alp304, yours is noticeable for a couple reasons. One, the right side is darker & has more dense venation. Two, there's a large solid area near the front edge that gets cut at the left end. You haven't posted a pic of your whole kitchen, so it's hard to guess where a better place for a seam may have been, but yours is the result of poor planning on the part of your fabricator. Oftentimes a seam is put at the sink where the quartz is narrower, and thus draws less attention to differences. Our fabricator put it under the appliance garage where less quartz would be visible. Houzz won't let me post from my desktop, so I'm going to send a pic of our Cambria Newhaven seam to my phone and post from it, like I had to do on another thread yesterday.

The seams with heavily patterned counters are unavoidable, but they usually try to do it in such a way that it's subtle. Could they have put the seam where it wouldn't have been so obvious? I'm sorry that happened :(

Wouldn't let me from phone, either. Had to try another work-around.

Finally after 6 months I have picked a backsplash and it is completed. Here are the pictures.

Beautiful. Love the flat screen!

You picked well!

You picked well!

Al done and i love it!!

Absolutely gorgeous. Congrats!

Wow that is beautiful!

Dale, that is absolutely beautiful! I hope you are so happy with it!

What brand range did you use? I love the 2 oven capacity of mine but I may need to replace it soon. Do you like the knobs in the front?

I like the buffet table and Cambria on the top of it! What a great idea.

I am so happy! My range was only 2 yrs old so i had to keep it. I wouldhave gotten the same thing minus the back panel if i bought new. As far as the back table, i asked my buikder to make a counter height one 24x48 and he accidentally gave me a table height. I said ok and now i actually think it looks better bc of my wainscoting. Here is a picture of my walk in pantry

My range is maytag

I just received mine as well. It looks much better in my house than in the showroom. Thanks to everyone who helped with suggestions for the perimeter counters. I went with cambria Newport.

The pictures of everyone's kitchens look amazing!!

Kathi Steele - If I remember correctly we have the same Kitchenaid double oven stove - may I ask, why you may need a new one soon? Dale - Nice kitchen! I had the Maytag double oven range before kitchen remodel last year but it was all electric and we wanted gas cook top with electric oven so changed to the KA range. Really liked the Maytag range - it had a couple features the new KA doesn't have, like 2 timers.

I chuckle when I read the title of this thread - now look at all the pictures of beautiful kitchens with Cambria Berwyn!

What is your opinion of this on the wall in my breakfast nook?

I like it - went back and looked at other pictures of your kitchen (beautiful!) and like the pop of color of the pring

Dale, I like the painting, but the sconces seem at variance w/ the theme of everything else in your K. I like the idea of sconces, but something more transitional and in brushed SS or nickel like your chandelier over the table & pendants over the island would seem more harmonious to me.

I got them at such a great price i wonder if i can spray them more of a nickel color? Or....maybe put them someplace else in my house

Dale, yes, you can spray. Rustoleum makes great spray paints for metal. When we reno'd our front bath last year, my wife sprayed the light fixture over the vanity. We love it but its brass finish no longer went w/ new scheme. She used Rustoleum's oil-rubbed bronze paint, & they turned out great. Process was easy. They make several metal finishes, at least a dozen.

Dale, BTW, I like sconces. I have them in our Fam Rm bath, which serves as guest bath as it opens to patio & is used when entertaining out there, & candle sconces over dresser in master.

Im going to think about it. I have a large oiled bronze lantern in another corner of the kitchen so they play nicely off each other. Im also adding shelves next to my paned mirror so after everything is in place ill see what do do. Ill send you a pucture for advice! Thank you!

I didn't see lantern. You've done great job. Looking fwd to seeing next step.

Susan, Cindy, and Dale - your kitchens are beautiful! I love seeing the Berwyn working so well in so many different style spaces! Dale, your tin ceilings are fantastic!

We finally got our backslash installed and our renovations are 99% done. Still not thrilled with the seam, but our fabricator said it was the best they could do. Overall really happy with everything! Thanks to everyone for their thoughts, opinions, and photos!

If anyone is wondering, our cabinet color is Sherwin Williams Koi Pond! I love it!!

So pretty! I love it !

I'm bitterly unhappy with the Berwyn installed in my home. A friend of mine installed it in her home and I fell in love with it. I have beige tile everywhere in my home and I needed something that would match it. The sample in the store where she bought hers, was perfect for my house and I was thrilled. It had swirls of beige that were wonderful. Unfortunately, there is no color control at Cambria. The slabs installed in my house have virtually no beige and look more grayish/pinkish. They clash with my walls and floors in the bathrooms (the first place installed). My contractor who had seen the sample, said the finished product looked like something that belonged in a little girl's bathroom with pinks and greys. It doesn't match the sample. The Cambria rep in Orlando, was very rude and told me I couldn't come see them or look at other slabs for the rest of the house. He told me they wouldn't help me. They don't have color control at Cambria, so it is a crap shoot for what you might get. Beware.

Sorry to hear about your negative experience with the Berwyn. I would report that local rep to the corporate headquarters. I had lots of apprehension (as noted a year ago in this thread) when I first saw a large slab of the Berwyn as I had seen only the little 2X2 sample until then. Way too much gold - or what I saw as gold- for me. I went back to the supply house 3 times and they were quite understanding and helpful to this fickle customer. Then I worked with the fabricator to lay out the counter on the slabs to avoid the area of gold. It is a man made product so it will vary from slab to slab. I found the colors through out all slabs were consistent - what varied was the the amount of those colors. Don't recall seeing any pink. Do you have another Cambria supplier in your city? sounds like very poor customer service with your rep.

I am in Tampa, My installer had them trade out the two remaining slabs and asked them to send something with the beige, but the new ones were almost as bad. Cambria had the regional rep call me. He was the one who refused to let me go look at slabs in Orlando and said there was nothing they could do. (Apparently, that is where the slabs come here from.) That this is a man-made product, means it should be consistent, especially with colors. Imagine if you went to the paint store to get another can of paint and they gave you something that didn't match the last can. I fully understand the swirling pattern could vary slab to slab, but not the color. This is the second house I used quartz. The last house was perfect.

I am in the Tampa area too and have been shopping around for counters. Who did you use? Just curious so I can make sure I go somewhere else. Thanks!

My installer is terrific and did a good job of installing. He just orders the slabs for a job, but doesn't stock slabs. He gets the slabs direct from Cambria. Cambria is blaming me for not checking out the slab and the installer for not insisting that I check out the slab. They take no responsibility for color quality. I asked what about the half slab I have left? Couldn't they (Cambria) replace it with a new slab. The answer was a flat no and that I would have to take that up with the installer...in other words make the installer eat the cost. Not to mention if Cambria would have given me new slabs to replace what was installed (which they won't), the installer would have to eat the cost of new installation (and he would have). I really like the installer and would recommend him to others, so don't want to out him here.

Im sorry you are having trouble. I have had nothing but a positive experience with cambria and my installer. My cambria berwyn reads creamy white/gray/beige with silver sparkle. No pink or gold

cohllson, we had a similar problem when our Cambria Berwyn was installed. We used several pieces for shower seats, curbs, etc. The color was wrong on some of the pieces, so we called and made an appointment with Cambria for a rep to look at it. He brought a sample piece to see if the color fit within the acceptable perimeters. He agreed a couple of the pieces were not acceptable and Cambria replaced them. We also had problems with the installer submitting an incorrect corner radius so we spent a great deal of time on the phone with Cambria corporate offices to resolve that. I ended up working my up the corporate chain to a VP at Cambria to get the issue resolved. Bottom line is that I had to be persistent and refuse to take no for a answer, but it was ultimately fixed. If those efforts fail, it is likely several thousands of dollars of material and small claims court (depending on cost and jurisdictional limits) may be your last resort. Sorry for all the stress you are going through with this mistake.

Dale, mine looks exactly like yours. Cohllson, be persistent and they will have to make it right!

Hi all, I learned a lot through this process. One is Cambria says their goal is for every slab to be different. Well, they are meeting this goal. It's easy if you don't use the same colors. This means you have to treat it like granite and go check every slab to find the one(s) you want. The beauty of quartz, in my mind, is that you get consistency because it is manmade. Unfortunately, that is not true of Cambria. If I had wanted granite and the hassles there are with it, I would have bought granite. I have two bathrooms torn up and tilers and glass people waiting to finish their job. I couldn't get the Cambria people to admit the quartz wasn't acceptable. So I've moved forward to finish the bathrooms. I sure spent a hell of a lot of money for two bathrooms I don't like.

The exec from Minnesota hasn't called back to tell me how I can go pick slabs. My only option for the 3rd bath, laundry, and kitchen projects is to keep making them ship slabs from Orlando to Tampa, one at a time until I have the 3 slabs I want. What a waste of their money and my time. BUYERS BEWARE, you have to check every slab you get from Cambria, and make sure you pull off the plastic that covers them, because that distorts the color too. If I'd known what I know now, I would have used another quartz company that offers consistency and reliability...and values customer satisfaction.

This is the very opposite of what my rep and cambria told me. They purposely don’t have you look at the slabs because they’re the same. The movement may differ, not the color. Quartz is manufactured not cut like granite. I’d fight this to the grave! Call back and ask to speak to a superior representative. No part of it should look pink.

agree - there should NOT be any pink in the Berwyn. Does it have the pink color if looking at it in natural light, like outside?

I posted on this thread about different slabs probably two years ago. Our countertop supplier said we couldn’t choose our slab because all Quartz slabs were the same. When I went to see our slab, I was not happy with it at all. The edges about 10 inches all around on the sides and one long edge were very defined in the pattern. The entire center was smudged and didn’t look like Berwyn. It was not what we liked about the countertop in the first place. I said I’m spending $5000 on the countertop, I want to pick from multiple slabs. They conceded begrudgingly because they were afraid to break slabs moving them out for viewing. They brought out a total of four slabs and let me choose. All four looked entirely different. One was more gold, one had pink, one was smudged, and one was perfect. That’s the one we picked. The seller admitted that although quartz should be the same it does depend on the lot (similar to dye lots). Some lots have more of specific colors or sometimes they clump together and you get different designs.

Regarding seams; our supplier puts the slab down flat and uses templates to fit the most on one slab. They then stand up high on a ladder and have someone on the ground move the templates to achieve the most similar pattern match for the seams.

Lastly, they used a “European style” seam. The seam starts in the corner just like a standard seam. After about two inches it turns and goes towards the wall perpendicularly. Most people check the corner for a seam. Due to the turn it’s not in the corner and makes it less visible because it goes in an unexpected direction. The cut is also mitered for strength and levelness. To join the slabs they used a 2000 psi hot clamp to pull it together and melt the glue as much as possible.

Well, I talked to the exec in Minnesota again today and again he stressed that they want each slab to be unique...no two to look alike. He again said Cambria would do NOTHING for my showers. He did arrange for me to go to the distribution center in Orlando to pick slabs. Oh joy, get to drive 2.5 hours there. Wish me luck.

Karen if you would like to go with me to pick out your slabs, let me know. I'd be happy to pick you up.

I went to my friends house today and put the sample on her counter. You could hardly tell where the sample started and the counter began, they were so much the same. Not so with my slabs. Even the sparkles are minimal in mine. My friend's twinkles.

So if anyone is going with Cambria you have to make sure the slab is what you want. It totally defeats the purpose of buying quartz in my mind. Cambria is trying to pretend they are making granite...which people like me do not like. I want consistency. Basically, Cambria is making the customer do their quality control and then the bad slabs go to the ignorant customers like me who trusted they knew what they were doing. In fact, Mumstead, my slab could have been the one you rejected. I don't see any beige in that one either!

Cohlsson sorry to hear about your troubles. Cambria makes styles that are uniform and styles that are not. Berwyn is a middle of the road one. The smaller flecked styles are more uniform. Something like Dorrington for example. The ones with veins definitely are not. Even the uniform ones would differ some in color between batches. We carpeted 80% of our upstairs and left one room undone. We had plans to remodel it. Identical twins changed that for awhile. Two years later we ordered the same carpet knowing dye lots can be different. But hey, it’s tan. Well, our existing carpet was pink/tan and the new was orange tan. Same exact carpet. Different dye lots.

These countertop companies don’t want to go through the effort to pull slabs so we can pick our favorite. I can accept not wanting to risk breaking them, but I think it’s more out of avoiding inconvenience. I just refused to spend my $5000 on a product sight unseen. I had conflicting stories from the saleswoman about uniformity and told her I pick or I walk. We ended up doing the same with the carpet from Lowe’s. 4 rolls later we picked a mixed fiber carpet that coordinated because we couldn’t even get close!

Anyone in this epic thread have a black quartz/silgranit sink with their Berwyn? Looking for photos =)

Anyone here have a black (ideally quartz or silgranit) sink with their Berwyn? Seeking photos =)

Mine wasn't close either. I hope they don't give you the same song and dance they gave me. They said they are imitating granite and no two slabs are the same including color. I argued till I was blue in the face. I agreed the swirl patterns would never be the same, but the color tones should always be consistent. They are capable of doing that, but for some reason won't. They left me bitterly disappointed. They don't seem to realize the benefit of getting quartz is getting consistent colors and not having to go pick out a specific slab of granite. Most people selling it go by the samples and don't stock slabs of the quartz, so we can't pick out a slab, if we wanted to. The retailers are stuck with unhappy customers. I wouldn't recommend you buy from Cambria unless you can see and pick the slabs you want before deciding on Cambria.

Did you have a satisfactory outcome?

I emailed and requested a call and received one within hours, I spoke to a very knowledgeable representative at Cambria and he did explain it is far superior than other quartz as two slabs are not the same and he explained that there are parts of the slabs that could be different...I’m going to leave it, as the input here of how it looks and plus as I did not even know that it is antimicrobaterial, all the other perks, the product and their lifetime warranty on dents or scratches etc, customer support and service....I’m going to look at back splashes and continue on with my renovation.... And just go with the ivory cabinets and white counter as some people actually do that as a decor option. I do appreciate all the input and help here, it’s of great support...What I learned it’s important to see a slab whether it’s quartz, quartzite, granite or marble,

Photo

This post helped me so much when I did my kitchen. I wouldn’t have known to look at my slabs before I accepted them and also receive the templete pictures. The template was a great comfort and I didn’t change anything the fabricator did a great job. I am glad that you were able to feel comfortable with your resolution. With paint, lighting and backsplash, it will look beautiful. Post on here when your hgtv segment will be, I would love to see it. I am sorry the storm has caused you to have to go through all of this.

Thank you efh105, I’m going to ask for help about back splash tiles to make it work