I'm a KD since the mid-80's. I wouldn't say they are lying. Cambria wants to maintain more control over their tops by doing their own fabricating. That is not necessarily a bad thing...witha all the fly by night fabbers out there. However, I have a great fabricator and would rather HE do it for me. I does take a bit longer sometimes and there is issues with my customers previewing slabs (yes, some people still want to pre-view quartz). Fabricators probably do make a little less on Cambria since they are really only doing the templates and installations....but not the sales people...at least in my area. Cambria has been shuffled around to several different fabricators in my area over the years....so yes, I think there is some truth to fabricators having issues with Cambria. There is also probably some truth to the warranty issues. Cambria has 'pooling' issues with several colors. Many people do not like this effect.

Here are some pictures of Cambria Swanbridge, just installed yesterday. It is a nice mix of very light grey, silvery gray veining and small dabs of creamy white. Looks great with our white cabinets and gray island! Our cabinets are painted Chantilly Lace by Benjamin Moore. The lighting in this picture makes them look yellowish but it's a nice bright neutral white, not too cool or warm.

We've had MSI Arctic White for over 18mos now. I love it. Haven't had any scuffing, scratching, or staining issues. Damp paper towel takes most everything off. I use Clorox Wipes for coffee rings or berry "ghosting" and give it a good general wipe down 2x per week. We looked at a lot of the quartz "marble" looking options, but someone made a comment that the veins either look fake or resemble (leg) spider veins. After hearing that, I can't "unsee" it! ha! The plain white has been a perfect backdrop for adding color and texture elsewhere (grout, wood cutting boards, walls, etc.). I also find that I like seeing exactly how dirty the counter top is (so I can wipe it off)!

I am a fabricator. I'd strongly suggest you get at least one more bid (two would be better). It's possible the difference is material cost but that's a VERY large difference for two materials that will take exactly the same time to process in the shop. If the Cambria color is available in jumbo slabs and the Silestone is not that could create a higher material cost for the Silestone but even then the price difference seems excessive.