Okay. Update on removing countertop(s). We took the first (of 2) countertops off. Abbisgram, you were correct, and there were only a few screws attaching the top. All came out easily except one which was impossible to get to without disassembling the whole cabinet, so we got out the sawzall and took care of that one. Decided for several reasons not to special order countertops. We bought a sheet of 3/4" plywood (4x8), had it cut in half lengthwise, and that will do all the new countertops. Got the first one on and will need to put the tiles and edging on. Regarding the comment from the guy at Lowes: He was correct in the sense that the cabinet was very flimsy; however, it didn't 'fall apart'. The front (where the doors are attached) is pretty standard, however the sides of the cabinet are 1/8" (at most) luan, and there is no back piece at all, just a 1x2 strip fastened to the bottom of the (old) countertop, then screwed to the wall. Thankfully, the shelf inside the cabinet seemed to help keep it all together til we got the new top on it. Once the new plywood was on though, it is as sturdy as it was before ... lol. Not sure if I mentioned that this is not our full-time home, it's a mobile home that we purchased in a resort town, so we are not there to work on it every day. Hoping to go back next week and remove/replace the 2nd countertop, then cover them. Bottom line is that it wasn't nearly as scary as the Lowe's guy made it sound. And thanks, abbisgram, for the encouragement. :) As a side note, the finished countertops will end up costing under $100 for approx. 13-14 feet of countertops. I'm not the best at taking pictures, but will try to post some when we finish. This post was edited by danandcarol on Sat, Sep 27, 14 at 22:44

Tammy, it doesn't matter which filter you get, it will connect only to the cold water line. The ones that do not require a separate faucet have a higher flow rate, and also greater capacity (even though the filter itself is the same size - at least that is the case with the Everpure). My sink is on the island and I think the extra faucet is just one more thing to clean and one more thing that gets in my way. Having the filtered cold in my regular tap also means I can fill the water tank on my coffee machine faster, and I don't have to worry about trying to co-ordinate faucets either! Hope this helps.

Water stains from mineral buildup are best removed with an acid based cleaner. CLR is just one of the more popular cleaners that can dissolve the hard water spots. It shouldn't harm either the resin or quartz component in the counters with a brief exposure. Also consider having your water treated to remove the minerals. It's also doing the same deposits on the internals of your pipes and other water use appliances like your water heater. Do you drain your water heater annually? Replace the anode? If not, look into doing those things as maintenance items and it will prolong their life.

I have slightly hard water, and no issues with granite at all. Granite is a stone after all. The only exception would be a solid-color black granite like Absolute Black, which might show mineral deposit rings if something wet were left to dry on it. Having said that, Absolute Black is so dense, the mineral ring would wipe right up. So, in summary, for granite, no worries for you. Stainless steel sink is anther matter. I have a stainless steel sink, and even with only somewhat hard water, there are instant water marks, and a haze of mineral deposits unless I clean it constantly. All I have to do is run the faucet for a second, and the stainless sink is marked. BTW, I have a 14-gauge (i.e. thick gauge), high-quality stainless sink, but that doesn't matter for mineral deposits. My advice to you is to get a Blanco Silgranit sink in one of the lighter colors, like biscuit. Silgranit is largely granite, and will have resistance to mineral deposits. Furthermore, the lighter colors will lessen even more the risk of mineral rings showing up. I like the Silgranit biscuit color; I think their white color too white. I will link below to their Super Single sink which I find awesome, cause it's so big, and has the corner drain. Note: the title says "drop-in" but can be undermounted or drop-in. But you'd need a 36" wide cabinet base. Blanco makes plenty of other sizes and configurations of course. I also do not advise getting another brand's granite composite sink. There has been talk on this forum that other brands' composite sinks may not be as good as Blanco Silgranit in resisting stains, ease of cleaning, etc. All about Blanco Silgranit Sinks Blancodiamond Silgranit Sink in Biscuit