A lot of the pricing is determined by the area and the company. Sears and Home Depot may be household names, but I would look elsewhere for HVAC services as I believe both use subs. Those big stores need to make their profit. Look for reputable dealers from the manufacturer's website, or ask for personal references. Bryant and Carrier are the same product. Rheem and Ruud are the same product. Trane and American Standard are the same product. There are minor differences, mostly having to do with cabinet look. You need to get a contractor who can do a load calculation to determine sizing and look at all of your ductwork. Did any contractor do this? How did they determine sizing? Did they examine the ductwork to ensure ample supply and return? Regarding brands... I really don't see a huge difference between any of them. Most use similar if not identical parts. Think about who is installing it more. All of them break.

No engineered stone is approved for UV exposure. It’s not an industry secret at all. None can go outside. Period. If your professionals that you worked with had done their jobs, you’d be an educated consumer and know that it’s not an exclusion just for Cambria. Direct sun from standard new windows shouldn’t pass enough UV to damage your floors, furniture, or e-stone. Standard windows already come with UV blocking properties, so if yours are so old that they don’t have it, you’ve got other issues about UV exposure in your house. Old windows need UV blocking film installed to avoid degradation to all kinds of interior finishes. Not just your e-stone. If it’s a relatively new window, that’s a conversation that you need to have with your window manufacturer. It’s defective. This is Not on Cambria. Or Silestone. Or Pental. Or Zodiaq. Or any e-stone manufacturer. New windows shouldn’t have issues with transmitting enough UV to damage your home.. Poop happens. This isn’t on Cambria. Talk to your window manufacturer.

Thanks for the info. We had priced the island counter top thru thinkglass.com and after shipping, materials, under glass counter material fabrication, it came close to $15k which is a bit too high for our budget but I know there had to be another supplier somewhere in the US, especially in this economy, that would be less. I will follow up with your names...anyone else know of glass counter top makers or how they hold up over time?

So much depends on the counter type, seams, whether there is a pattern that will need matching at the seams, whether the counter turns corners, what condition the base cabinetry is in (is it all level?), how hard is it to get in and out of your home, the difficulty of removing the old counter and not damaging backsplash or cabinets, and other things. Your brief description means no one can give you an answer that can be relied on because of all the unknowns.