Ceiling fans -- the key is to keep 'em moving! It's harder to see the dust then. LOL! :) Yep - As sheilajoyce said, it's important to get a granite with lots of pattern and swirls if you want to hide anything. Also, we polished our granite once when we had it installed and again about 6 months later. It's been 3 years now, and we haven't done it again (I'm SOOOO ashamed... not!) and it's fine. I don't notice any stains or marks and it's still shiny. Yay! The only thing I had to learn to do was to not set a glass or dish down on it very hard. There is NO give like on a laminate countertop with a plywood underbase. I went from a vinyl floor and laminate counter kitchen to a ceramic tile and granite counter kitchen -- it took awhile before I adjusted! At least it's an excuse to buy new dishes since I chipped several of mine before I got used to it (plus, I think my sister and neice chipped some too when they lived here -- again, inexperienced granite counter users!). Enjoy!

Thanks to graniteshop for jumping in here. Now that I have seen what an air vent is (they are not required in my area), I have a better understandiung of why it may have cracked. Another fabricator wrote the following: "The hole for the vent is drilled all the way through the material like a faucet hole and is most likely an 1-3/8" diameter just like the rest of the faucet holes. There could be a couple causes of the crack. It could have been cracked during the install and not noticed until this point. It's also possible that they crack was caused when the hole was drilled. If they did it on site with the wrong style core bit enough heat could have been built up to cause the stone to crack. Also, if the cabinets were not level or if the top was not properly shimmed the top could crack after install. If the top was cracked before install it will still probably be perfectly flat. If it was cracked after install then you may be able to look down the top and see either a high point or low point in the top at the location of the crack. " Seems like good info to me.

If you paid by credit card, you may have some recourse there. File a complaint with them. If the check hasn't cleared the bank, you could put a stop on it. Take pictures and go camp on HD's doorstep working your way up the food chain till it's fixed.

Hi All, Thanks so very much to everyone for their help! We finished most of our kitchen (only need the backsplash) and after the helpful debate here on this board, and working with our installer and the granite fabricator, we wound up with an incredible 6 cm, stepped edge counter! Everything fit perfectly, including the stove, dishwasher, etc. I know there were a couple of people here who expressed doubt this was possible or would work out very well, but after doing the math on my own, listening to the more supportive comments on this board (thank you!) and speaking with the team here, we proceeded with our dream kitchen counters and it worked fantastically! I spent a ton of time with the shop guys at the fabricator and detailed exactly where I wanted the cuts for the laminated, stepped edge and the average person cannot tell it is a laminated... the granite lines up perfectly and no obvious seam since it is stepped! Have a look and please let me know what you think of the outcome!