I agree with justgotabme...if you are a pile person (I'm a pile person at work, but not at home)...cubbies and stackable trays are a great option to make the piles orderly. LOL! In my office at work, I have TWELVE stackable trays, stacked up on top of each other. The tray stack is somewhere between 3 & 4 feet tall, but I've got every tray labelled and I use them so much that I hardly have to look when I need to add to take out a stack of a particular category. I've duct-taped some of the trays together, and duct-taped some spots directly to the wall for support. It doesn't look pretty, but you get the general concept where you could build or buy trays or cubbies that look decent. Bottom line, it works. I still have my piles, and they are just all piled/sorted vertically. When a co-worker needs to get at my desk for something, my co-workers can rummage my piles and still not mess them up as long as the pile is returned to it's proper tray. At work with my piles, the key is to make sure each tray contains active paperwork that I need and use...and is not to be confused with something that should be in it's proper project binder or in a file cabinet somewhere. Before you build or invest in something more permanent, you could probably buy some cheap trays or creatively make some cubbies or trays out of cereal boxes around the house and experiment with it before you commit.

Not a plumber. I would call back the same granite company. They will likely take responsibility and redo it. (They have the grinding and sanding tools necessary prep the surfaces again).

I'm sorry to bother you again, but can you upload more pictures of the surrounding area so I can understand why the couch must go there because it seems to have been intended to be used as a breakfast bar. From what I can see so far, the quickest fix is to lower the breakfast bar counter to the same level as the bench with the sink on it. This way when you sit on the couch the bench will be lower than the couch so there is no way for anyones head to hit it.

My immediate thought is soapstone for this project. It can have the look and feel of having been there forever and is hearty enough to withstand almost anything you do to it or put on it. As an added bonus I think it would look spectacular with your cabinet choice. Of course other elements have to work with it as well. Your overall style, your flooring choice, window and trim styles etc. Here is a link to some colours available and note that they show both the natural colour and after it has been treated with oil. Both treated and untreated are foodsafe - it is a matter of preference. And here are some samples of soapstone with dark green cupboards so you might get an idea of how it would look in your space. Personally if I was choosing soapstone I'd put it everywhere, on the perimeter and the island. However, if you want to coordinate a different colour for the island maybe consider the soapstone for the island as a "centrepiece" star of the show and something else on the perimeter cabinets. Could be a white quartz type product or granite in a light colour with veining in a colour to coordinate with the soapstone.