Plankfloor engineered white oak (select and better rift and quarter sawn), which I highly recommend. We really liked the color of the natural white oak and did many blends of samples to try and keep the color as close to natural as we could. We finally went with ½ natural and ½ 5% white. We are doing a whole house remodel and not knowing exactly what we were going to do in the kitchen but tired of walking on concrete, we laid the rest of the house and left the kitchen floor unfinished. The kitchen was finished and subsequent flooring laid approximately a year ago (4 years after the original floor). Additionally we took out a fireplace and hearth in a living room and weaved in new flooring approximately 3 years after the original floor. In both cases the new flooring was coated with Rubio and blended perfectly. Had these floors been finished traditionally, it would have been very difficult to match finishes. The attached picture shows the transition from old to new (basically from the refrigerator back into the kitchen. We mop with Rubio Soap once a month or so and realize we may have to recoat at some point, but really like the matte finish. We don’t have children in the house but do have a small dog and 2 2-year old grandkids. <>YF

My architect's thoughts make me feel "safe" going darker with the cabinetry. :) I'm leaning toward alder, in a rich dark stain matched to the darkest shade of wood in the floors (per my architect's suggestion), with a black glaze to desaturate the wood color. And rebunky, I wouldn't do skylights (for various reasons, the main being that the ceiling above the kitchen is going to be trusses + a metric ton of insulation) BUT that idea reminded me -- it's easy and relatively inexpensive to retrofit solar tubes, and those won't interfere with trusses or insulation! So if the kitchen feels dark, I could always throw a few solar tubes in there in a few years. :)