"When searching for accurate information regarding natural stone countertops the ONLY reliable source is https://www.naturalstoneinstitute.org/  The WORST place to place a seam is directly over a dishwasher." Sarah: Let me direct your attention to the Natural Stone Institute's Detail of Spline Joint Reinforcement drawing 17-D-4 please. Page 14. This is a terrible detail. The last thing you want in a sink seam is a joint that is NOT designed to fail. If the house settles or a top gets out of plane, you want a joint that fails and can be easily remade, not a joint that's going to blow the top of the rail off. Not to mention when Bubba runs out of stainless steel washers and installs one that rusts and blows the countertop apart. As a countertop repairperson with 30 years experience, I have brought this poor detail to their attention to no avail. If you can avoid a seam over a dishwasher, fine, but there is no reason to not make a seam over a modern well-insulated dishwasher. Epoxy a stainless steel cleat under the seam and forget it if it makes you feel better, but I wouldn't bother. The Natural Stone Institute is a fine organization, but they're not Gods. Just men who make mistakes like the rest of us. This sink seam has failed properly. It may have not had the NSI's detail been followed. Would you rather look at this nice do-over or a repaired jagged crack at the end of the cutout or a blowout repair?

I would have them seam it, take the money and buy something pretty - vase, rooster, fancy espresso machine - to sit on top of the seam. If the grain/pattern is truly directionless you won't even see the seam in a week. You can either inspect the slabs before they seal the seam, or you can actually take scraps and hold them next to each other, if you can turn the scraps any which way, and they still seem to match at a distance, it should look fine. Maybe someone here will comment on seam placement. My kitchen counters are seamed at the faucet, which is supposed to be an inconspicuous place, because the faucet base splits up the seam - at first it drove me crazy because I saw it every time I looked at the faucet, now I have to look to notice it.

You don't like the peninsula? Someone suggested it in the previous thread, and I thought it was a great idea. People would be able to sit at the counter and chat with whoever's cooking. Also, I could hang a small flat-screen TV on the wall to the left of the range, so the cook can watch cooking videos. And if I use a slightly larger 30" or 36" Ikea base cabinet, I thought I could add some pretty substantial storage space. Do you really think it looks bad? Please don't tell me that tastes/preferences are personal and to go with what I like...I have zero experience with kitchen design, and I've been told that I have bad taste! This post was edited by kolorblinding on Sun, Jul 6, 14 at 12:00

If your fabricator is making granite seams with silicone, you need to find another fabricator. They don't have the latest version of Gorilla Grips either; the new ones will pull seams at sinks. I watched Steve, the GG inventor, do it at a trade show recently. You can use the old ones to make sink seams, you've just got to use a bar clamp with them. Good fabricators can have different opinions about seaming at sinks, but there is no technical reason why it can't be done. With proper leveling and adhesive, you can expect no problems.