I would advise you avoid doing business with AZ tile and Dean Jessup specifically. We had a horrible experience with them. Don't expect them to act with integrity or stand behind their product. We used a fabricator that was a personal referral from him. When we had discoloration and fingerprints that wouldn't come off of our Della Terra quartz he informed me I must have "scarred" it by cleaning with a paper towel. ( I called him within an hour of the fabricator leaving). We paid beyond stone to buff it with a cleaner at their recommendation. It mostly resolved the issue although as a result of the buffing the gloss and sheen no longer match our perimeter counters. Best we can figure out the fabricator applied turtle wax or something similar to disguise striations around the sink cutout. Which is why fingerprints couldn't be cleaned off. We still have some smudges. Bottom line rather than try to help us resolve the issue he was hostile and accusatory. He said the fabricator (a friend of his apparently) said it was fine so we must have done something. Do business with them at your own risk.

I'll stick up for laminate. Not sure what exactly to say other than for me its the practicality and low maintenance that make it my first choice regardless of the fact that its also inexpensive. In my experience: Resists stains I fairly regularly splatter tomato sauce or spill orange juice, vinegar and no I don't wipe it up right away, (sometimes not for a couple of days!) and no etching! Put all the wet glasses you want on it and leave it. No rings. Resists scratches (I cut on mine, somewhat carefully, rather regularly) Low heat resistant - never put a burn mark on one yet just stick a heating pad under really hot things. What's a trivet? (just kidding) Easier on your dishes and glasses (I put things down pretty hard and know I would break things on granite) Warm to the touch (compared to stone and metals which just freeze me out) Chipping - I've never had a problem though others have. I assume it has to do with quality level of the laminate and possibly the underlayment and installation (and user of course) I think stone products probably chip as much if not more. If you get the prefab'd type that has the bullnose thing going up the wall there isn't even a grout line to maintain between the counter and wall - which while it looks cheap - I love! I hate any kind of grout line. I seem to flood my counters regularly with something and I love that curved laminate. You don't have to clean it right away, You don't have to remember exactly what products you can or can't clean it with as long as you don't use anything really extreme or harsh. You don't have to seal it, oil it, or bleach it (wood) So its easy easy easy and inexpensive. Tired of it? cheap to replace or cover. And it comes in more colors, textures, finishes and edging styles than ever before. My mother has her original fake marble shiny laminate from 1969 and it still looks great, no kidding (well other than the fake marble is a little uh... out of style:)

Hard to believe that Cambria can ship stone halfway across the country, and sell it for less than the do in their home market.. If the OP is within 4 hours of Cambria, I dont think there will be much negotiating room as it all comes from their central fabrication facility, or a few select certified fabricators.. With Cambria, you cannot go by just sq footage. You need to factor in backsplash, cooktop? Undermount or overmount sink, seams etc, as they are all priced individually. After you determine all the intricasies of your estimate, then you can calculate it by the sq ft if you want.. All edges are the same price, which can be good, if youre going with a comparable with an ogee edge, or it can be a negative if youre just going with a standard edge.. An ogee edge on any comparable, will add to the cost, therefore offsetting the difference. If you are buying from Cambria factory store, I will say one thing, their backsplash is expensive..

Hmmm, that's weird, because quartz doesn't need sealing, it's non-porous. Perhaps your installer offered to seal it to reassure you, but that's simply not something that it's done with quartz. It's a man-made stone, very durable, very strong, and easy to maintain. Granite needs sealing once a year, for example. I would talk with the installer once again or find another one. I'm not familiar with Della Terra Quartz but with MSI Stone and Caesarstone I have only the best experience, I highly recommend them.