Also i thought using same material for backsplash is how its done. The counters before was that way with only 4 inch, it was just the old formica waited 14 yrs for this project was super excited and now regretting it altogether

I am so sorry you are dealing with this! I bet you are beyond disappointed and frustrated. The countertop material you chose is very beautiful. And btw, your counters look like “Fantasy Brown”. If so, it is actually not considered a granite. I am not an expert, but I believe I read it is closer to a marble, except not quite as prone to etching???

So were you planning on just doing the 4” backsplash or were you going with a full backsplash that goes all the way up to underneath the upper cabinets?

The reason I thought the full splash especially might be a bad idea is because, if they screwed up the seams on the countertops as bad as they did, you better believe they will screw up the backsplash too.

It is just that on a vertical plane, any highly mismatched seams will look even worse because you will notice it way more!

I think it is very nice of you to want to give them a chance to fix it, but I seriously doubt they will spring for all new slabs. There is really no other way to fix this mess except to start over.

The only other solution would be to keep the island in the fantasy brown (or whatever it is called) and then pick out a solid color for the perimeter. It needs to be something plain without any bold pattern, so that the island countertop is the ”Star”. Too easy for them to clash if both have alot of movement or swirls.

You could then do a soft pretty color tile matching back to a color in the island stone for a backsplash.

If the bathrooms look alright, and you paid for that, just ask for the rest to be refunded and for them to come get their kitchen counters.

Then get all new kitchen slabs and find a different fabricator to finish the kitchen.

I sincerely hope it all works out, and please update us with any news!

No suggestions. I’m just sorry you’ve had a less than stellar result. How disappointing! I do hope you get a good solution and post an update. My very best to you as you navigate this crap.

Your neighbor used a completely different stone so of course yours will not look like hers. This waht happens when you strat telling a pro how to do their job You basically told them you wanted the seam in the corner . They of course should have explained the issue but it depends on how much pressure you exerted about the seam. If a client is adamant about something I can only suggest not insist . I would still like to see the template you signed off on , that is where this fell through the cracks . IMO you got what you wanted , yes someone should have explained a bit more with such a busy stone but I think we are missing some info too

This is an unfortunate outcome and without full information we can't say definitively that the OP didn't sign off on the template, but I get the impression that the fabricator didn't do that step. They discussed that it would be done like her neighbor's kitchen (the corners being cut from the slab in an L shape.)

She was expecting this:

and they did the cuts something like one of these:

Leaving the OP unhappy with the results, but leaving the fabricator with a lot more excess material to use on other jobs.

The excuses provided by the fabricator don't make sense based on what the OP has shared. Her counter and her neighbors were the same size and it was possible to do the neighbors with these corner cuts.

Even if they had created seams on the two corners they could have run the veining in the same direction and gotten better results.

There was no excuse for the fabricator to not do what was asked / agreed to or to inform the OP prior to cutting the stone that what she was asking for was not possible and discuss the options.

The fabricator is not free to do whatever they want and tell the customer to just accept the outcome.

I would not be satisfied and would not just accept this outcome. I would be fighting the fabricator and either getting my money back (let him sell this to someone else) or having him redo the work.

With respect @Joseph Corlett, LLC and others... "managing expectations" is used a bit too often and a bit too loosely and it simply doesn't apply here. It seems oddly self-serving for contractors to blame every problem on the customer's unreasonable expectations.

When a customer is upset that the product or service they asked for is not how they envisioned it, that is a failure to manage expectations. When a customer is upset that they didn't receive the product or service they asked for, that is a failure of the agreement.

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The fabricator has a duty to locate the seem where the customer wants that seem. If it is not possible the fabricator has a duty to communicate the limitations and what is possible to the customer. Dereliction of that duty is not a "failure to manage customer expectations," it is negligence, and more often than not it is intentional negligence.

It doesn't matter how many slabs were available, how many slabs required, how many slabs the OP purchased, etc., because it is the fabricator's job to analyze and communicate what materials were necessary to complete the job. Every time these posts come up someone asks about the number of slabs purchased, but if that is such a necessary interrogatory, why didn't the fabricator ask when they accepted the job?

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In the end, the problem here is that someone accepted a contract without bothering to establish what they were contracted to do and now we have this problem... again.

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As for advice to the OP... I don't think you are wrong to be upset and I would resist settling for the excuse that this is the best they could do. If you knew it would look like this when you selected the slab, would you have selected the slab anyway? If the answer to that question is, "no," then they could have done better.

He should have put the seam in center of the sink.

i jiust had quartize installed this week, and the sink seam is 2 small lines, one in front and one in back they are a little noticible , but there rrally is no way to avoid seeing a seam completley,. its one of those things that will get overlooked with time as the rest of the kitchen comes together. i dont however that seam you have will go overlooked. ugh !

unfortunaltey, i have another issue at hand with my counter - bizarre staining . hope your fabricator will make good on the poor install for you. that shoukd be a remake . good luck!!

“Managing expectations “ can mean spending enough time with a customer to explain everything. Pictures of previous work can be used to show why that particular slab won’t look like this particular slab. This is the response a well trained sales force familiar with the entire range of products and installation quirks. I once had a man who ordered a 84 x 48 mirror with a one inch bevel all four for the space above his sofa. He insisted he didn’t want it installed with mirror clips OR Palmer mirror mastic. He could not understand Harry Potter was not going to magic it to the wall. Managing his expectations meant taking the time to discuss the facts until he understood and accepted reality.

There was a classic cartoon of a swing. How the architect designed it-including three fancy ropes and a roof. How the contractor built it-two plain ropes and a wooden seat. What the client wanted- a tire hung by a rope. Communication is essential on all sides.

Ugh! I can imagine how frustrated you must be! I agree the fabriactor should have had you sign off on the template prior to cutting. Had you seen this layout, you would have never signed off on it. So sorry you are going through this. I hope it gets resolved to your satisfaction. Good luck!

Because my dad was an audio learner, he couldn’t understand why I needed to read to learn. In college, I would take copious notes, then type them out (yes, I went to college at the dawn of the ages). The physical act of typing and reading both the notes and the transcript helped me visualize the correct answers on a test. Most people are a mix, so I always found it helpful, even necessary, to not only tell them about the job, but show visuals. It saves situations like the layout of this countertop. Often, professionals are so familiar with the product, they forget the customer might be doing this for the first time. I cannot tell you how many times the wife would stand in the main bathroom with me and insist she only needed mirrors “this high”. When I would tell her I couldn’t see the top of my head and asked how tall her husband was-and she would say he was 6’2”! This was always followed by her telling me he had always complained in their previous bathrooms! And we would install taller mirrors!

A few things i want address 1. The fabricator never asked me about how many slabs i was buying and never talked about or mentioned how many slabs were needed for the job he was asked to do. im not a professional and had no i idea of any of this information. He meaured my kitchen and bathrooms and quoted me a price based on the stone i picked. 2. He never discussed the seams and where they would be, He never showed me a plan or fabricated layout of how it would look. 3rd every keeps saying their seems are at the sink I do have seems at my sink also, that is why i think he used leftover pieces. the counter is cut in 4pieces. starting from middle of sink with small seem at top of and sink and at bottom and then another seem right before the corner turns when you go to the left and its cut is vertical, then from the seem from sink its cut again going to the right after you pass the corner and that seem is horizontal. im not a professional and im definitally not trying to be, however iv seen alot of examples and this is done poorly

4th if he had showed me prior i would have declined his work

What is the fabricator saying at this point? He is the professional and should have discussed these issues prior to even giving a quote. Most homeowners don't know the ins/outs of making a kitchen counter look perfect. Homeowners expect the professionals to educate them on the process and discuss options. His quote should have stated, to have imperfect seams and for counters to look horrible, the amount is this. And an alternate price to make your kitchen counters look perfect, the amount is this. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't want his counters installed in such a way. I would think he'd be embarrassed to leave a kitchen looking like this. Really sorry you're dealing with this. I sure hope you get the kitchen you expected.

Thankyou to everyone who gave advice, Honestly I can take the blame on not asking more specifics, but you cant ask about what you dont know. Im a visual and verbal so seeing things is what i go by, and discussion. like i said I visited my next door neihbor several times and the work was beautilful no seems except for at the sink, I know i have a different material but how would i know it would get cut different then hers and pieced together like he did with a vertical and horizontal cuts opposite of each other and its not a invisible seem at all because he paired the pattern flow in complete opposite directions. ☹️

What is the fabricator saying at this point? He is the professional,,,,,,

No, he's not. And that's why robandnet is having problems w/him.

If the fabricator was a pro and knew what we are all saying, he would have presented the templates showing all of the cuts to the homeowner.

something like this. See how the L shape should have been applied to your countertop?

This way you wouldn't have had a seam there, and the two pieces would be continual, not seamed together.

this is a bad match.

so is this one. horrible, especially since it looks like they had two slabs

another fantasy brown w/a cut like yours, but w/a worse match-up.

I will say though, he did a pretty good job of matching up the pattern on these two pieces.

This could have looked a lot worse:

However, this side? nope. he dropped the ball on this 'match-up"

obivously used a completely diff piece for the sink side.

a complete piece should have been used, (like this one) w/no cut in the corner

another full piece on the corner:

here's a good seam w/book matched slabs. Now THIS is a professional job. notice the curved seam too. A+

As you can see from all of these pictures, it can be done. Sorry you had a less than qualified fabricator.

Robandnet, were you working w/anyone else? a kitchen designer? a showroom sales person? I just find it hard to believe that you were made to purchase 5 slabs and not once did anyone show you any layout of where the seams or directional veining would be?

I'd have a sit down w/the fabricator or the person in charge of these countertops. show them this thread and these pictures.

check out this one too. basically explains the same thing covered here

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/5292191/help-needed-on-my-fantasy-brown-layout

Oh, I hope you go w/a tile splash since those 4" slab pieces they want to install as a backsplash will NOT match up w/the pattern.

(please don't do bothh)

At least they did a proper fabrication in the corner.

In some parts of the country, the customer doesn’t purchase by the slab; the purchase is by the square foot. That might be the case here and if so, it’s not the homeowner’s fault for not knowing how many slabs. However, that shouldn’t result in inferior work. The same templating, etc should be expected.

emily, she said she purchased 5 slabs. more than adequate not to have those mismatched corners. Someone dropped the ball. Not blaming the customer. Inferior work abounds.

Beth, He has a team of four who came out measured, Then we went to office and picked our sinks and stone, with the actual owner. we walked the yard and thats when I saw the fantasy brown. Im saying to everyone there were five slabs there on his yard. I took pics of the front slab and the sides for my own personal use to share with my family what i was excited to get. At no point at any time did the owner or his crew bring up how many I needed to buy, how many was needed for my square footage. He literally calculated how much it would cost me to get that stone in all the areas we discussed. The actuall owner came back out again did another exact measure prior to installalation. Then on another day the owner and the four many crew came snd the only template i watched them make was for a awkward tub counter in the master bathroom (They used this plastic stuff they laid around it ). Even at that time no one mentioned seems or cuts. No template was made in the kitchen that im aware of, I belive it was strictly from the owners second exact measuring during the second visit. Still at no time did he or the crew mention seems or cuts. This being my first kitchen counter reno, I didnt know those specifics to ask 🤦🏽‍♀️, However once again i would not pay $12,000 for that if i seen it like that in another kitchen. For those asking what owner is saying. He said the material is to fragile to cut in that large of a piece, 🤔 so i said to him can the vein pattern be at least in the same direction were the cut is, so the seem is less noticeable snd NOT opposite from first cut piece its laying next too. He didnt say no, but hasnt said yes either, He just said hes done this for 15years and im the first not happy customer 🤷🏽‍♀️, I do have another company thats willing to come out measure and give me a quote theyve seen the pics and said they can do one L cut piece 🤔 but there slab may have different varriations i have to come out and look. ill post the outcome.

He said the material is too fragile to cut in that large of a piece,

gosh, really? can't be done? So how were these all done?

Well, as you can clearly see, this material is not too fragile to be cut for a corner piece w/no seams! (scroll back up, I added more pics above) That's a lousy excuse for his poor workmanship. Or, maybe he just isn't knowledgeable.

Is that owner saying this portion of your countertop couldn't be cut like the one above? bringing in a diff piece on the OTHER side of the sink? Seriously?

Fantasy Brown is a dolomite. Does he know that? He's selling it to you as granite, but then saying it's too 'fragile'? Oh, you mean like marble? Which is exactly what it is. A Dolomitic marble. Did you know that? If he's telling you it's granite, and granite is hard, then why would it be too fragile to cut? Doesn't make sense. Unless he knows it's not granite but in reality, a marble.

So it's fine that marble countertops are cut in the manner I'm suggesting all the time, but this particular dolomite can't do that? BS. He's feeding you a line of bull.

At no point did they bring up how much material you would need?? That seems a bit sketchy to me. A customer should be informed of how big the area is (combined) , how much sq ft is covered in one slab, and how many slabs will be needed. (BTW, were you given any of the remnant pieces that were left over? lemme guess, they're saying you had none? maybe they want to double dip and sell your leftovers to someone else)

In any case, the owner is wrong, mistaken, ignorant or just lying. I don't know which.

Show him what everyone in this post is saying. (especially my comments)

There is no reason why you can't have those two L shape corners w/either matching patterns, OR no seaming. (you'd have to have a seam elsewhere, but hopefully it would be in a less noticeable area)

Look at this beautiful corner fabrication. Maybe he couldn't do this because he doesn't know how, or he'd rather gouge you for more material.

Here's a nice full L shape countertop. apparently "not too fragile"

https://granitecountertopschicago.com/portfolio-items/fantasy-brown-granite-chicago/

and if you need two pieces, then at least do the two like this. what a beautiful match up:

these are book-matched slabs. maybe he didn't have these, but he should have informed you

another angle

Tell the owner I can keep uploading tons of properly cut Fantasy Brown countertops that don't have mismatched patterns in the corners. Would he like to see all of them? Maybe he should get in touch w/those fabricators/owers to find out how it's done.

Since you bought five slabs, The kitchen should have been a priority. The bathroom pieces are much smaller and wouldn't have the same match-up concerns like a kitchen countertop. Since you bought 5 slabs, he should have gone over the options w/you so that your cuts/seams/corners/diff directions would have all been covered.

That's HIS error, not yours.

I know she said they had five slabs, but she doesn’t know how many she bought and there are (probably) no remnants that she owns because (I’m thinking) she did not buy the slab.
Really hope they fix it at no additional cost.

The fabricator is feeding you a line of BS. Stand your ground.

Some of the pros on here who always blame the customer (Joseph Cornett, Barbara Colwell) are really really annoying.

That should say Joseph Corlett. Autocorrect is also annoying.

So since Im visual, I attempted to show the contractor what i meant when I say if theres going to be a cut/seam how it should match up, i took a broken piece laid it top of counter the way the pattern should look in my opinion heres a photo of what i did

the veins flow on the broken piece and thats how it should flow

That you had to show him that explains a lot. Show him this post. Or at least show him @Beth H. :'s posts and pictures showing it can be done.

You should not have that many seams. I didn’t realize they had one at the sink too!

You either chose the corner seam or the sink. Not both!

Tell the owner that you have spoken to another installer and they have no issue what so ever installing Fantasy Brown in a U-shape kitchen without seaming in the corners.

If he continues to stick with the same lame excuse that he cannot install it the way you asked for because it is “too fragile”, then show him all the photos that Beth posted above.

Say something like,

”Well, I want my countertops to look beautiful and professionally installed like all of these photos.

I am very sorry if you feel that you are incapable of installing this particular stone in an esthetically pleasing way.

I guess you will need to remove the countertops and refund my deposit. No hard feelings.”

@Creative Cabinets said, "A prefab counter purchased by the square foot from a discount supplier has different fabrication standards than one purchased from a premier fabricator who purchases whole slabs for the job."

Everyone in my area does counters by the square foot. We replaced counters a couple of years ago and looked at more than a dozen different places and no one sold slabs. Most didn't know why they did business that way, it was just the way the business works.

The owner that was the most candid with me said, storing, handling, moving, fabricating, and installing someone else's property in an industrial shop is a recipe for problems. There is no real difference to the customer and no real difference to his profit, so why not just do it that way.

I am not advocating for either model, I am just noting that what may be a quality indicator in one area isn't necessarily a quality indicator in another area.

The fabricator is handing you a line of BS.

Like others said, show him the pics Beth posted.

Gee, Jennifer Hogan, who said I was a man? Silly you! You jumped to a conclusion without facts. I am speaking from three decades of experience, in people’s homes. I am happy you have an important job, better than the business I owned and the men and women I employed. How insulting.

@remodeling1840 - Sorry if I offended, but your comment " I cannot tell you how many times the wife would stand in the main bathroom with me and insist she only needed mirrors “this high”. When I would tell her I couldn’t see the top of my head and asked how tall her husband was-and she would say he was 6’2”! This was always followed by her telling me he had always complained in their previous bathrooms! And we would install taller mirrors! " reeks of "Kick Like a Girl".

We have enough male contractors that don't respect women, talk down to them and act like the women don't have a brain in their heads. If you are a woman, it is even worse that you are perpetuating this kind of stereotyping.

I wonder if this fabricator would ever try to tell a man that the countertop was too fragile to cut the way it was supposed to be cut or tell her it wasn't a large enough slab when it was the same size as her neighbors. He is treating her like she isn't smart enough to know better.

robandnet,,,I posted a very long comment w/lots of pics and info, just above your last comment. Did you even see it? Doesn't look like you're bothering to read anything that's been written lately.

if you take the time to read it and show it to your stone guy, I think you'll have your answers. and so will he.

I understand what you're saying, and I tried to explain how you get that matchup. If he's cutting and piecing diff areas of the slab, you're not going to get a matchup. He did give you one decent one, but not the other.

**slabs are grouped together, usually. In that case they're cut from the same block. If you bought 5 of these and they were leaning against one another, they're from the same 'rock'. If they were purchased at diff locales, then they prob were not**

I don’t fabricate stories about my real world experiences in construction. These are examples drawn from my own experience with customers, men and women, who have not thought through the consequences of their choices. I am trying to convince subs and contractors to educate the customers. People need to be taught the questions to ask. I also did not appreciate your attitude about men who hang mirrors. There is nothing wrong with working with your hands, sweating in 96 degree heat or shivering in 26 degree cold to fix things, to build! To solve problems, to make things stronger and useful. My men who actually did hang the mirrors also built schools and churches, stores and house and banks—and we were all of us proud of our work. I am proud that even after the business was sold, those men are still working, using their hands, to build and support their families. For the record, I was a proud member of NAWIC, National Association of Women in Construction.

Just hearing the words "the wife" makes me grrrrrrrrr. At least he didn't say "the little wife". Thems fightin' words. Meanwhile, the wife is funding the entire project.

I have fantasy brown and have no seams.

@JenniferHogan— you totally missed the point of the anecdote and went nuclear for no reason. The point was the contractor or craftsman has a duty to explain what can and cannot be done to save the customer from a disaster. As a short woman, it sounds like a mistake I would have made frankly. My husband and I always argue about the height of hangings. It could have easily been a husband wanting a mirror hung too high for his wife’s needs. Except I am guessing most of the time, the wife of a married couple was the one communicating decor to the contractor.

A husband calling his wife “the wife” instead of “My wife” is insulting. A person telling a story about two people and specifying one was the wife and the other was the husband is not being insulting.

Laura:

You and bry911 need to get a better handle on your qualifiers. No one fights more consistently for homeowners than I do as my written record here demonstrates overwhelmingly.

I have offered to fairly criticize this fabricator, but that isn’t possible without the dimensioned drawings and material sizes that have not been forthcoming.

You and bry911 need to get a better handle on your qualifiers.

I will point out that you are still limited by your biases, which do occasionally show, just as mine do. You tend to look at what can be done while ignoring what the contractor agreed to do.

For example, you note, "I have offered to fairly criticize this fabricator, but that isn’t possible without the dimensioned drawings and material sizes that have not been forthcoming." It really isn't difficult to criticize the contractor without knowing the dimensions. The OP notes, that they specified the contractor, do the job exactly how the contractor did the neighbor's, and he didn't. Whether or not it can be done is immaterial to the question of whether or not it was done as agreed.

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So this is not a failure to "set expectations." A generous assessment of this problem is that the contractor made a mistake by forgetting what was agreed to. A less generous assessment is that the fabricator knew it couldn't be done, or was never planning on trying, when the job was accepted and this is nothing more than fraud.

Preaching to the choir, Jennifer. However, You don’t know me or the other commenter. You have zero knowledge of our views or experiences. The bold italicized words are your own and no one else’s.

Finally! Someone has explained to me about women in construction! Statistics! Wow! After three decades in construction, I don’t need a lecture from anyone about the workplace. One of the business courses I took at a major university was heavily into “studies” and “statistics”. The professor was emphasizing unimportant factors about business, so I asked about her experience. She had one summer on assembly line work when she was in college! At that point, I had about twenty years experience in construction. This professor of business had essentially no business experience! But, boy, could she quote statistics!
Those conversations I originally used were real. Is it my fault they didn’t see the problem? I didn’t make these women look bad-they just hadn’t realized there was another perspective.
Parity with men? Maybe if women just did the job instead of whining about how unfair life is, stopped looking for discrimination instead of looking for ways to make the company more profitable, businesses would thrive. Or buy your own company, set your own rules-and your own salary!

As a stone installing professional- he should have told you the challenges of working with that busy stone vs the forgiving pattern at your neighbors and given you options. lines going multiple ways $X or lines all working together $XX. It's not that hard.

A simple thing for someone who is industry knowledgable to do to avoid this kind of disappointment.

It's his fail, not yours.

@robandnet hamilton I know it is hard weeding through these comments that have nothing to do with your issue, but I do hope you come back and give us an update on your situation. Good luck!

These posts pop up all the time here. Who is responsible for not meeting my expectations? What kind of compensation should I expect? Can I demand they redo it?

The bottom line is you are not buying a widget off a shelf. Home remodeling is a series of MANY decisions to get to your own personal point of satisfaction. To you it seems obvious how to "correct" the layout. But to others, they would not like the grain running lengthwise on one wall and widthwise on the other. With custom, there are many "rights".

I believe a qualified pro should have offered you a template or a review of your options. But it's unfortunately not industry standard and anyone else reading these posts should always remember to confirm the details up front.

At this point, I suggest the OP try to work in cooperation with the fabricator. You said you were willing to purchase more material to get the look you wanted, so offer to do that and ask if the fabricator would be willing to comp the install. Best of luck.

This is tragic for you and I am sorry the thread has turned into a personal battle field. I think the best resolve, do your own research. Bring in another installer and show them, ask what can be done to resolve it in their eyes.

The one thin I have learned on houzz is make sure to go over the counter top install and layout, seems this happens a lot with this topic. So, you are not alone here. maybe read some other threads to find a resolve.

As to your husband, he knows you lol. He should have just said, please do not install this today.

To you it seems obvious how to "correct" the layout. But to others, they would not like the grain running lengthwise on one wall and widthwise on the other.

I am one of the others who do not like the lengthwise on one wall and crosswise on the other. Which is what you get if the L is short enough to get a seamless corner. And why I would avoid a stripy stone on L-shaped counters. It hardly ever turns out looking good.

You can't just go out & fall in love with a slab and ignore how the pattern will work in your kitchen. Or select an assertively patterned stone and leave the design decisions soley to the fabricator. Save those linear movement stones for islands and galleys where they can be Cinderellas. Chopped up around corners, they too often end up being the step-sisters. And insist on being involved with the layout before the stone is cut.

The fabricator cannot see the picture that is in you head. Only by being an active participant in will you know if that picture in your mind can be realized in real life--and understand why it can't be, if that is the case.

Robandnet - You’ve chosen such a gorgeous stone, but yes, it does have installation challenges. I agree with you - you don’t know what you don’t know. I’m so sorry this is such a big problem for you and I hope something can be worked out. Best to you!

Forgive me if my suggestion is ignorant or previously suggested…can’t the return slab be turned around?

Teena, no. It's already been cut for that position.

I am a fabricator; a little late to the party on this thread. However, I want to note the discussion regarding "how many slabs she bought" is irrelevant. The fabricator estimates the job and builds the material cost into the price. When estimating jobs in a material with a lot of movement (whirls, swirls, and seams of different colors) a minimally competent fabricator must address the issue of grain transitions at seams and the material required to make seams with grain transitions acceptable to the customer. Sometimes additional material is required to produce seams with acceptable grain transition and then the price is higher. There are imaging software tools available to fabricators that allow the fabricator to show the customer exactly what the seams will look like before anything is cut. Even without the software this can be done by photographing the slabs and then cutting and pasting cutouts of the countertop pieces. I learned to manage this issue proactively very shortly after starting my fab business and replacing a few jobs because the customer rejected the grain transitions. my 2 cents. maybe 5 cents on this one.

Granite City, I have a busy quartzite and that's exactly how mine was done. The fabricator showed me with her computer exactly how it would lay out. And we figured out what part of the quartzite we wanted featured on the seated edge of the island.