hi needsometips - The golden beaches is beautiful and I can't imagine tiring of looking at that each day. Whoever put those cabinet doors next to the granite will have a nice combo. It would be helpful to see YOUR doors next to it. (will you have two different finishes on your cabinets?) I know what you're going through. We started with quartz and several months later switched to granite because we saw the granite in a mock kitchen and kept wishing we had picked that. A month or two after we picked it, I started worrying that it would have a pinkish hue to it and started to entertain thoughts of changing it. I was still holding my breath on how it would look up until the moment they put the first piece on top of the cabinets. Whew - I was relieved to see it was beautiful - no pink hue. Not once since the granite was installed did I wish we had gone with the quartz. So, at some point you have to trust your decision - especially if both of you agreed on the granite choice. And, there is no limit on your "free passes" to change your mind. This is your project and you should be able to change your mind until you're satisfied. However,keep in mind that sometimes changing your mind late in the game will cost you more. My experience has been that the contractors and other businesses had no problems with a change when it involved an upgrade from the previous choice. (Ouchh - the wallet takes another hit!)

"I would definitely complain to your fabricator. This doesn't appear to be something that can easily be "fixed." Don't worry about being a problem client. You paid $$ and didn't get what you should have gotten and what you expected. This is their problem, not yours. Good luck!!" Thanks chris45ny~ That's what I was thinking too, however they sent out someone I have never even seen or spoken to before to look at the counters and she was poo pooing the whole thing and saying "Well this is a natural product it is in the nature of the stone to have these variances..." I said , "Well Absolute black is pretty uniform in every piece I have seen and I don't think the person laying out the template did it correctly, they should have avoided the gray area and not placed it front and center of my sink." She was trying to see "What I wanted to get." I said "I want it to look right, period." She was then going to go back and talk to the boss and let me know what would happen... Meanwhile they wanted me to sign a paper that said everything had been delivered and was in fine condition which I said I would not sign. I am sitting now with a sink that is not hooked up, a dishwasher that is not hooked up all because I am waiting for them to decide what they are going to do! Since last Friday... Any more advice??? Thanks again

I'm assuming your seating counter is counter-height... If the deepest the arch can be is 15", then I recommend a straight/rectangular edge. An arch with only 15" in the middle means shallow sides...so while the middle person will have enough overhang/clear knee space, anyone else will be cramped. To know for certain... How wide is your island? What is the degree of curvature you're planning? Both of these will determine the amount of overhang you will have in real life. How wide is the aisle behind the seats? Is there anything behind the seats (counter, appliance, etc.)? One other thing...in your overhang calculation, are you taking into consideration the 3/4" to 1" decorative door panels or finished end panel that will probably be installed on the back of your cabinets? If not, then your overhang is approx 14", not 15". If, OTOH, your seating is bar-height, then you might be OK.

Pllog, Well, we are in both in CA, as some would say! ;) I do agree with your comment about granite being the standard because of its perception as being a luxury item. FrmrsDghtr, WOW!!! Love what you were able to do!!! RosySunnyGal, Our counters are Floating Blue which is a mostly turquoise in white cement matrix color. We were able to pick our slabs at the factory when it was still here in the Bay Area years ago. We have several KDs in our area that had samples of Vetrazzo, Icestone and Fuez to look over. IF you are looking for the wow factor, these will do it. With that in mind, I do recommend that you really like your countertop color because it is a very prominent part of your kitchen. They also aren't cheap and I highly recommend that your installer be someone who knows how to work with this material. Our installation fabricators claimed they did and we had multiple problems with them that we finally had to hire a second company to fix. We looked at all of the green countertop materials, and this was the one that my DH and I were able to agree on despite the price. BTW, I don't include quartz or C-stone in this category. I do recommend that you do an online search for recycled glass companies because there are several others besides the three I mention above. The ones that I have ran across are: Gilasi in the Chicago area, Urbanslabs in SoCal, Vetrazzo is now in the Atlanta area, and more that I have seen around the US. I do recommend if you can using one that is near you because of the weight and shipping cost of the slabs. If you are interested in knowing more or seeing some pictures of my counters, please, PM me.