Thanks, sabjimata. That price was for one and only one drainboard. They told us that much of the of work had to be done manually (both the initial "scoop out"--my term-- and the subsequent runnel formation), and, as such, would require 16 hours of labor. 16 x $75/hr= $1200. Maybe runnels alone would be adequate? And maybe they can then be machine made?

At this point, we're kinda married to this fabricator-- our contractor swears by them, they've been really helpful to us as we've stumbled through this project, and, perhaps most significantly, at this late date in the process, they've already picked up our slabs. We need to make a decision by Monday a.m., or it's going to delay our fabrication. If we do decide to go with it, it's probably going to delay our project by a couple of days too, but that's pretty minimal in the grand scheme of the project...

We're not using our kitchen yet but we had runnels done. When we were looking for fabricators they ranged in price from $500 to $1300. Our fabricator charged $165/runnel and we have 5 for $825. Here's a picture when I was deciding on a backsplash - the runnels are on the right.

Holy freaking crap!!! $165 a runnel? One runnel? It's so amazing to me how labor and countertop materials vary so greatly geographically.

Well, I will say this. If you can afford it, I do think they are worth it ;)

Bostonpam...could you identify your subway tiles...either here or another post. Would be very helpful. thanks!

sabjimata - I sent you an email last night - hopefully it's not in your spam folder. If you don't get it you can send me an email. pam

I think ours cost $250.

Thanks, folks. So it sounds like runnels alone are effective?

Have you asked about stainless strips embedded almost completely enough so the pots and counter are almost touching? From what I know about cutting stone and gluing with epoxy, this operation will not be expensive. I've seen steel strips in a very high-tech industrial style kitchen that was used to cook a lot.

I wonder about runnels. A month ago I posted a few negatives, in one thread. No responses. But let's face it: human nature makes many refrain from saying they wasted their money, or they may not be all that useful, or.... so we don't have many data points yet.

Hope this helps, and hope nobody gets upset with these remarks.

We have runnels on one side and a drainboard (slopes down toward the sink) on the other.

We use our runnels for draining produce or setting the colander. The drainboard always has the dishrack in it (and the dishrack always has stuff in it).

This is how we'd envisioned using both the runnels and the drainboard and for us they're perfect. Our kiddos are still in sippy cups / snacktraps, etc., and those things are always still wet when coming out of the dishwasher, so they go straight onto the dishrack. Being that the kiddos are little I'm also a short order cook (or so it feels), so there's always something being drained on the runnels (or so it feels).

The drainboard is, of course, super easy to wipe clean, and we love not having puddling water under the dishrack! The runnels are, of course, not as easy to clean but we're more of a live-and-let-live family, so I don't obsess about it. Weeeell ... we have marble slab countertops, and maybe a month ago I decided to poultice the runnels. Holy cow did they look sparkly white! So I immediately sealed them and then we were back to our slovenly ways. Whatever, life's too short to futz with all that. I'd rather eat a snow cone while pushing children in a swing.

runnels:

drainboard:

It was two+ years ago and I do not recall exactly how much they cost. I do remember the drainboard was more than the runnels, but maybe for both they were like $700. ??? I remember the runnels were going to be a few hundred dollars (total), but the drainboard pushed it over. Ouch. The first fabricator with whom I wanted to work was going to charge $2,000 for the runnels alone because he'd have to purchase the bit to use to cut them and I (and I alone) was going to pay for it. The fabricator we used is a bigger outfit so they already had the bit. Truthfully, I don't really want to remember how much everything cost -- fuzzy memories can be a good thing!

Thanks, Rmkitchen. That's exactly the functionality I'd like, just not sure if I'm willing to pay as much as I've been quoted for it... Anyone else? Any stone people out there able to comment?

RMKitchen  I just spent 45 minutes viewing your gorgeous kitchen. I want to thank you for taking the time to write such helpful comments on each picture. I have many good ideas now  thanks to you. :-)

Oh! I already wanted a pull-out broom closet  thanks for posting yours. It is great to know that 6" is wide enough (if one takes care with the peg board) and that you like it going all the way to your 9 ceiling.

To keep this On Topic  I knew about runnels, but not about integrated drainboards.

We cut drainboards into the stone on both sides of our main sink. I love them and wish we had also done them on both sides of our prep sink. I'm pretty messy at the sink. I have to be careful around the prep sink to make sure water puddling on the counter doesn't drip down the front of our cabinets--no worries at the main sink. The slope is subtle and I forget that the drainboards are there most of the time. The use of the counter for other purposes isn't affected at all.

We originally wanted runnels but the small quarry/fabricator we got the stone from said they didn't do runnels. Our drainboards were, at most, $100 a piece 5 years ago (but it was a very small shop that only worked with the stone they quarried so their price structure may have been a bit different from other fabricators.) I don't miss runnels. Our colanders all have small legs so they drain fine on the drainboard.

Like rmkitchen, we have a dishrack that lives on one of the drainboards. I've always considered the dishrack an integral part of our kitchen so it's never bothered me (but our kitchen isn't open to the rest of our house.)

Between the drainboards being subtle and the dark color, I've found it difficult to get pictures.

{{!gwi}}

BostonPam--found the email...thanks!

RMKitchen...I think I saw your honed marble countertops on another post. Lovely. So...what's your consensus re: the etching issue?

(sorry for the hijack)

Thanks, Rmkitchen. That's exactly the functionality I'd like, just not sure if I'm willing to pay as much as I've been quoted for it... Anyone else? Any stone people out there able to comment?

Here is mine...we love it. Don't remember what it cost, but it wasn't much at all. A dish rack lives on it. The only issue we had was that they cut it almost flat, so the water didn't run off into the sink (DUH) at first - it took 2 more tries until they got it right.

zelmar,
I like the look of the plain drainboard cuts without runnels that you have on both sides of the sink. What is the stone? Is it soapstone or honed granite?
The finish on the cabinets combined with the stone gives your kitchen an excellent feel of an older kitchen, yet with modern amenities. Who did your cabinets?
Best regards.