Will be interested in others' responses. Sorry I have no experience here, BUT, I've thought myself about the same problem, and depending on the placement of the crack, have thought it might be possible to celebrate it, rather than trying to hide it...something like filling it with molten copper, and then polishing it smooth... Just an idea. The slab is gorgeous, so it's easy to see why you would try hard to make it work.

This sounds jaded, but would you buy a house with a crack in the foundation? My granite has an unusual blemish, but I love it for its quirkiness. Suppose you go for it and one of the slabs gets more damage in the transport or while fabricating it?Then you are weeks waiting for another slab that MIGHT match. Can you go to another stone yard and see if they have the same stone. I'd take a day trip to another town if I thought they had what I wanted- without cracks. One last thought, is it the nature of this stone to crack... Not so great then.

The slab has a lot of pits and imperfections that have been filled. I think that's the price you pay with super veiny and multicolored granite.

They have two lots of this stone, and I have googled it. It is typically reddish brown. This with the blue is very unique.

Anything else similar (like Blue Louise) is $150-$200/sq ft cut and installed here. This one is around $115/sq ft (closer to our price point).

The same corner on a few of the slabs is missing a corner and someone tried to put together with putty. The crane operator guy said that the corners on the complete slabs are "probably waiting to fall off" but he was pretty rough with them and nothing happened.

The sink is very long (36") and so that's a consideration.

The fabricator said on Friday she worried about transport but we ran out of day before we could ask her what guarantees or recourse we had if it broke.

There are 4-5 yards here with slabs and 4-5 fabricators locally. Lots of choice. Like with any art piece, when you fall in love all bets are off.

We have a designer and this granite flips the kitchen design - we would simplify to white inset cabinets throughout. We would use 3 slabs and have them cut the dark green for the perimeter, green to blue for the island, and blue for the bar area so it would fade across the room.

It would be pretty spectacular but if I had the equivalent of a big jagged seam running across my island it would kill me inside.

Just for fun I've included my first choice (but my wife's second). It's a quartzite, similar to Maracaubus but very green and rust colored. It didn't scratch with a razor or key ring which was good.

You should maybe post your questions, concerns at the Stone Fabricators Alliance Forum link below...

http://forum.stonefabricatorsalliance.com/viewforum.php?f=3

They have a lot of experience in the stone industry on that site. Maybe you can garner some useful information there that might be helpful.

Being a stone slab fabricator myself for over 34 years I would say that you should

pick a stone fabricator like us who has experience in working with more than just

granite as if you can work with a very fragile marble, or onyx which ANY stone

fabrication specialist with extensive experience would not even think twice

about working on. They would tell you what to expect and be able to work

with a cracked or broken slab. I have personally worked with literally THOUSANDS

of cracked, broken, filled slabs of all types of stone and unless you

knew, or were told where the flaw WAS you wouldn't know that there

was ever anything amiss with the stone, AND you wouldn't have

to worry about anything bad happening in the future as a really

experienced fabrication specialist/installer would do everything necessary

to give you a worry free finished product.

You can look up the "SFA" if you feel the need to hear the advise of people

who mostly have a lot of "book learning (internet?)" and little hands on skills.

Call around and find someone who has been doing this for a LONG time

and you will probably pay more, but you will get what you are actually

paying for- A good job, done well by someone who knows what they are doing

and cares about their work- not just the bottom line. In the Portland area there only really are a few of us who have been around a LONG time among the myriad of "fabricators".

Thank you.

Peter Rigutto

Pres. CM Marble inc (Classico Marmo).

Most places I know as well as most fabricators I know, when you buying a damaged slab and want them to make a top for you, they will make you sign a liability waiver form that they will not be responsible if that slab breaks during transport, fabrication or installation.

With that said, if that slab is cracked down the middle, especially on the slab with a busy pattern, you could have internal fractions which you cannot see, therefore when you go to cut the slab, that slab could crack even more.

I have a feeling that your wife fell in love with that particular slab is because someone told her there is a chance we can get your countertop out of that slab and you can score a damaged slab for next to nothing... because distributors are happy to get rid of them and they give them out or sells them (depends on the slab size and extent of damage) for practically nothing to the fabricators, and contractors so they don't have to stockpile them in their own yard.

Good luck

It is true that most slab fabricators would have a waiver signed, but some experienced fabricators would let you know that there would be additional costs

for the fabrication of a fragile stone and give you an estimate of what the potential extra costs would be with the chance that the estimated extra cost could go up or down depending on how much time it takes to do the work.

If you really want the particular slab- do some serious homework before

deciding on a particular fabricator. Find someone who is really qualified

to work on such a stone, and has worked on like projects. Luck should have little to do with your job being done correctly.