Wow OP, you have WAY more guts than me. I would've hightailed it out of there so fast you could see skid marks lol!! Worthy, your link brought back a scary memory for me too on the same issue. Remember the "Flood of the Century" that hit Winnipeg in '97? I was living in a basement apartment at the time that sucker was coming. I kept my cool having our city taken over by military, I kept my cool helping DH (BF at the time) sandbagging all their houses to 10' heights, I even kept my cool when pictures of the flood hitting Grand Forks, ND and literally obliterating it hit the news - knowing this was coming our way. I TOTALLY lost my cool, it was quite simply my breaking point, when they issued an "advisory" that water levels were too high and rats were coming out of the sewers rather than drown. Up until that point, my home was my "getaway" from all the madness. It was "safe" and would not be underwater if the floodway caved. I am sooooooooo terrified of rats!!! My parents wanted me to come home (Sask.), but I actually moved to DH's place - which was ON the river's edge lol - rather than deal with rats biting my butt or getting in my apartment. DH graciously duct-taped my toilet lid down and covered all drains so they couldn't get in. But with an unusable toilet, I preferred the risk of living at DH's rather than RATS. *shudder* What's really funny? DH only recently told me my risk of butt biting was just as big at his place lol. I HATE RATS (and snakes, and bugs, and pretty much anything reptillian). I'll stick with cats & dogs thank you very much lol.

Thanks again everyone for the replies. I have to say my uneasy feeling is not going away. Here's the latest. So please chime in if this appears to be red flags. At this point we are thinking of canceling the order. I had only talked to the fabricator once. This was when she set up the appt for the template. I went to the granite warehouse (2 hrs away) and only saw 2 slabs that were not really to my liking. I did tag one as the warehouse wasn't sure when they would get more slabs in. They said I could tag one and wait so I did that. I was told by the warehouse that more granite would come in. First it was a few days, then they said no, its more like a week, then its 2 weeks. So I have called every few days to see if more granite is in. I can tell they are getting annoyed with me and now have been told "they will call when they get a truck." At this point, I have no idea when they will get more granite. I put in a call to the fabricator to find out what happens if no more granite comes in and if they could work around an undesirable spot on the slab I did put on hold. No return call. After 3 days Im getting peeved. Each time I call it always goes to voicemail. On the 3rd day I left a message stating I really wanted to hear back. When no call came my husband called HD to complain. HD manager said she would contact the rep. So the installer comes to do the template. I ask him about my concerns with the slabs and the one I have on hold that has an undesirable spot and if it can be worked around. He said I need to talk to the fabricator. He just installs. Okay fine. He said he had to take my sink with him. After he left, then it dawned on me. I just gave my new sink to someone that I don't even know where he is from. I say this because he mentioned he works for so and so which is a different name than the fabricator. So it appears so far there are 3 separate companies involved in this process. The granite warehouse, the fabricator and the installer. Fabricator calls me early this morning. She sounded nervous and a bit frazzled. Im sure she got a phone call from HD or the rep from her company. She apologized and said its been extremely busy and she has had some family issues to take care of. I told her my concerns about everything. She asked me to text a pic of the slab to her phone so she can see it. She said if the undesirable spot is in the middle of the slab, it could be a problem trying to fabricate around it. She didnt sound too encouraging that the undesirable spot would be left out. She said I can come and see it templated on the slab. I don't even know if I want that slab anymore. I feel like I don't have a choice. Not that she didnt say that but if the granite warehouse can't tell me when they will get more it bothers me. The fabricator told me I chose a popular stone, it could be a while before more comes in. I got the feeling she was trying to rush me off the phone. I could hear maybe some kids in the background and then a car horn beeping. Could be just a neighbor or whatever but I got the vibe someone was honking for her because of how fast she was talking especially after the horn beep. She said she would contact the production manager about the undesirable spot. She hopes she can call me back today. I told her that we were thinking of canceling and I wanted to know where my sink was. She said the guy that did the template works for her but he is located in such and such city which is pretty far away. (Great) So I hung up with her and now its back to the waiting game. Now I feel its all just a hassle. I am really leaning toward canceling all of this but now I have track down my sink and more than likely go drive to get it. Well so it happens my husband has to go to that particular area for work tomorrow (a complete fluke) and he said he could swing by where that installer is located and get our sink. He is leaving it up to me to cancel and I am on the verge. If this is how its gonna go before I even have the work done, what happens if we end up with a problem? What you do think? Red flags? Is this how it goes? I mean I understand its a process but I got a bad feeling. Thoughts?

I definitely can relate. You are probably saving major dollars not having a kitchen designer, and you are getting exactly what you want. It's so stressful. Someone posted on here that she kept repeating to herself "it's only a kitchen...it's only a kitchen..." It's worth the pain and the time you are putting in to it. After you've been in the new kitchen a short time you will definitely forget this pain and suffering. I suggest get the granite and backsplash picked out, printing out pix from the Finished Kitchens Blog (google it) Finished Backsplash Slideshow with you when you go shopping. Try to stick to one or two inspiration photos. That helped me so much to show stores what I was looking for, and I was less distracted by other stuff once I had my inspiration photos with me. Try Google Images searching for key words like bronze sink granite & you'll get a couple pix of kitchens with that combo to see which granites & hardware look good. You could carve up your 3 biggest questions and make each separate discussion question topic here....like "Any granite ideas for bronze sink?" & someone might give you a great suggestion. Good luck. We are rooting for you. Here is a link that might be useful: Finished Backsplashes Slideshow in FKB

Here's the new Samsung range/stove, which was installed yesterday. As you may be able to see, there is a drawer to the right of it, which was a little too close, and so I cut a notch in the drawer face so that it would not hit the door pull on the oven. You cannot even see the notch from this angle, and the notch does not bother me. It's worth it to get this stove installed. I haven't cooked on it yet, but I will use it to make lunch today, I think. We will paint the notch cut tomorrow, just before we leave so that we won't have to wait for the paint to dry. I also want to paint parts of the pantry door behind the door pull, and I will remove the pull before I do that, which will also be tomorrow. Now I just have to figure out how to use the oven. It's rather complicated, and I don't know whether I can just turn it on with the knob in front, although perhaps I can. That option is not in the instructions, which describe a lot of buttons that have to be pushed and adjusted in order to control the oven. It does have a lot of features that I like, but it will take some time to figure them all out. At first it seemed like it has too many options, but I do think I will use most of them. The oven has a very low option, 150°, and has a desiccating option. It seems to have a nice broiler, which I do not have in L.A. I was a bit disappointed with the griddle that came with it, but I have my own cast iron griddle that I can use on the middle oval burner if I want. I had an extra griddle in L.A. that I brought here, and we had originally planned to use it on the outdoor BBQ, but I think I will use it more inside. I'll post more once I've used it and have figured out the oven. I plan to write my own oven operating instructions that will be condensed to just what I think is relevant for my own use.