I went around to several granite yards. All had remnants, but most were small or just one slab or the less expensive granites. Then I got very lucky! One of the places had 5 slabs each of 2 different granites in their remnant yard for $25/sf installed. One of them was Costa Smeralda, one that DH and I had loved since we'd first seen it several years before, but never considered using because it's one of the priciest. All of the slabs were cracked 1/3 of the way over. The layout of our large kitchen was such that the slabs could be pieced together without showing the seams. For $25/sf and my favorite I can live with insignificant seams! They had lots of granite, marble, and onyx choices in their full price yard, some that I'd never seen before, so some of their smaller remnants were not the usual run-of-the-mill. They had only 2 framed letters of recommendation on the wall: one from the governor's husband regarding the granite they'd installed in the governor's mansion, and the other from a lawyer in one of our powerhouse firms who'd had his granite job screwed up by someone else, and then redone successfully by this place. So, look around if you have more time than money. You never know what you'll find! Anne

neesie, be nice. New info turned up on the Crema Bordeaux and people need to know of it. You got a problem with a potential problem being discussed? Ever think that others might want to know? As to checking weekly, the harm caused by low dose radiation might take years to show up. Larrylwill, You have to admit that the mold issue caught the insurance industry flat footed and their reaction was to eliminate coverage for mold related problems, or at least that was what I was last told. The Radon researchers still has to fight a fringe group of people that refuse to believe it is a problem. And at one point, we still sold lead paint here in the US, despite the Europen countries banning it decades before. So just because they aren't aware of the potential risk doesn't mean they know about it. Mark my words, once they hear of it, it will be excluded from policies. As to the potential risk of future lawsuits over granite and radiation/Radon, I emailed one of the most respected lawyers in the toxic law field, Dr. Chiodo from Chicago. He called me the next day, and warned of a storm of future lawsuits over sterility, cancer, and even birth defects caused by the levels of radiation we were finding. He mentioned that standing at a granite countertop subjected the wrong area of your body to a lot of radiation if you have a hotter than normal granite top. Dr. Chiodo warned us to hire the best enviromental lawyer in our state and get a disclosure/consent form drawn up. But, he warned that even if the homeowners both signed, it would not be binding for their kids or any visitors. We aren't too worried since we test before purchasing slabs. Note that I called him Dr. Chiodo. He is a doctor, lawyer, an industrial hygenist anda biomedical engineer among other credintials. Said he was an over acheiver. LOL There is a link below with more info on Dr. Chiodo. Look down a ways to the section on "What the Experts say about Radiation in Granite Countertops" I didn't post this to start another debate. I posted it because new info disproved what we previously thought, that most Crema Bordeaux was likely safe. Now we aren't as sure. It won't cost $10 to check it, or send me a sample if you have one left and I'll check it then send it for professional testing if needed. Here is a link that might be useful: Dr. Chiodo, more info.

If the difference in color is due to the slabs having been in the sun, then won't the rest of the counter later lighten to match? It is all exposed to light now. I would worry that repolishing the tops in the shop won't produce as good a surface as they have now because the shop doesn't have the tools that are used for polishing large surfaces that they slab producer had. splais, it looks to me like your foot is still in your mouth - now you are saying that Inerseian was careless in selecting the stone? When placing templates on stone, there are a lot of things to consider - sometimes one accepts less match in one place to get a better match elsewhere or to display the part of the stone one wants in a prominent place. Ineresian's counter looks great and I can understand the choice that was made there. One leg of our L is almost as long as the length of our slabs and the other leg was about as long as the length plus width of them so the only way to do the L with only one seam was to have the seam at the sink with the lengths of the slabs at right angles - no book match possible there. Also, we wanted to position the slabs on the stone to have a match between the counters of the L's and the backsplash pieces and we needed a couple of other long pieces placed for our window sill and outside counter. We were able to position the two sides of the seam where the granite movement was swirly so the lack of a grain match doesn't stand out but there is a bit of a color shift at the seam. A few inches of not perfect match on the seam was worth it to us to not have an extra seam and to have matches the other places we wanted. We spent a few hours with the fabricator placing the template on the slabs and getting all the pieces to fit.

I’ve used Gorham Melonbud 18/10 flatware for the last 26 years. It has left TONS of gray marks on our 1) expensive Mikasa stoneware, 2) Target Threshold porcelain, and now 3) Mikasa bone china. The only surface this 18/10 flatware hasn’t destroyed is a newer set of 4 Target Threshold porcelain salad plates that I bought to replace some of the original set that broke. Got others in that style thinking I’d found the perfect match … nope, only those 4 can defend against the Melonbud. I’m giving up. It must be the flatware but that goes against everything out there that says 18/10 is the “hardest” and shouldn’t leave marks. Might switch to plastic, lol. ;0)