thank you itsourcasa. The over hang will be typical 15”. I am concerned that adhesive is not enough support.

What are the dimensions of your island? Maybe someone can weigh in if it needs support or not based on that.

To see the quartz in full slab, I asked the fabricators where they were sourcing the quartz. (And in one case called a manufacturer's headquarters to ask where their closest warehouse was.) Then I went to those warehouse locations and toured the rows of slabs. Often such warehouses are regional, so you may need to travel to get to them. I called ahead to get an appointment, had to wear a bright orange vest, be with an employee at all times, and no children are allowed, as it is a working area with active forklifts, etc.

Most people don't go to such efforts to see full slabs of quartz, but I found the warehouses to be very accommodating of those who do want to see them. Each brand had its own warehouse, so you likely won't be able to see different brands of quartz slabs all at one site. (At least in my area, this was not possible.)

The warehouse locations were not the ones to give pricing and design plans, they simply sell slabs to fabricators who do do the pricing and design plans. So, visiting a warehouse of quartz slabs was more like a museum experience, than a shopping experience. For me, it helped a lot to see the quartz in full slab. My favorite 4"x4" quartz sample was nauseatingly busy at the slab scale, so I was able to choose a quartz with less movement in its design instead -- which was a great save!

We have supports under our quartz overhang, and I think I recall our fabricator saying anything over 12" needs support. (But I might be misremembering the length.)

We had similar concerns about an under-mounted sink, so we over-mounted ours. This decision might be currently unpopular, but we LOVE it!! Our sink, from Elkay's Crosstown series, can be mounted either way: https://bit.ly/2vak50m .

Some stoners swear by Black Mamba, but I haven't got the nerve to not use a mechanical fastening strap system.

itsourcasa--

Yours sounds like a good experience, Where in FLA are you? We're in SW Gulf coast area.

I went to the Cambria distributor to view the full slabs, although they couldn't quote me prices. It was very helpful to see the patterns. Found out they couldn't (or wouldn't) cover our island without a seam. After sticker shock, we went with granite and love it. We looked at the slabs at granite fabricator who could give us prices.

pittsburito, what did you choose? Post a picture, please?

@julieste it was, now the waiting for installation is the hard part!! We love visiting captiva. We're in south east florida, palm beach area.

zaccaii, I can't tell if you are asking about what quartz or what Elkay sink we chose?

Quartz:

We chose Hanstone Specchio White.

I had previously wanted Cambria's Montgomery -- until I saw it slab size! Specchio White contains the blue-green element we were aiming for, but presented in a MUCH calmer way. Seeing full slabs really helped us make our quartz choice!

Cambria Montgomery:

https://tilemarketofde.com/images/detailed/3/Montgomery_Cover.JPG

Hanstone Specchio White: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/7f/c3/c6/7fc3c62d932c9bce13b0eebae0694d7a.jpg

Sink:

We chose Elkay Crosstown Double-Bowl Aqua Divide, which looks just like the one I linked in my post above.

I'm not super tech savvy, and do not know how to post personal photos to Houzz (rather than links to online images), but will try to figure it out and post some, if I can.

Thanks!! yes the quartz!

Even if you don’t pick your exact slab, it’s well worth going to a warehouse where you can view them because it does indeed look different in large scale than it does in a 4x4. I went to the warehouses (looked at Cambria, Silestone and MSI) to narrow down the selection, then brought home samples so I could see them in our lighting with our cabinet door samples.

@joseph. excuse my ignorance. i was told they anchor or somehow strap the sink to the counter for 24hrs. Then it is removed, sink will remain or held in place with the adhesive/ glue. Is this the correct way. I thought it has to be strapped indefinitely.

I looked at the small samples and hated everything. Then I went somewhere to look at sinks and they had the 1 foot samples which were much better. I liked a few, but then went to look at full slabs and changed my mind again. If you have a fabricator near you, do yourself a favor and go look at the full slabs. It there is any pattern, even the larger samples don't really capture it.

t

Love:

I'm not going to say the new adhesives alone are incorrect. I'm saying I've been strapping sinks for a decade or so with virtually no callbacks; I'm not going to stop.

I did the quartz on my island a year after i did the perimeter and they match and also match the sample. However, If I had just seen the sample, I would have thought it was too busy. There happened to be a kitchen display with the quartz and I loved it on the display. There are some aspects of the design that I could not see on the 4 x 4. This would have bothered me if i had not seen the larger piece.

I would say that quartz has little variation form slab to slab, much less than granite, but I do think seeing a large piece is important. You may be able to order a larger sample or ask if a new home for sale has the countertop - then you could view it in a house. You can also check pictures online. Sometimes a person will post a design dilemma asking for pictures of a particular counter.