Following up on this -- after a lot of hemming and hawing, we decided to go with a stainless countertop and integrated sink after all. Artisan Stainless was actually the only company that I could get to return my messages -- it's a pretty small job, just 25 square feet or so. We changed the footprint (it's now an L rather than a straight run), and added some surface area, and the final cost from Artisan comes to about $67/square foot. That includes measuring, fabrication, materials, and delivery/installation. I probably could have handled delivery/installation myself (with some friends), but this is easier than renting a U-haul. They came by this morning to take measurements, and so far everything looks good -- they were very professional, friendly, and seemed sharp/knowledgeable. So far, so good -- I'll come back in 2 weeks when the counters are done/installed to post an update on how it went.

The cost per square foot wholesale has the same relationship to you as knowing what the meat wholesaler charges the restaurant for the filet that you want for dinner. The important thing is how well the chef prepares that filet. All you really want to judge is that final bill, and what it covers. If the steamed broccoli is a side, or included with the meal is irrelevant if one restaurant is known for serving shoe leather. Any prices in this thread are going to be completely irrelevant starting right about now. Expect a minimum 15% price increase, due to the tariffs. Some will have more than a 15% increase, as the labor of stone fabrication has stayed fairly stagnant now for over 10 years, and this is the time to rectify the labor market. It won’t be just quartz that is affected either. Most stone is imported. Most tile is too. Almost everything construction related is already high due to the hurricane rebuilds starting last year, and we now have another massive rebuild staring us in the face as well.

We had high end quartzite quoted at $138/sq ft installed. This one was considered exotic or 5-star, Level 5. (Slab yards use their own method of scaling the stones' costs.) Other stones that were considered 4-star, Level 4, were quoted at $108/sq ft installed. The cheapest stone was $80-something for 3-star, Level 3. We went to a slab yard in Charlotte, NC, that had amazing man-made counter materials that did a great job of replicating marble. Those slabs were 5-star or higher - seems crazy that man-made material is more expensive than stone hauled from all over the world. It was explained to us that demand/supply has a big impact on stone. What may seem an exotic quartzite may be fairly reasonable because of supply/demand. These prices get you the part of the slab/slabs needed for your job. Any stone not used on your job becomes the fabricator's remnants. If we go to the fabricator's slab remnant yard and choose from there, all remnants are considered Level I. I don't have a price for Level I. Stone pricing is not transparent. We found it difficult to balance what we like versus our budget. (We are doing a custom build so there is no allowance - what we choose is what we pay for.) The slab yards don't give the consumer the price, only the fabricator quotes prices, and only for "installed per square foot". So all you know at the slab yard is a relative price. The slab yard emails the fabricator with your choices, he then quotes the installed price. From the plans, the fabricator determines how many square feet of stone is needed for your project. We shopped for stone very early in the process. I was told most people choose stone after the cabinets go in. The fabricator thought we were a bit odd in wanting to choose so early. This information may not be what you need/want,...welcome to the world of stone pricing! Good luck with your search! (I tried your email link but the email didn't open with your address - just the kind of "share this" email link)

We're near coastal GA, and paid almost $3k for just over 40sf of LG Viatera quartz. The slab was $1340; fabrication was $23/sf; installation & templating was $8/sf; sink cutout & polishing was $175. We didn't hear anything about post-hurricane costs, but I know Harvey hit harder than Irma or Matthew in our area. We went with a small local company. They probably do fabrication and installation for the big box stores too, but I worked with the company owners/employees directy. Charging $60 sf to install sounds excessive. Do you have printed estimates to compare?