It may be that the person installing the counters is worried about a good tight fit against all the walls where counters will run. If your walls are not flat and straight, the installers can cover a pretty good sized gap with that thick strip of countertop material laid a few inches up the wall ( the older style installations). But with good modern templating, you should expect a good fit even if your walls are a little bit off, then the tile can come right down to the counter and still meet with a small caulk joint at the change of plane. Perhaps you can ask them if they're worried about uneven walls, or you can take a yardstick to them yourself to see how they look. If it were my kitchen I'd certainly want the newer style installation.

have finished the 4th remodel (wow 2 yrs since earlier post on this thread!). Used all white (no patterns speckles or veining) in MasterBath, Butlers Pantry Wet Bar, and as BACKSPLASH in Kitchen whose counters are Stainless Steel. (the rest of kitchen is all white cabinetry with brushed metal pulls). No qu that the white is stunning, crisp, pleasant. MasterBath is fine. Butlers Pantry: the white counter is unforgiving and shows everything. So on a second bathroom we chose white with a little gray veining and that has been excellent / easier. Kitchen all white backsplash with white cabs above below has been great and VERY easy clean (we cook a lot and use spices that stain too). But the all white in kitchen would have been intolerable as a counter for us. Stainless steel is not for everyone but 3 kitchen renos later, (2 remain actively in use) we love its cleanliness and the patina and very, very low maintenance. It looks surprisingly good with Cesarstone / Quartzite type stone products

This is the only post I could find regarding Royal Reef Quartz. Do you think Royal Reef would go nicely with white cabinets (black hardware) and white subway tile. Our island is a color called Hale Navy. We have Maple light colored flooring. Most of our accents (stools, pendants) are a matte black and stainless. I’m worried the Royal will look too beige. The woman helping us with the quartz said the RR wouldn’t look beige that it would take on the color of the navy and white. I’m not convinced .... any advice? BTW your kitchen is beautiful! Thank you

There are innumerable threads about the new porcelain countertops out there. I was attracted to them myself. I learned, however, that it's very hard to find an experienced fabricator to install these. And without an experienced fabricator, they are a total, very expensive disaster. Consider Corian - preferably Glacier White. It's quite inexpensive, is virtually bullet-proof, can be fixed if damaged, shows no seams and it timeless.