Our countertops arrived with all holes pre-drilled and ready to be put on top of the plywood. The installing crew only needed to make minor adjustments and glue the seams together. The backsplash around the skywall was a different story - it had to be mapped out after the countertop installation and fabricated and milled so it would fit precisely. It was not a standard height so that added to the cost as well. I believe we paid about $60 a sft for installed Cambria countertops with 2 sinks and cooktop cutouts (including all demo, mounting the sinks under the countertop, and dropping the cooktop in).
For a more or less standard kitchen done de novo, the job would be much less elaborate and significantly cheaper, probably under $30 a sft if one follows CB’s plan.
I showed the news about HD 4x4 lawsuit to Mr. B. He laughed and pointed out that the guy’s name sounded like he was a recent transplant from Eastern Europe so probably had no idea how lumber is labeled in the US. And likely got used to metric system as well! And he bought one 4x4 post. Lol. Lawsuits like that just add to the cost of lumber for all of us.
Both my kitchen counters and counters in bathroom were pre-drilled at the stone yard where I chose my slabs. Templates were made, plus my GC gave them all the necessary specs.
More backsplash porn:
Take a look at this web site: https://www.gridsurfaces.com/kaleidoscope-glass
In particular https://www.gridsurfaces.com/kaleidoscope-glass?lightbox=dataItem-ic3joziu1
@tx5athome gave us a houzz link to something similar, and I think this is the stuff.
If you click the “brochure” link at the bottom you can see all the cool stuff they have.
No idea what this stuff costs, they are a “sell only to designers and the trades” type of company. Maybe it’ll be cheaper than the blue macauba. 
Rule 11 (sanctions for frivolous suits in fed courts) needs to be imposed the next time this attorney files that kind of junk.
I love that blue… kaleidoscope also had some geometric patterns – reminds me of quilt blocks that are well beyond my ability to assemble, but gorgeous!!
“No idea what this stuff costs, they are a “sell only to designers and the trades” type of company. Maybe it’ll be cheaper than the blue macauba.”
That’s why one has their contractor or designer purchase everything. They get it at the contractors price versus if you purchase it and pay the retail price.
Your contractor can purchase the blue macauba tile at the contractors price, too.
These guys are almost local. Tacoma - the hometown of Chihuli. 
From their Houzz page:
“Typical Job Costs: $10/SF - $250/SF
Cost depends on product and distributor mark up.”
Here is one showroom that carries their (M2) tiles
https://www.norberry.com/showroom/
^ I saw that, but a price range of $10-250 is pretty much completely useless for providing any helpful information.
I have a suspicion that the mid-range would be what one pays for their tile jobs. I would contact the company to find out who distributes their products in your specific area. Most companies list their distributors in their websites - too bad these guys don’t.
Don’t know about contractors passing discounts onto the customer… they make that up by charging extra for install fees. 
I did contact them, they told me I have to go to the Boston Design Center in Boston, and visit the Discover Tile showroom. They are only open M-F 9am-5pm, and you can only buy stuff through a designer, which they conveniently have on staff.
Not sure they could make it any more difficult to buy their stuff.
“Don’t know about contractors passing discounts onto the customer… they make that up by charging extra for install fees.”
No. Their charge for labor is exactly the same if the customer had purchased the product at the retail price. You’d only save if you are doing all the labor yourself. No contractor is going to charge less for labor if the customer does his own purchasing.
I don’t think notrichenough is doing the work on his house.
Emily, unless you price the job out with several contractors, you have no idea how much it actually takes to install something. It is like buying a car with a trade in - there are several numerical values that can be fudged up: the rate per hour, number of hours, and materials costs. Oh the games they play… 
Been there, done that.
That has not been my experience. I even bought and paid directly for all my kitchen appliance with my contractor’s discount and the appliance store did the install. If I didn’t have a contractor, I would have had to pay retail. But hey, it’s not my money. You want to pay retail go ahead - but it makes absolutely no sense to do that if you are going to have a contractor do the work.
I also didn’t hire my GC (who has now done my whole house) based on cost alone. I did not go with the cheapest bid. I’ve done $200k worth of work by them and not once have they ever gone over their estimated cost of a job.
When a sash on my 10 yr old window broke, my project manager came over, looked to see what the problem was, called the company from my house, ordered the replacement and when it came in, sent guy to put new window in for no charge. Stuff like that is worth it to me. Also, my windows can only be purchased by contractors.
It may turn out I can get a better deal by going through my contractor, we’ll see. In the case of this glass tile, the Boston Design Center works only with “designers”, and it’s not clear to me that that intersects with “contractors”. It’s a frustrating (for me) way to do business.
The internet has created a level playing field for many things like appliances, though. I feel like if you can get a better price through a contractor discount compared to retail, you can probably find an even better price that the contractor price somewhere on line.
If stuff can only be purchased through a contractor, then claiming there’s a “contractor discount” is meaningless. There can definitely be a contractor markup, and by restricting price info you have no way to know if you are getting a fair deal.
Not everything can only be purchased by a contractor, but if you believe you are getting the same product at Home Depot, or Lowes, or Costco - even though it appears to be the same - it is not.
No contractor is going to charge you less for labor because you purchased something on your own.
My contractor has a designer on staff so anything that can only be purchased by a designer is no problem for me either.
IMO, you are facing a very big remodel. Hire a GC and let them handle everything. It’s way more efficient and will likely save you an enormous amount of time and money. I would suggest hiring one who has all trades people on staff, too. That way everything is coordinated time wise (no waiting weeks for a subcontractor to show up because they are on another job.)
NRE - It sounds like a “designer” in this case could be some sort of a middleman that probably has a list of contractors he or she usually works with to install what they suggest. Probably makes sense to have a designer for jobs involving super custom tile designs like inlays or mosaics. For a simple backsplash, I am not so sure.
Emily, we are talking apples to apples product-wise. Let’s say contractor X can give you his showroom discount of $100 on a given product. And contractor Y that does not pass his discounts onto the customer charges $100 less for install than contractor X. Either way, the water is wet. Been there, done that with sinks for my kitchen and certain windows.
“I would suggest hiring one who has all trades people on staff, too.”
We called a couple of places like that. We called a couple places like that. You know what they said?
“Not interested.”
Apparently our job is too small. We are talking about a project that is half the value of the house, but that is too small for them.
So we are going with a guy whose company has been around for multiple generations in the same family. But he doesn’t get involved in the design. He takes the plans from the architect and builds it. He’ll install the kitchen, but someone else has to design it.
And I feel like, in the end, this will be far cheaper than one of those soup-to-nuts outfits. YMMV.
Why would Contractor Y charge less for labor than Contractor X? There is zero need for Contractor Y to charge you less for labor just because his client is foolish enough to purchase something at retail.
Here’s a simple question. The dining room lighting fixture needs to be replaced. Currently uses regular 40 Watt bulbs (5 of them). All the ones that we like have chandelier bulbs. How do we figure out which ones will give us the amount of light we need in the room? Which stores have the best selection? Thanks!