When we were planning our kitchen our KD emphasized many times how important it was, in his opinion, to have the granite overhang uniform throughout the kitchen. He spec'd 1-1/2" from the edge of the cabinet box. With 3/4" doors and end panels this means 3/4" of stone extends further than the doors and will mostly overhang the cabinet pulls and knobs also since I think our hardware has a 1-1/4" projection. Hope this makes sense. Our kitchen granite installation was today and the granite installers took a lot of time, probably at least a half hour, making sure that the overhang was uniform. They placed the granite and measured, repositioned and measured at least 4 times until they were sure they had it right. If your granite isn't right I think it means they didn't take the proper care to get it right. If it bothers you, I think you have a right to complain about the installation. I don't know what will have to be done to make it right but they are professionals I think they should give you options rather than expecting you to tell them how to fix it. A credit doesn't begin to address the problem since it was spec'd to 1-1/2" throughout.

Sorry I neglected this thread - I don't seem to be getting notifications consistently. Errant, I looked at the sealant - it was a large contractor size granite sealant that didn't have obvious branding. They did comment that it was a newer one with special "enviro" formulation - i.e. it may be less effective than previous ones with stronger solvents. After three coats the granite still gets water marks when water sits for 30 min so I will get some granite sealer from Home Depot today and do another coat. Trebuchet and Hollysprings - I agree the sink install was a hack job. Problem is, we had to either pay them or let them fix it. My husband probably could have played hardball with them, but he is too stressed out with his day job and when I spoke with the "big boss" he had an answer for everything and I couldn't get him to bend on anything. For example, he insisted that he did 1/4" radius corners like we agreed - which he did not. I never know how to handle it when I am being told that black is white. We decided we would prefer to fix the sink situation ourselves rather than let them come up with another wonderful "solution". I really wasn't confident that they would not make things worse. My husband will get that sink rock solid, I am not worried about that. Bbtrix, glad you're feeling better about things :) . If I knew I was staying in my home for the next 10 years, and if my husband wasn't a fuss-budget, I would have considered marble too. I was recently in Cuba and admired the century-old marble thresholds at the entrances of fancy old buildings. They were worn in, smooth, and delicious - elegantly showing their age. This post was edited by feisty68 on Tue, May 27, 14 at 13:31

I don't think I was being brutal, I just wanted to state the technical details of why the overlays were wrong. However I see a few people disageed with me, I can assure you that I know what I am talking about when it comes to technical details of a kitchen, especially hinges. To do a full overlay with butt doors and face frame cabinets you would have to notch the frame out to 3/4" and use a frameless hinge to get the gap that you want. So as I was saying the cabinets should have been built differently(not your fault) If you cabinetmaker is buying hinges from home depot, he is not a cabinetmaker but a carpenter. No offense to any carpenters but a jack of all trades, master at none, is a pretty common theme. Yes the finish is subpar, and is probably the most difficult aspect of cabinetmaking. I know that I can spay a finish that is on par or above any factory finish. All in all the design looks good, to most people the cabinet quality and overlays would never enter their radar. As far as the finish goes, did he show you samples beforehand, I would have requested that so I could approve the color and quality. Most of these issues you have I think would be tough to fight in court because there is no documentation, however I am no expert in litigation, because my work does not lead to lawsuits. I also always try to steer people away from maple unless they are going natural with glaze, it is a very difficult wood to stain with consistency. The grain tends to show variation and looks "splotchy" Again another reason to see samples before you buy. When I hear about the horror stories on here it drives me crazy to see people paying good money for subpar work. I guess the point I am trying to make is that everyone has different expectations of quality you have to trust your judgement. To answer your question igloochic, your inset doors open with minimal gap because you cabinets use inset hinges, not facefame. You may have a concealed hinge but it is still designed to open with zero clearance, it is not designed to overlap a 1 1/2" frame, or you may have butt hinges, and obviously you can see how that would not give you an overlay on a face frame cabinet. I was not saying it was not possible to have full overlay on face frame cabinets, I was saying that it is more difficult, and I did not think this builder had that knowledge or skill.

How wide (or deep) is your countertop in total? I'm being a bit extreme in my example but if you have a 2 foot wide counter and 11.5 inches of that was unsupported then you'd have the countertop tipping over very easily. However, if your coutertop is 4 feet wide (or deep) and 11.5 inches of that is unsupported then the weight of the supported side is more than adequate to keep that countertop from tipping towards the unsupported side. We have a 3 foot wide counter that is 6 feet long and 10.5 inches of that is unsupported and I can sit (105 lbs) on the unsupported side and it doesn't budge! But, you also didn't indicate what your concern is...are you concerned with it tipping or with your cabinets not being able to handle the overall weight? I'm assuming the tipping issue, but didn't know. Also, they should have put a bead of silicone or something to seal the coutnertop to the top of the cabinets. HTH...