I am actually considering a few of your choices for quartz countertops. I am considering the Zodiac (Okite) Bianco Carrara and the Silestone Bianco River. I know that if you call the Okite distributer in Texas they will send you a 12X12 sample of the Bianco Carrara. It is helpful to see a larger sample and you can always use it for a cutting board later! I really, REALLY want marble but my husband is not going for it. He says that since I got to choose the cabinet color (black milkpaint...he wanted off white) that he gets to choose the countertop material. I am still not sure if he is bluffing or not! If I do have to choose quartz I think I may go with the Okite. It seems to have a marble-esq appearence. At least through my tears and a few glasses of wine it might! Please let me know what info you find and what you ultimately decide. Good Luck!!

Your counters are lovely. And I suspect in time, it will become less of an issue for you. We have two seams in our kitchen - one in the location like yours...it's flawless. Sadly, it's the one that doesn't show up as much when you look across the kitchen. Our fabricator said that they don't like to do the corner seams because there's more area for issues lining up and that it typically shows more. It's what I was used to with formica countertops, so it wouldn't have occurred to me that they would do it differently until I started hanging out here and seeing how most seams are put in. I wish that our 2nd seam would have been as perfect as our first seam, but it's not. In terms of being level and tight, it is quite good, but the match leaves a lot to be desired. They didn't do the computer line up option (I wish that they did - there was only one fabricator in our area that did and I was leery about using them due to other possible issues that some people mentioned). All in all, I'm not sure that I would pursue it further - sometimes we wind up works off than we started. Regardless, good luck.

Blue222q: thank you for the compliment on the kitchen! I made a mistake in my measurements because we went through a few modifications on the island and I wasn't reading the most recent modifications when I posted the measurements. The wood counters are 24 1/2 inches each, and the quartz is 78 1/2 inches, giving a total of 127 inches. I love the wood counters. I have a lot of counter space around the perimeter of my kitchen (which is the same quartz as the island) and it really needed something to break up all the white marble looking quartz. Plus I have grayish marble floor tiles. The wood adds warmth to it and I really like the 2 surfaces. I have only had it for a few weeks now but I absolutely am grateful my kitchen designer thought of the wood. It is raised a little above the quartz which I suggest as well. So the wood is not flush with the quartz, intentionally. I could have gone with a thicker wood but for every inch you add on a wood counter, the cost really goes up and I didn't think I really needed a thicker piece of wood. The quartz was put down first in the middle of the island and then the wood on the ends. So the wood is not sitting on top of the quartz. The guys that put in the quartz, ran white caulk(I think that is what it is) on the seam where the wood meets up with the quartz. You don't notice it at all. I'm assuming the wood counter is glued onto the cabinets in the island but I wasn't around when the wood was installed. The book match is good and I'm assuming the more pattern your quartz has, the more you can hide the seam. I don't have a lot of pattern and you do see a very slight line that runs horizontal in the middle of the quartz. You really don't notice it. I'll have to take more photos for you to see it.

The columns won’t stand up and be stable by themselves. They need to be attached to each other, and to the island cabinets, with stretcher bars. If you use 3/4”x3” wood stock vertically, and put in a few cross pieces in between, like a ladder, to create a gridwork system, then that should be fine for support. The critical connections will the the ones where the stretchers attach to the cabinets, and each other. Glue and screw with pocket screws into something substantial enough, and it should work. The trouble is, that cabinet side does not look substantial enough and may need interior reinforcement for any type of support to work. Are no decorative door panels planned for the sides? I would have liked to have seen that been integrated into the cabinet build. It would be more aesthetically appropriate and much stronger. At this point, it may need an applied piece of plywood to the interior, glued and pinned. That will give enough meat for attachment, and be stronger against buckling. And you need blocking at the toe, directly under that, to transfer the load to the floor. The cabinets, and the posts, also need secure attachments to the floor. Not just gravity.