I'm glad Mondragon saw this post and showed his pic's. I would suggest visiting different fabricators in your area and checking their references. Ask how many different granite suppliers they use and ask them to help you set up appointments with the suppliers so that you can walk the yards and pick out your granite/slabs yourself. This is what we did - we used the fabricator our builder liked but didn't see anything in their (small) yard or samples that we really liked. After I pressed them, they told me who their various suppliers were and how to set up appointments to go and look at slabs. In my experience, the big granite suppliers would rather deal with the fabricating companies themselves than individual customers, but if you push, they will let you come look. Lots of them require an appointment so call ahead. Often a fabricating company would prefer that you choose your slabs from the inventory they have on site - this is convenient for them and lowers their inventory. However, they will not have near as many granites to choose from as a large granite supplier. The place where I found my Fashion Green was HUGE with many hundreds of different granites and marbles to choose from. I even got to mark the slabs I wanted and she put "holds" on them. The reason I thought the Imperial Splendor might be my stone was that when my fabricator saw my slabs, she said they reminded her of the "old" Imperial before the slabs started coming with too much "pink" in them. She must have been confused. Thanks, Mondragon, for clarifying.

Another option: When we send in a request for quote - we get a price from the fabricator at cost - we add 20% for the customer's price. If the customer went directly to the fabricator, they would get essentially the same price as I quoted them. So, basically, the fabricator gives us a discount which allows us to charge the customer the same price in the end. The benefit of going through us, is that we will be at the jobsite during template, to make sure that everything is covered, we'll answer questions about overhangs, make sure seams are in good places, make sure the appliances are all there. We will meet the customer at the Granite Yard the next day and go over laying the template on the granite, make sure pieces match up, etc. Then we're at the house during installation - make sure seams are good, it's cleaned up, and everything is done correctly. I guess what I'm saying is that not all KD/GC's are out to gouge you with markups... saying that, we do work with a fabricator which might be more expensive than others you may get quotes from - but that's because we can trust they aren't using lesser grade granite, we are confident that if there's even the smallest defect, they'll come fix it, and they're pleasant to work with. lol..I sound like I'm trying to sell us - but really I think this is a good program =)

These are my pics of my countertops placed Friday June 22, 2018. I cried looking at these seams. It looks so cheap. Fabricator explains that's the way it comes. I explained that I shouldn't be able to see the seams so clearly. It looks so unprofessional. They ended up taking them back to their warehouse. In hopes they say if it is quality control will try and fix it just to make it look better. Otherwise I will have to pay an additional fee for them to come out again to install. I just don't know what to do and if still looks the same. This is the first time I've replaced my counters in 24 years. I don't and can't live with it. looking at this for another 24 years. It looks so cheap and it really was not it's a lot of money to me. I hope fingers crossed that they will fix this problem. They never told me that there would be such seams. I thought the edges were done by a machine and it would be all one piece. I have read up on this and now understand there are seams. But now I do know that they should not look like this. If they are good fabricator you shouldn't be able to see them so clearly. I will find out next week what happens.

kleighj, here's another idea for the "island woes". You could put in silverware/placemat drawers at the left end of the island, directly across from the dishwasher (also reducing cabinet width there from 30" to 24"). Shortening the island by 6"would help reduce the chokepoint between the hearth room and dining room. I think that would be great for unloading the dishwasher. Imagine having the dishwasher open and the silverware drawer open at the same time and being able to move items from the dishwasher to the drawer with just a few steps. Plus it would be easy for kids or visitors to get silverware and placemats out of the drawers and set the table without impeding kitchen workflow. Its still close enough that the cook can access when needed. That would leave the microwave where you want it on the island and leave a full unit of 30" drawers next to the range for pots/pans. The 24" cutlery drawers labeled on your plan would stay and be used for knives and cooking utensils. You could even do two shallow drawers for knives plus utensils above one deep drawer if you don't think you need 4 shallow drawers here. I think having knives and silverware separated helps keep kids safe -- kids always need silverware and placemats but have no reason to be anywhere near the knife drawer. The only downside is that there is now some separation between the silverware and plates/glasses which I'm assuming would go in the uppers. On the right of the range I would switch the 15" drawers to 15" vertical of storage (e.g. cookie sheets). Finally not sure if you saw this before but if at all possible you should try to go with a 36/33 corner unit if your cabinet company offers that asymmetric configuration. You'll really appreciate that over the 33/33. I think you will have a great layout.