If you can afford to have a house built for you , you can afford to have them change the counters.

You can tile over almost anything, but how strong the bond would be, on this material, I'm not feeling real confident. I would request that they leave the counters tops OFF. See if you can receive a credit to apply to finishing them yourself. To set tile on a surface that will be in contact with water, you want to lay CEMENT board, available at Home Depot, Lowes (any building supply store). The Cement board generally goes on top of plywood. Then you set your tile on top of the Cement board and go from there. Cement board is pretty easy to work with, you score it and snap or you can use a saw (outside) to cut it. (wear a mask and eye protection) Do yourself a big favor, if you haven't worked with tile before, buy or RENT a good tile cutter, not just the nippers. A tile cutter is a saw (works with water) and it makes cutting tile like slicing through butter! Believe me, it's so worth the rental fee! Sears (and probably some other places too,) does have a fairly inexpensive cutter, good enough for the casual home user, not professional grade or cost, if you want to just buy one...never know, you may love tiling and decide to do some outdoor table tops too! Good Luck getting a positive resolve...whatever you do DON'T settle for something you hate...too big of an investment to not enjoy your kitchen!

As Staron and Corian, come from Krypton and there father was Durell, I think you should "Kneel before ZOD...!"

BUY THE TILES YOU LIKE. PREFERABLY GRANITE (MARBLE TOO SOFT). SCORE (CUT GROOVES IN) THE SURFACE WITH A GRINDER, USE A GOOD THINSET,KEEP GROUT LINES TIGHT, SO NOT TO HAVE WIDE GROOVES FOR FOODS, ETC. TO GET INTO. USE AN UNSANDED GROUT AND SEAL. YOU CAN DO A STANDARD SIZE KITCHEN (IF YOU TILE IT YOURSELF) FOR UNDER $500. WE USED ONE INCH GLASS BLOCKS (2 ROWS) FOR OUTSIDE EDGES OF COUNTERS. HAVE SEEN PEOPLE USE 2" WOOD MOLDING ALSO FOR EDGES (STAINED TO MATCH CABINETS).

if YOU are having the house built. dont YOU get to choose what you want in it.