The DIY bloggers, John and Sherry Petersik, just recently did this as they are renovating their kitchen mostly by themselves. Here's a how-to guide on how they removed the old granite countertops (they replaced it with Corian, but had a professional installer install the new counters):
http://www.younghouselove.com/2011/11/were-now-officially-sinkless/
And they're even selling their old granite countertops on CL. How's that?
In any event, you can see how they did it and figure out if it is something that you're willing to do yourself, or contract to have done for you.