MSI in Elk Grove Village is a very large location for what may be the largest importer in the US.

Here is a link that might be useful: MSI

Thanks, calforniagirl; today was my 2nd trip there. Huge selection. Surprisingly, no 3cm honed carrara. Very interesting display in lobby.

After looking at 3 stone yards, I found the perfect granite slabs for my kitchen at Universal Granite and Marble in the Milwaukee area. Universal Granite was one of the suppliers recommended by the fabricator we were using. They were very accommodating when I was looking at their slabs. Universal Granite has several other locations including one in the Chicago area. Their inventory here was huge so I assume their Chicago location would be as big or better. Their website shows 3cm Carrara at the Chicago stone yard but I don't know if it is honed or not.
Good luck in your search

I looked at their website again and they show these two 3 cm slabs as honed

Here is a link that might be useful: Stone yard

This post was edited by badgergal on Sat, May 24, 14 at 11:19

Have you tried Sprovieri in Addison? They did our our cambria torquay countertops and tabletop and we are very happy. but they also do granite and marble.

You didn't say you want marble!

3 cm marbles may take time to get -- let all the biggies mentioned and any smaller shops that carry marble know what you are looking for and leave your contact info with each. Then keep in touch. Dal-tile in Elk Grove had carrara when we were shopping. We got 3 cm calacatta for our master bath at MSI, but most slabs had been ticketed by area designers.

Thanks badgergal, will try Universal on Tuesday.

Romy - went to T&M twice; really dislike how they require a sales person to walk with you through the slabs, "it's for your safety," had to wait 40 minutes just to look at slabs and was annoyed having to listen to their chatter while trying to look at stones. Nice showroom & choices; unfortunately, I really don't want to buy from a place that makes me feel like a 5 year old. Thank you for the Damar, MGSI, and Stone City recomendations, they are going on my list for Tuesday!

Thanks Anne for the Sprovieri in Addidson recomendation. Wonder if I can get to 5 places on Tuesday. :)

Thanks californiagirl, DalTile has a carrara that is on my list of finalists. They also just added more tile displays, withe some fun looking tile.

Thanks everyone, will now work on my travel route for Tuesday!

Mdln, I agree about the sales people at T&M in Wheeling. There was one woman & one guy that were friendly & helpful, maybe Laura? They did let me wander around in Chicago but it was a small showroom.
Stone City was a similar experience. I didn't care for Stone City-very pushy.
Another couple of places that Niffy recommended but I never made it to:
Stone Gallery International in Itasca
Stone Design in Glendale Heights
Also MGT Stone in Barrington. Call them because I believe their slabs are offsite. The Barrington showroom has cabinets, flooring, tile & fabricated countertops.
Marble Tech in Crystal Lake.
MGSI has an amazing selection. I was looking for Danby, which they don't carry.
Good luck & take some pics for us.
Edit:Typo

This post was edited by romy718 on Sun, May 25, 14 at 1:09

3 years ago, I got Danby but cannot remember if from Wheeling or Northbrook. I am sorry I didn't get quartz. I won't be back in Illinois for a while so I can't look it up. I think I went to every stone place and it took 3 months for me to decide.

I was underwhelmed with my fabricator,too. It seemed he was too comfy with the stone yard but I cannot recall why that bothered me. I even got a letter of authentication, actually just the obriginal sales paper from Vermont to the stone yard. I wanted to make sure I was getting the real Vermont Danby, allegedly harder than other marbles. The whole process put me off.

Turns out that it etches like crazy but no stains. Chips, too. And we are pretty light use.

We just bought a new house in arizona and I will do another kitchen. Quartz or even laminate this time. Perhaps granite, but no marble.

Sorry I cannot remember where I purchased.

Ps. A small part of the slab, used for baking, is flawless. Not so the rest.

Thanks romy718 for the additional places!

Westsider40 - this fabricator & stone yard relationship is annoying. Don't understand why pricing cannot be more transparent. I get it that you need to buy the stone and the fabricator needs to do their thing, but just like buying kitchen cabinets there is so much wasted time going back & forth.