Is a mitered edge countertop an upgrade?

13 years ago

Hi everyone,

I am at the stage of countertop install in my kitchen and have run into some trouble.

My counter people came to install this last week and the laminate edge on my carrara marble was **very** visible on one side of my island because they did a bad job matching it and the top was darker gray and the piece they laminated on was pure white! Suffice it to say that they agreed it was not to their standards (why anyone didn't see this before they trucked it to my house is anyone's guess) and said they would redo it.

I just got a call from them asking if it was ok that they do a mitered edge instead of a laminated.

They tell me it's an upgrade and you will see the seam less. Apparently the end piece of my marble is very gray (true) and they can't find a piece that matches it to laminate on. If they miter it, they can cover that gray on the edge and match it much better (so they tell me).

Is this true? I have read a bunch of posts and it seems that most people think it's an upgrade but some people said they didn't like it. I still don't get why it makes a difference, but if it looks better I am all for it. My guess is that they want to be sure it's done to my satisfaction this time because it's cost them a lot of $ to redo in labor already.

I was hoping I might be able to get some quick opinions/photos? Should I tell them to proceed? Is a mitered edge less visible? I should mention that their laminated edge seam was very well done, but the marble slices just didn't match on one side. The other pieces all look fine, so I don't think the seam will be well done.

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chiclet35
Original Author

13 years ago

I should probably have mentioned my edge is just a basic eased edge.

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Comments (8)

brickeyee
13 years ago
"I should probably have mentioned my edge is just a basic eased edge."

Than just about anything is an 'upgrade' since it takes more work.

Mitered edges reduce the appearance of a thicker counter.

Sort of the opposite of what was done by laminating.
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jakabedy
13 years ago
In my mind, a mitered edge is just that -- a miter rather than a butt joint. What you have now is just a rectangular piece of marble stuck to the bottom of your contertop. With the miter, they will cut back the edge of your counter at about 45 degrees. Then the piece that creates the built-up edge will also be cut to match that 45 degrees, and be attached. The seam will be the edge of the countertop itself -- not a visible seam along the middle of the edge piece. Now, color match is still an issue, but a mismatch won't be as obvious. If they used a piece from the same lot as the previous piece, you would see the darker top of your counter, and the white on the side -- still a mismatch, but not as obvious that it is two different pieces. I think it would probably look as though, when "sliced" the marble was dark on the outside and white on the inside. They still need to look for a better match.
pharaoh
13 years ago
When we got our countertops made a few years ago, my fabricator refused to do mitered edges on my connemara marble.

Given that the stone was very expensive, and he had never handled it, he would not take the liability of cracking the slab (there are many many fissures) or the 45 deg miter (edges can chip easier).

In the end we went with a flat built up edge. I am pretty happy with it. The joint is seamless. The laminated piece continues the figure of the stone. A miter would have been nicer but I did not want to risk buying more slabs. I did supervise the cutting of the stone and it cuts easily. So a miter would have been not any riskier but the fabricator was over cautious ;)
User
13 years ago
how think is your countertop?

how thick is the raw slab?

yes, a miterd edge is harder to fabricate and is more costly.
davidro1
13 years ago
without seeing your answers yet, I can confirm that the proposed work is real work that has to be paid for, so I think they definitely are doing you a favor. I'll guess your countertop is 3 cm thick.
lolog72
13 years ago
I did a mitred edge on my quartz/caesarstone counter and didn't pay any additional for it. I was doing white and had seen some really bad jobs that had visible laminated edge seams when it wasn't mitred. They're usually able to hide the seam with darker colors or slabs that have a lot of movement, but with light colors mitring us the way to go in my opinion.
chiclet35
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks everyone for your responses so far. I will add what detail I can.

I am on the west coast so my slabs are 2cm. I will still have a built up edge with the mitered sides.

They say that they found the rest if my slab and will use it to fabricate. I td them I will not accept a badly matched edge. They tell me the wrong piece was used before which is why it didn't match. No clue if this is true but they will be doing it over again if it doesn't match well.

They are their slabs, so if they ruin during fabrication they replace. it's a low budget remodel so I took what looked good and was reasonably priced. The place does have a reputation for quality work.

They are telling me that it will now be virtually unnoticeable. Their other seams look great so I have no doubt that they can pull it off, I just want to be sure it is in my best interest as they say.