I'm not sure I'd go with Lowes or such since they just contract out their work to someone locally.
Better bet is the local Slab yard. Don't be afraid to ask for remnants, as you may save a few bucks. Just remember most of the cost is in the labor to cut and install.
I had my local yard measure and cut everything, then install the Island and Master bath tops. Since the Island is so big it took about 15 guys to carry it in while the Master Bath is L-shaped and required a seam.
The rest of the baths I did myself and you can't tell the difference in the installation.

Kitchen Before:


Kitchen After: Notice the Countertop with the sink remains the same as before.


Den Bath:


I'd show pictures of the MasterBath, but the admiral would kill me since the only picture I have has her side of the L with the typical Female junk loaded bathroom. My side is clean.

What do you guys use to clean and seal the Granite?

Yup, go to the yard or several and get a few quotes.

I had my sister, who is in the business, give me a price that included the family discount. I ended getting my counters from a local countertop business who I deal with at work as I received a better discount.

This is one of the two seams in our top. It is placed behind the sink so the seam is less than 6" long.

I went with the Home Depot brand (Stonemark) granite. We are very pleased, this stonemark is pre sealed and has a 15 year stain warrenty...

I will try to get some pics up of my project that is not done yet......

Here is the web site...

www.stonemark.com

Here is a shot of my never ending project.... I still need to install the tile back splash, it was cheaper for me to do it instead of the basic granite back splash..

If you stick with the basic edge, granite is price competive, if you go for a rounded edge, the cost goes way up!

looks great

Looks good, I really like the black sink
Go with the cream tile on the right as the backsplash.

Thanks! That is our choice too, the right cream tile is actually a travertine natural tile. Since we have real hardwood floors and now granite natural countertop, we might as well go a natural tile....... No man made materials for me!

A coworker is redoing their kitchen, he is going with concrete and will be making it himself. I thought about concrete before we got our quartz. The web pages I saw had concrete at X dollars per SF. The guy ended up doing it for much less than X however since doing it himself, he wouldn't mind pay someone else X dollars.

As Denver Boater pointed out, I would stick with a standard edge treatment to keep costs down. We got an ogee edge which was an upgrade, it looks nice but it didn't give us as big of a WOW factor as the price of the upgrade did.

Has you considered concrete countertops?
They can be stained/polished to give a variety of many different looks.
Very classy looking

We were told that our granite in the bathroom was sealed and we should use the "vinegar Windex" to clean it. Any other Granite cleaner was fine too. Sealing was done at the granite shop.

Steer clear of Lowes and Home Deopt, we tried 3 times for a countertop from them and they contract the cutting out.
All three times the slab cam in scrathed very badly. 2-3 weeks everytime it gets returned.