Hi - this has been asked here a few times over the last couple of years and noone here has posted that they've used GT yet.

To me, it looks clunky because it has to be thick enough on the sides to go over your existing countertop. I would rather have a nice tile than that overly thick look.

Have you gotten a quote yet?

Yes, gina I have gotten an quote. There is about 133 sq. ft including a wet bar area near the kitchen and the quote was over $11,000. I am in the Los Angeles area. I do like the fact that it is installed over our existing tile since we aren't changing out our cabinets.

Still formulating our ideas and getting other esitmates.

For that kind of money you could get slab!!

It says that this product like other engineered granite doesn't need any up keep. Granite I know has to be sealed yearly, right. And granite can stain, where as engineered stone doesn't. Any credance to that?

That's an outrageous price, in my opinion - no wonder we haven't seen much of it here.

Whether or not granite needs sealing and how often depends on the granite. Many of us have types of granite that never need sealing.

If your biggest draw is that you don't have to demolish your existing countertop and possibly damage your cabs - I think any competent contractor can do so without damaging the cabs. For that kind of budget you can get almost whatever you want - granite, Corian, Quartz, etc, etc. and pay someone to do it right. And not have that clunky look.

So what kind of granite should I be looking for that doesn't have to be sealed? I knew that the Transformation process wasn't less expensive and I will definietly be getting granite quotes.

I really appreciate your input. It really gives me food for thought - also for resale (if we ever sell) granite might be the better way to go.

Granite I know has to be sealed yearly, right. And granite can stain, where as engineered stone doesn't. Any credance to that?

Depends. Some of the lighter granites might need more sealing than others, but for the most part, a good quality sealer should last several years. In addition, there are many granites that DON'T require sealing AT ALL.

I'm also in CA, and I can tell you that for that much money you can certainly get slab granite (many stones never need sealing), and possibly quartz which never needs sealing. Get quotes for both of those. In the grand picture, it will be much better to take the tile out rather than cover it up. We took our tile out ourselves, and wow, is that stuff heavy! I can't imaging all that weight plus stone..

Home Depot's granite is perma-sealed for 15 years...

That statement reminds me of the movie "Tommy Boy". That guarantee is designed to make the customer feel all warm and fuzzy, like they can sleep at night with their guarantee.

That guarantee is designed for one thing and one thing only-- to sell countertops. I'd be willing to BET that if someone were to try and make a claim on that warranty in 7 1/2 years from now-- HALF that time, it wouldn't be honored, for one reason or another. ALWAYS beware of long term guarantees, especially with countertops, where so much is beyond the control of the manufacturer or installer.

Fitzwilli, that's what, about $83/sf? That's a LOT for a "compromise" product - i.e., "We can't afford to do a whole remodel from scratch so we'll just . . ."

It helps to be a repeat customer and to wrangle prices some, but I got basic kashmire white granite for most of my new counters at $15/sf and costa esmeralda granite for the raised island and bar table at about $19/sf, then paid my fabricators about $30/sf for their work, or a total of $45-49/sf for the whole deal.

If you're anywhere near LA and would like to know where I shopped, post a follow up to this thread.

Fitzwilli- I do remember someone here ( at least one person) did use granite transformations. they were pleased and I think mostly becuase they did not have any mess and it was done quickly. they said they were also pleased with the looks. I do remember that it seemed to me that the price was really crazy high, considering it is not granite or stone (it might be made of that stuff) and also if I rmemeber correctly, there were only straight edges not any other kind. I am not sure with the updates of this site if this was on teh kitchens or home decoratin forum.. I can try to find it

Wow I was gone for about 3 hours and came home to find all you nice people helping me out with your knowledge- Thanks.

I will be doing a lot more research. I do have a few guys to get estimates from, but Mollyred would love to know where you got your granite and who did you use or where did you get your granite?

Thanks again all you helped, what a great web site this is, have to tell all my friends.

Mollyred, I hear prices like that posted here and they almost always are from CA from some reason. Please note those king of prices are not available almost anywhere else in the country. In the Northeast where granite is almost always 3 cm only, and where it is only sold installed with fabrication, prices for granite start at 50.00 sq foot for the cheapest granite, which is very limited in selection, and 100-140.00 sq foot for something as expensive as Costa Esmeralda. You can not even get an appointment at the local granite wharehouse to buy a slab without going through a fabricator. I got a quote for Kashmir white and it was 2883.00 for slightly more than 35 sq feet. That is about 82.00 sq ft. Also, maybe because it is more difficult to fabricate, but the difference is a whole lot more than 4.00 per square foot between Kashmir White and Costa Esmeralda. Are you quoting the prices of blanks or slabs? 2 cm or 3 cm? I just hate to hear such low prices quoted without further explanation when they may not available to 90% of the country. If somehow they are, I certainly want to know myself before I pay more than 4,000.00 to have Costa Esmeralda put in my kitchen in the next couple of weeks. :) We ALL want the details. You really know where we can get slab granite of Costa Esmeralda installed for less than 50.00 sq foot?

Sue

I had it installed in the bathroom and I love it. Quick install and no mess. They also covered the avocado green shower tiles in an acrylic that very closely matched the granite countertop. My price was about 2/3 of a granite slab demolition install.

We considered GT in our remodel, but I really wanted a more eased edge and for the price, we could get a standard granite that looked well, like real, imperfect granite, which was the most important thing for DH and I. We are in the Mid-South and our Verde Butterfly granite was $50.00 a sq ft installed. We were glad we did more research. (By the way, the only reason we went with Verde Butterfly was becuase it worked best with our cabinets - which we didn't remove - and DH liked it because we didn't have to worry about matching "movement" like some other granites - which means we only used one slab instead of possbily two). We removed our formica countertops ourselves, which saved us a removal charge from the fabricator. As Sue CT states above, we really didn't have a clue about the price since we had to go through a fabricator to get the price.... since most of the time their price includes the slab and installation. But that's why you ask for quotes!

Christy

Sue-- it's actually the other way around, from what I've seen. For some reason, it's more expensive here in the northeast. I've heard of prices as much as 300.00 a foot in NYC, and the prices you quoted are pretty much the norm throughout Ct. and Mass.. Once you get out of the northeast, though, the prices drop.

I think it's very useful if you don't wish the cost and hassle of demolition. A close friend was selling their house "as is" but the kitchen tile was old and worn (pretty much like their entire house, LOL). They did the GT thing to avoid the hassle as they were moving 50 yrs worth of belongings to another part of the state. It was simple and easy for them.

I didn't particularly care for it - it's a very glossy look, whereas I'm more of a matte Corian/Swanstone person. But for their situation, it was perfect, and worked well.

In the OP's case, taking off counters and replacing them is not a big enough deal to warrant using GT if the cost is so high. We had our laminate counters (admittedly easier to remove than tile) replaced with Swanstone in 2003. Total cost for 25 linear feet with 4" coved backsplash and straight edge (included standard by the mfg) was $3250, including two corner seams. Many people kept insisting we had changed out our cabs as well, which we had not - they were installed in 1990.

I work for GT, all I can say is do the research.

jkruse-- I've got to give you credit. Most reps who come in here try and pretend like they're housewives who are ranting and raving over their product.

Atleast to me, the fact that you came in here and came clean right off the bat, lends alot of credibility to whatever you have to say. Here's to you!! :-)

My daughter was considering Granite Transformations for her kitchen countertops. She has a small starter home and thought that it would be a reasonably priced alternative for her currently outdated laminate counters. The price was not that much different then getting slab granite. She went to a GT showroom in Charlotte and she said the product looked cheap. She opted to go with slab granite instead for only a few hundred dollars more.

Look around at slabs & fabricators. I just got a quote for 44' of granite (2 slabs) with fabrication for a choice of 14 colors for $2887. I live in So. Ca. so shop around if you want to go with a slab.

Since I first posted I checked out other solid surfaces, and we have decided on using Soapstone. We are going to do our bathroom counters and the kitchen counters in the soapstone. The cost for just the kitchen was under what I was quoted for the GT...and the rep who came to give me the estimate never called back to see what we were going to do. We felt if the product was that great he would have been chomping at the bit to get our business.

So for $1250 I'm getting the material, installation, fabrication, AND I will probably have left overs to do the face of a fireplace. And the material is being shipped down to us in SoCal from San Francisco all included for the $1250 more.

Thanks all for all your in put, love to hear of other people experiences.

fitzwilli, I have never seen a bathroom with soapstone. Please make sure you post pics when it is done!

I never knew GT was so expensive. I considered it years ago, when I wanted a quick fix. There is no possible way I would spend that kind of money on GT.

So, instead of $11,000 for the kitchen you are paying $2500 for SS and doing bathrooms too? Am I mistaken???

I hope to get SS and I'm afraid to hear what the costs will be!!!

No No remodelqueen - guess I wasn't clear. Our quote just to do our kitchen with GT was $11,787...our soapstone price for the material, fabrication, installation, and of course shipment from M.Tex in San Fran to Los Angeles is about 13,500 and thats for the kitchen, bar, and bathroom. All in all we are doing approx 200 sq. ft, and we should have enough material leftover to reface our fireplace.

If you break it down we are paying about $65 sq. ft.

The GT was more like $88 sq. ft. just for the kitchen.

Hope this helps you...and I will definitely post pictures when we are done.

I just had my "Granite Transformations" countertops installed and they are fantastic! The salesman, installer and plumber who came to hook up the sink were all prompt, courteous, professional and meticulously cleaned up after
themselves --a rare thing these days with contractors. I would recommend this product to anyone looking for an option that does not include demolition of your existing countertops.

The price fit my budget too. If anyone is curious, I paid about $80/square foot. A bit more than granite but much less hassel and I was only inconvenienced for "one" day.

I had bad experience with "Granite Transformations" doing our kitchen. they quoted 3,900 but my husband got it down to 3,390. we had existing tile...but supposedly their whole concept is NO DEMO. If they didnt take off the bullnose tiles the stove wouldn't fit. Fine, but they took it off everywhere. the cement was in my silverware all the drawers in my dishes and pots and pans. 2nd visit measure. 3rd visit 4wks later-install. they had measured wrong! they fogot to allow for the removal of all the bullnose. so it was even bigger and blockier and longer in places than it should have been. plus this one ledge was undercut so the wall stuck out farther, so they said they'll come back to fix that. so many ph.calls later we get the original salesman to look at it. then another appt to re-measure, that gets lost. comes back again and discusses with me in great detail of how this is going to go. 4 wks go by with 3 un-returned phone calls, they apologized saying they were waiting for the slab to come in. Now this is where I get mad. My husband takes off work to be here for the "install", and get this, the guy RE-discusses OPTIONS (with my husband)of how to fix this!! So what happened to all the decisions that I had already made? I don't know, Out the door,GONE, complete waste of MY time! they spent 4 hrs. here re-measuring and table sawing and sanding, when it was suppossed to already been measured and cut overTHERE! and just installed here. We started this in June and now its mid-October. For 2,000.bucks more we could've had this done right and look better than this huge block look. You get what you pay for and some times less than that...a horrible experience to live with.

I work for Granite Transformations in NC. I have read all of the postings above, most of which bash GT. For every one disgruntled customer there are thousands of satisfied customers every day. That being said, there are several cases in which slab granite as well as other products did not turn out as proposed. This is a great product but it is NOT for everyone! This IS real granite made into an engineered stone which makes the product scratch, stain, heat resistant. Meaning it never has to be sealed. Other than normal cleaning it is maintenence free. This is not a super product nor indistructable. As far as the GT location that took 4 months to install, I'm not sure what happened. As in MOST cases there are 2 sides to the story. I'm not saying my particular location is perfect nor any other GT location. We all make mistakes like every other human. I do know we take pride in what we do and provide excellant customer servce. All I can say is with any product or project do ALL of the research!