It's all the same stuff, no matter where you purchase it. The big boxes have such leverage over the manufacturers that they can order exclusive products and colors/movement/particulates. There are certain Corian bowls that DuPont only sells through Home Depot. Buy it there or go without. Some dealers may offer an enhanced warranty. Your cabinet guys won't be able to compete on price against a big box; the big boxes have made sure of that.

Thank you!

The installers are certified by Cambria though, correct? Does Cambria provide their normal warranty or does HD provide it? I want to support small business, but HD has some great designs and pricing

I bought from HD and they were about 20% less than the local Cambria store. The Cambria shop will be the ones doing the fab and install so the rep said definitely buy from HD since the price was so much cheaper. Basically you’re just buying the material from HD. Cambria offers the warranty. From what I understand installers must be certified by Cambria.

My experience was that if I bought my Cambria through HD I wouldn’t be able to specify my installer. For my kitchen project I was working with GC who was ok with my using an ’outside’ his network installer understanding we’d lose control over scheduling. I wanted to buy from HD & use the fabricator GC used & who I knew had a great rep for quality. His store that he owned also sold Cambria. I needed Cambria jumbo slabs for their width to avoid a seam on island. I had asked HD if I could buy material from them & have ’my own’ installer. The HD person ran that up the chain - answer was no - way too many issues. HD person explained that the fabrication & install is built into the pricing for Cambria that HD offers & no way to break material only out of that price. So, I moved on & picked another design from the local store owned by the person the GC worked with. And, my chosen design, ’Colton’ isn’t available through HD.

It surprises me that Cambria would allow a fabricator to continue contracting with them with such horrible reviews.

"It surprises me that Cambria would allow a fabricator to continue contracting with them with such horrible reviews."

It isn't surprising in the least. Estone manufacturers are in the business of moving slabs off the line and out the door. Cambria's standards may be a tad higher than other manufacturer's because they defend their brand much better than others do.

I documented a 2cm Cambria installation here with an unsupported waterfall end that was certain to self-destruct and was dangerous several years ago. Crickets.

In the case of bad installs that @Linda tells us about, I wonder if ”allowing” that bad fabricator to continue installing Cambria product has more to do with the contractual arrangement between HD & Cambria than it does between the installer and Cambria. I think for any issues with install, customer would have to go back to HD first not Cambria.. I have that opinion as result of a door install we had done with door purchase through HD. We jumped through a lot of hoops before the actual door manufacture company got involved in the resolution of an improperly hung door. We kept being pushed to route issues with the installer & installation to HD. In the case of my Cambria install, the fabricator I wanted to use couldn’t do install as didn’t do work for HD. That‘s why I looked for another Cambria pattern that wasn’t sold exclusively through HD.

Thank you for sharing your experiences with me! much appreciated!