Did you know the underside of your countertops matter? I'm just putting it out there to maybe help another as ignorant as me. I've no doubt that to professionals, those in receipt of professional advice and work, and designers, this is like saying: 'did you know house framing matters' or some-such. But, I'm none of the above, I didn't and I've learned.

Here's what I've learned:

If you're going to have an overhang, either as a passthrough or eating bar or whatever, think about the underside. Perhaps ask for finished plywood as the roughtop. Consider whether you wish it to be visible or try to hide it with false pieces (I know there's a name for these and there have been threads about it too, with a fancy name I've forgotten). Consider how false fronts diminish seating space though (from that other thread).

Consider sight-lines. For example I can see the underside of our passthrough from my overhanging counter seating area. Not-great.

Here's the thing that really surprised me: How your edges end *underneath* the countertop. I asked for 1.5" edge overhang because I wanted to maximally protect my cabinets and maximize countertop acreage as well. I was upfront about this in all my bids. But it turns out the people I picked do what they do. So I had a fight on my hands when it came time to do what they did and I kind of lost in the functional-arena. They were opposed to providing the extra depth from their MO because there would be a 'blank' space between the counter edge and the rough top. Of course that didn't have to have been, they could have cut the rough top a little larger than usual, not strictly to the cabinet box' edge. Or they could have finagled the edge a little larger I think ... But they didn't think accommodatingly that way at all and I didn't know to instruct this.

Anyway, what resulted is a space between the rough top and the edge of the coutertop underneath that's rough rough rough. Kind of creepy and dirty and sharp-rough. Not good at all. What I didn't realize is how much this was coloring my bad feelings about the whole job. This is one of those you-didn't-know-you-used-that-muscle-until-it-gets-pulled things. Evidently one's fingertips go beneath the edge of a countertop many times per hour; they do for me at least and I just had no inkling.

So upon complaining about many things, most notably an especially rough patch underneath where there was a vein in the stone, my GC at first said 'well, it's not really such a big deal' and I corrected him saying I notice it *all* the time and so do visitors. So the GC instructed the countertop guys to fix it. What they did was just to sand the edge all along. And I'm writing just to note what an *enormous* difference in perception this makes to the entire whole job and kitchen. I repeat that I think one, at least I, actually finger the underside of a countertop several times an hour unknowingly. Having this smoothed is, I am finding, making the difference between cursing the poor workmanship several times per hour and feeling happy at the smooth, safe, not-dirty feeling there. I had not realized before-hand that this was the source of so much on-going discontent. It seemed comparatively trivial but I'm finding it to have been key. Who knew?

So in sum, if you want a 1.5" edge, depending on the cabinet boxes, the door fronts and their thickness and the habits of the roughtop-emplacing guys, you may need to finagle a blank space underneath. Talk about it first to minimize the impact. Sanding worked as an aftermarket fix, but best would have been for the roughtop to come to the actual edge of the countertop. And I think it should be standard practice to polish the edges of the overhang, but I don't know whether that is industry-standard. But it's something I recommend considering in initial discussions.

OK, so this probably falls in the _duh_ category, but I'm guessing I'm not the only complete-countertop-ignoramus out here and my experience might help another. It's wonderful that this stuff is archived.

G'luck!