We have somewhere around 140 sf of granite in the kitchen; big kitchen with big island plus a buffet separating kitchen and family room. So the $14k price from the second place is about $100/sf (for both material and install). This is a quote for the exact type of granite we chose - we went to yards to look at various slabs and chose the Blue Eyes as the one we liked the look of best. Then our GC sent out the dimensions of our requirements to the two shops for quotes for our specific requirements. From what I have seen/read the Blue Eyes is on the expensive side, it reads more as a gray with blue highlights than blue, but it does have the blue which I guess adds to the expense. But DH is in love with it... The Costa Esmerelda slabs are cheaper - $8500 installed for 4 slabs. I think we're about 110 sf there (quote includes slab granite for shower walls in addition to counter and tub) so about $77 per square foot. I think what we've chosen is on the more expensive side for granite; funny how it seems to work out that way. Original allowances from our contractor were $10k for kitchen and $4k for bath, so we're over that (bath one was for granite countertop and tile shower, but I'm really leaning towards the granite for both and no grout!)

firsthouse - can you link me to your pic? I've searched using all different keywords and can't find it. davidrol - do you also have a pic? I'd love to see how yours turned out. I'm doing side panels on either end of an island with an overhang.

Thanks for the replies. They're helping me rethink this. I suspect, as practigal suggests, that he means some other type of material. Otherwise, yes, the overhang would be overly heavy. And thank you for the picture, javiwa. I didn't realize that the counter would extend out so far because of the application of the lamination. Not sure it appeals to me for our kitchen. In the baths, I will deal with it because I need 2 cm for the backsplashes. A point regarding cost: we got bids from three different kitchen remodeling companies. With each, I discussed the cost of 3 cm vs. 2 cm plus the additional work effort for fabrication, suggesting a trade off. In each case, I was told that the fabrication costs are the same regardless of the thickness of the granite. Doesn't quite seem right but there was no flexibility in that area Ultimately, the point might be moot depending on what is available in the granite that we choose. Thank you all for your contributions to the discussion.

Thanks for the picture. I think that's probably pretty close to what it would look like. It will not have laminated edges. We would just keep the current trim. One concern I do have is that our current tile countertop already sits up a bit higher than our slide in range which is annoying. And this would only make it worse. As for the sink, the fabricator said that undermount isn't a problem and explained how they would do it, but I didn't really understand what he meant. I did pop off a piece of trim on the side and a couple of tiles on an edge that is somewhat hidden to see if I could get a better idea of how the current top is attached and I think it may be glued unless there are some nails hidden in there that I can't see. The trim is nailed directly into the cabinets and the top inch or so of the cabinet is not stained.