ugh.... we are just at this point now and realized that our new counter/breakfast bar is 12' with the sink cutout dead center. My wife is stuck on an undermount and we really wanted granite... we will, of course, be getting a few fabricators to bid it. But is it feasible to do the seam with a cutout at the seam? The front edge of the sink seems a bit vulnerable to me. Also the current layout has the dishwasher adjacent to the sink and I guess we'd need to get the cabinet built with a support at the seam. If we can seam at the sink it would be small, just the length of the front setback (breakfast bar transitions to countertop there)... how well does the bullnose normally line up on a seam? Do they polish it on-site? Are we better off getting used to NOT granite? The 12' counter is not negotiable in our design.

gail - sorry I missed your question! My GC/carpenter installed the BB. Because I didn't get an IKEA kitchen, the cabinet makers would not install it. It is easy to work with if you have the right tools (big saws, I guess). They did cut and round over the edges where necessary. To save money, I sanded and finished the butcherblock myself with Watco Butcherblock oil and a few coats of mineral oil. I finished by rubbing it out with #0000 steel wool to make it nice and smooth. I pre-finished on all sides and then finished the top with a few more coats. I got IKEA numerar birch in 40" wide (for the peninsula) and standard 25.5" wide for the rest of the kitchen. I also found a local woodworker who makes hard maple butcherblock. I definitely would have loved to use him but he was just out of budget. next time I will! My GC also installed the quartz as that was the cheapest option (instead of getting the fabricator to do it). It was basically two 50"x25" pieces that they picked up at the shop and put in place before the BB. I had that slide in "appliance" sink so it made things pretty easy. I was REALLY worried about corners being out of square (something fabricator/installers with laser templates would take into account), but my contractor said it would be super easy to notch the drywall and backsplash would take care of the rest. So that's what happened and it's totally fine. rocksnroses, we have had no problems with the butcherblock around the stove. It's going on one year. I think stains could be a possibility. I did have a blueberry stain on one part of the counter. I soaked it in lemon juice and salt and it took it out pretty well. We use potholders/trivet and cutting boards. The advantage of butcherblock is it's fairly easy to repair -- just sand and oil. I actually need to do some repairs because my roommate has cut on the counters twice now. I asked him not to but cutting on wood seems to be irresistible for some people. If you have guests cooking in your kitchen they could pose a threat to your counters and you may wish to shove cutting boards in their direction. I don't consider this a huge downside because our alternative in that budget was laminate, which would have the same issues with cutting but be less repairable. Had we not found the appliance (slide in) sink on Kijiji I'm not sure what we would have done as it would have made using offcuts much more expensive (cost of sink cutout, longer offcut, need fabricator to install). Likely would have gone for the IKEA domsjo because it's one of the only reasonable full depth sink options. This post was edited by robotropolis on Thu, Jan 22, 15 at 13:47

The fabricator has made all the errors here. First he measured wrong. Then he didn't let you see the second slab but said you'd get the same results - which you did not. Third, your sink isn't centered. You haven't don't anything wrong as the customer... This guy obviously needs to take this as a lesson learned and either replace the slabs or knock off WAY more money... Ask yourself this, if he knocked off lets say $1000, would that make you happy and could you move on with the kitchen as is? Only you can answer this. Don't take this the wrong way, but if you come across as too nice or a pushover this guy may be using that to his advantage to get out of this mess as quickly as possible. $200 off is a slap in the face if you ask me given the details. Of course, he may think the new counter looks fine. That doesn't make up for the off centered sink or promise to match the old slab. Honestly I would describe to him exactly what you have said here. You seem like a nice person who probably would like to avoid conflict. This guy needs to do way more than $200 off. It's a good thing you only paid half so far. That first slab he measured wrong isn't a total loss either, he can use it for remnants (ex- vanity sink tops). I'm just throwing this idea out there so you know that he has the possibility to turn some of that first slab error into $$.

Please, feel free to use my low-rent drawing. Spuyten Duyvil is beautiful and such a fun name to say. Yes, we are a stone's thow away. I'm near Ft Tryon Park in Washington Heights. If you have a good experience with your contractors, I'd love to get their info. While my kitchen is 3 feet longer than yours, it is only 7'8" wide. Light surfaces and bouncing light around makes a huge difference. If you place your fridge to the right of the sink, it will chop up your counter space, block the window light, and contribute to a small feel, just as the stub walls do now. Can you put the fridge where the stove is and move the stove to the right of the sink? Ask your contractor and building. When do you close and when do you intend to start construction? We had a month in between. Though we were only here on the weekends during that month it was incredibly helpful to get a realistic idea of how we felt in the space and how we wanted to use it. If you can do the same, I suggest it. We had a folding table and two chairs that we moved around the space. The window was a magnet and entirely changed our layout. We also scooted it around to imitate a countertop and approximate the feel of our sofas. Everything is so different in person with 3D objects. Not being able to get certain pieces of furniture through the bedroom door also changed things. We were moving from a 3 story, 5 bed house into this 2 bedroom apartment and in the end, having no room for a china cabinet, limited closet space, and no basement storage, putting up a wall and having as many kitchen cabinets as possible was a major reason to go with a galley kitchen. I cannot stress enough to ignore your realtor and do what you love in the space for the time you are using it. Our realtor and multiple contractors encouraged us to knock down a kitchen wall in our old house. We refused and ignored all of the experts. When we sold our house got four offers in two days, whereas others on our street sat on the market. People commented that our kitchen was a selling point. Yes, our kitchen with a wall between it and the dining room. Go with what feels right and is practical for you in the space. Also, try to find pics of kitchens with islands that have columns in the middle to get a feel for the look.