Lol. This post is from 2006 and I'm still getting notifications of replies to it. We replaced our counter tops with the inexpensive Formica at Lowe's about 5 years ago now. We had a water leak at the kitchen sink which caused some damage that we wanted to fix so while we were ripping things out we decided to replace the counter tops. We did end up having to build a new face for the base of the counters as the thin paneling stuff was not the best, so my cupboards on the bottom are stronger than ever. My husbad also had to cut the piece off the back of the countertops to make them fit as mine weren't as deep as the ones from the store but with a little trim along the back of the counter and nobody knows. I love my kitchen even to this day. The money was well worth it! If I remember correctly they cost about $150? In Sept we will have lived here for 12 years!!

"I would definitely complain to your fabricator. This doesn't appear to be something that can easily be "fixed." Don't worry about being a problem client. You paid $$ and didn't get what you should have gotten and what you expected. This is their problem, not yours. Good luck!!" Thanks chris45ny~ That's what I was thinking too, however they sent out someone I have never even seen or spoken to before to look at the counters and she was poo pooing the whole thing and saying "Well this is a natural product it is in the nature of the stone to have these variances..." I said , "Well Absolute black is pretty uniform in every piece I have seen and I don't think the person laying out the template did it correctly, they should have avoided the gray area and not placed it front and center of my sink." She was trying to see "What I wanted to get." I said "I want it to look right, period." She was then going to go back and talk to the boss and let me know what would happen... Meanwhile they wanted me to sign a paper that said everything had been delivered and was in fine condition which I said I would not sign. I am sitting now with a sink that is not hooked up, a dishwasher that is not hooked up all because I am waiting for them to decide what they are going to do! Since last Friday... Any more advice??? Thanks again

I also heard that one of the Korean companies was making microwaves. Sharp and Panasonic for sure. All microwaves degrade from the jump. The magnetron (is that what it's called? Too early for me..) degrades with use. Search the forum, and you'll get good explanations from Kas about this. Investing a ton of money in a microwave, therefore, doesn't make a lot of sense. OTOH, that part will last a heck of a lot longer than a few years, if you get a kitchen grade microwave (as opposed to a desktop cutsiepoo unit for which I have no data at all). The thing that makes so many microwaves "disposable" is wear and tear. If you have family members who SLAM the door, PUNCH the buttons, etc., and constantly fiddle with it, starting and stopping and opening and closing, and just using it a lot for one mug of hot water, the box is going to wear out long before the magnetron. If you're nice to it, and use it a couple of times per day rather than all day long, it could last 20 years or more. One of the things you can get with a more expensive unit, along with looks and snooty badge, is potentially a sturdier housing. It is also potentially possible to have a built-in unit repaired (I can't imagine it being worthwhile to repair a freestanding unit). There are people who do microwave repairs and they do make replacement magnetrons. The only situation where that seems like a possible good idea, however, is when you have the beautiful built-in that matches your beautiful kitchen which still looks like new. Re convection: The initial convection microwaves didn't work well as ovens, and also didn't meet the expectations of the buyers. That was before convection ovens themselves were well understood in the US. In the time I've been researching appliances and hanging out here (coming up on ten years), the general tone from users of them has gone from not worth the money to acceptable second oven. Again, I don't know if that's a change in quality or in user expectations. Convection ovens cook with circulated hot air. They do a good job roasting. Great for "cooking" or "baking" a casserole. Even baking a loaf of bread. For small things, like cookies, a lot depends on the pan, the cookie and whether or not it really wanted bottom heat. For most, it'll do an acceptable job. Some outliers really do better with a proper baking mode. Egg rising things like angel cakes and soufflés really don't like being blown about. If you can arrange the angle of the pan to the blower just right, it's possible, but still iffy. The heated air can also bounce off the surfaces in unexpected ways leading to uneven cooking/browning, contravening the evenness that you otherwise get from the movement of the air. It's likely that there are still poor ones out there, especially at the lower end. There must also be good ones. Just familiarize yourself with the features and abilities of the unit, and use that to sift through the consumer reviews to know whether it was the oven or the user, and make your judgment from there.

@kel_kat5 - It is a mistake to think that Dayana’s situation is representative of granite counters. Most importantly, the Bahamas White granite she pictured looks like it’s in the family of the Imperial White or Kashmir granites, which is notorious for behaving more like marble and staining easily because it is more absorptive than other granites, I.e. porous. If one is looking for a granite with a white background, check out the granites in the family of Alaska White, White Springs, Bianco Delicatus, and Lennon, which are pretty bullet-proof. I’ve had different granites in different homes, and none even needed sealing, and were carefree, and we didn’t baby them. There are a thousand granites out there, and they should not all be lumped under the same umbrella. Quartz is a great choice if you want a more uniform appearance to your counters. There are stories on this forum of Quartz staining, scorching and chipping, and having resin pools. I actually think Quartz is a wonderful choice for counters. But get it for its appearance and beauty, not because you think it is more durable than granite.