If you have an IKEA around, check with them.

I posted this last year. In my area, they work with a local fabricator, who will get any type of material at their reduced price, not just what they have in the IKEA store.

Posted by nosoccermom (My Page) on
Sun, Jun 2, 13 at 13:20

I just came back from IKEA with a pricelist for counters.
Some examples:
Granite, 54.00 to 100.00 (promo 42.00)
Zodiaq, from 67.00 to 91.00/sqft (promo 56.00 )
Caesarstone, 67.00 to 100.00 (promo colors 49.00)
VT Marble 59.00 (Montclaire)
Silestone, 72.00 to 115.00
Cambria 79.00 (about 45 colors)
Icestone, 109.00 to 129.00
All including template, fabrication, 1/4" round top/bottom, installation, up to 3 faucet holes

Square foot pricing can be very deceiving when whole slab purchases are involved! For instance, using a low priced stone as an example only. (The costs for labor and material go up together, as the fabricator takes a bigger risk on a more expensive stone, thus the labor to do the "same" job is higher.)

A small condo kitchen has 40 square feet of actual counter space, and buys stone that is $40 a square foot only paying for square footage used. That's $1600 before add ons.

Or, they work with a firm that can't absorb the remnants costs, and they pay for 40 square feet of fabrication and 45 square feet of stone. $1650.

Let's say that the condo was the slightly bigger model, that has 55 square feet of counter space. Now, you're into 2 slabs being purchased, which makes a significant difference if you have to buy whole slabs. Just purchasing the square footage only is $2200. If you have to buy whole slabs, that's 90 square feet of stone that you have to purchase for your 55 square foot job. $2550.

Translate that to a much more expensive stone, and purchasing 3 slabs worth of material for an optimum match, and that easily explains the 10K quote. 78 square feet of fabrication plus 135 square feet of stone would be about $10,650 for one of the premium stone (quartz or granite) materials around here. (3900 Labor+ 6750 materials) And that's for a basic fabrication, before any add ons for edging, or cutouts etc.

With more and more people demanding perfection that the materials don't allow, the price of things is only going to go up to be able to cover the fabricator's risks on the jobs.

MarinaGal--we are sourcing from the same distributor so that makes sense. Do you like FC?

nosoccermom--We do have Ikea and they carry Caesarstone though not the newer colors in store. I will check into that, though.

I don't think I will be able to find it cheaper because the fabricators are getting the FC straight from New England Caesarstone which is the one and only distributor for Caesarstone now in New England (no more Marble & Granite). Fabricators said that NE Caesarstone is charging that much more for those colors. I think it is because they think they can get it. I'm not about to pay that much for an engineered stone. I can easily get marble and replace it in a few years for that cost.

I'm also not buying into the whole "you have to buy the slab thing" as the reason FC is higher. I received quotes from every other engineered stone company at almost half the cost of what FC is quoted. Same kitchen, same amount of space, etc. I have been to three different fabricators now and all gave around the same quotes for everything (Torquay vs FC vs Lagoon etc) I cannot see there being any reason that FC is so special it requires it to be so much more than every other engineered stone/color.

Caesarstone is out-pricing themselves, and it will hurt them in the long run.

I almost went with FC but went with London Grey on my island instead. I would have gone with FC for my entire kitchen but couldn't justify the cost, so when I decided to go with two different quartzes, the London Grey made more sense with with selection I made for the perimeter cabinets. I actually went to the new NE Caesarstone distribution facility in Norwood to look at slabs. Although I think the price for the newer colors is ridiculously high I kept telling my husband I wish I hadn't seen them because they are gorgeous - much more depth in them than the older Caesarstone colors. The Piatra Grey is stunning, but too dark for my kitchen reno....

Is this an issue with your regional distributor? In Northern California, my Piatra Grey (same price group as FC) was about ~60/sq ft last year. Both my GC and KD had trusted sources around that price range.

"Caesarstone is out-pricing themselves, and it will hurt them in the long run."

partridgepeartree:

Everyone said that about Corain when their patent ran out and there was and remains a glut of low cost competitors. Livingstone is Corian with a different name, but DuPont, Corian's manufacturer, has decided that there is no money in a race to the bottom.

Your fabricators are may squawk about the higher prices they're being charged for Caesarstone, but they're thinking, "Hey, if you're getting yours, Caesarstone, I'm getting mine." That exactly what I thought when I was a Corian fabricator and I made a nice living.

I'm glad to see someone believes they make the best stuff, charge accordingly, and are taking their fabricators with them. That's a fine long term strategy.