Terrible job and not acceptable. The seam if done properly on any granite should be virtually invisible. This is a redo in my book. People often overlook the importance of the installation in the excitement of selecting their stone. The installation is as important if not more than the stone selection.

OMG. You must be seriously disappointed. I'm so sorry.
Florida Girl.

Beautiful granite, but sloppy installation, tell them you want a redo! Nothing ventured, nothing gained. No doubt you paid good money for that. Good luck-

Not only are the seams bad, they are weak and in inappropriate locations. Some builders hack had ahold of some chinese prefab slabs rather than cutting them properly out of full slabs. Seams on the angle, like you'd do with laminate, is NOT, how granite is seamed. It need the full support of the cabinets for the weight. The seams should go straight across at a cabinet joining seam. The chippy messy seam is just the icing on the entire poor fabrication.

I agree, this is not acceptable seaming. Good granite installers are a dream to work with because of their craftsmanship, and pride in doing the job right. Not sure what your recourse is, without more information. Good luck.

Not acceptable. I would have had them out the door redoing the work once the first slab had been placed.

This is a photo of our recently installed coffee brown granite. While the seam is not as wide as yours, it is still noticeable.....

A professional granite installation involves also matching the glue to the stone and a true professional will mix colors of the glue to match like an artist so that as I said before the seam is virtually invisible.

The fabricator told us this was common especially for dark colored granite. He so said the Volga Blue granite "chips easily". Anyone hear this or have Volga Blue?

One of the darkest granites is Nero Assuluto, it is black, and I have never seen a chipped edge like yours on any granite counters that my installers have done. It looks like this was cut with a grinder instead of a wet saw.

The only time we have ever seen anything like this was on a stone that is very light called Moonlight. I watched them cut the stone and it was a very "grainy" stone - I can't even describe it as it is unlike anything else we have seen. It may have been a bit better than yours, but was not the crisp seam we usually get from our installers. Had I not seen it with my own eyes, I would have thought it was the installer's error. They did everything they could but nothing helped. I have not tried Volga Blue so I don't know if it has similar characteristics.

This is the layout near the sink area. The installer put the seams on the right and left angles near the sink area. Is there any reason as to why the seam wasn't placed near the faucet due to the shape and size of the area?

Hope this helps, but you should also type in Volga Blue in Houzz and you will see many installations and responses from people who have installed Volga Blue and have not had this issue which you are having.

Thank you! I will certainly do that!

I agree with this probably being Chinese or other lower cost prefab granite. They do offer great value but fall short sometime in the details.

In the end I would try and get someone out there who knows how to properly color match a seam. The chipping is no what I would want but if you are stuck with the at least minimize the flaws.

We had a cheap slab put in a rental that had a seam that stuck out across the room. Our granite guy was able to mix and match where it was a very acceptable repair.

I did call and verify that the granite used was Volga Blue extra or premium grade from the granite supplier.

If that idiot installer ruined actual premium slab granite instead of prefab blanks, the builder needs to kick his sorry behind under the basement slab. He just cost him a bundle, and ruined a beautiful and rare stone.

Beautiful granite, terrible finishing and atrocious installation. Sorry, I feel for you having spent all this money on the stone and the finishing and installation was poor. When I'm not happy with an installation (rarely happens) my granite guys fix it, end of story. Are you working with a designer or contractor? If so, they need to take some responsability on the job being well done. Did you order the stone yourself? Then go back to the supplier and ask for a redo. Once I wanted a chiseled edge on a bathroom vanity and my supplier did it three times before my clients and I were happy with it. That's why I use them.

@redindigodesign: excellent photo of two "cut" products (grinder vs. wet saw). Excellent demonstration as to what can happen when the "boys" are allowed to do what they want at the fabricator's shop (when the cat's away...).

I would push to have this done properly. Sophie points out other crucial "oopsas" these guys did = seams on an angle = "improper installation". It sounds like the fabricator is trying to hide plenty of mistakes by stating "it always does this".

Volga blue is a stone that chips very easy while fabricating but this isn't the home owners problem it just requires more attention in the shop and should leave like any other counter. The seams may have been placed at the angles to keep it all straight runs so it would fit within the dimensions of a slab was there ever a discrepancy on price that would have led to seams where they are?

I agree with Tim, the seams may have been placed at the angles because they may have had three pieces and were trying to keep straight runs, it's not a deal breaker but how they have ultimately joined them is.

our granite is called matrix nevada, very dark, this is our seam

Wow you can't even see that seem. The installer initially told us the seam would be near the faucet or through the middle of the sink however during installation he said he had to switch the seam placement because the tools he had to pull the seams tightly together for the two pieces of granite would not clamp there or would not fit. I can not remember the name of the tool.

We have black granite with a flick and you cannot find a noticeable seam anywhere on countertops. Picture show a horrible job and I would insist on a redo with no expense to you.

We have dark granite and we can even see the seam, it is smooth and blends in perfectly. I think ours is Tropic Brown, which is a combination of black, gray and brown.

Did your installer, because he could not clamp the pieces because of the faucet, recut them on site?

He's talking about a gorilla seam setter, but no matter how tight he pulls his seams together it's not going change any thing with a seam chipped like this one. The seam shown on the matrix photo is a prime example of a seam off a cnc compared to this vulga blue which is clearly cut with a blade that has more wobble than a boomerang . When we dry fit our cnc'd seams in the shop they are hard to find and we don't even have glue yet, just pulled together by hand to blend profiles and inspect color and grain flow They need to attempt a repair to grind the tops( if the chips are shallow enough) or pull it apart and push the edges back without making new chips.

Is it possible to pull the pieces apart and recut them to make the seams better? Or do you have to practically start over?

I just want to make it clear I was in no way trying to insult anyone in regards to it being a prefab slab. Certains things stuck out to me that made me feel it was a prefab which might also explain the angle cut.

With a cut to order slab your installer has already made a template and when it arrives it should be ready to install. With a prefab slab they make them fit on site which appears to have happened here even if it isn't prefab.

Prefab also are available in expensive species of granite if that makes sense.

I honestly feel a lot of the issue besides cut with a grinder is the color match in the seam. A better color match would have gotten away with a happy customer. That said if this is $6k worth of granite cut from one slab you deserve to have it ripped out at their expense. If not sometimes calling someone else in and even paying a couple hundred dollars might end your issue. Maybe there is enough in the overhang to pull the stones closer and clean up the cuts.

Good luck!!

I feel your pain. Here is a photo of my hand selected Lemurian blue countertops. This is what I came home to after the install. Lucky that with all the movement in the slabs it is not too visible from afar. I have another granite pro coming out to try and make it better!!

Do keep us informed as to what happens? Yes, seaming at the sink back and front would have been a better answer, but you now are dealing with what you have. I agree a darker seam filler will help...Good luck.

Our granite is very similar to yours, the flash just seems to make it brighter. Noticeable seem, but not that noticeable.

Seams are never invisible. But that being said that seam looks like they used an angle grinder blade on it or something like that. It doesn't look good. I agree that the seam location is probably to save on material and hence the cost of the installation.

I am a tile company but I come into contact with granite fabricators on a regular basis. Like any other trade there can be a huge discrepancy in the finished product based on the experience of the tradesman involved. I have seen shops with many thousands of dollars of equipment turn out crap and I have seen guys who work out of a truck and do mostly pre fab installs do a pretty nice job. It is highly dependent on the personnel.

I would ask them what they can do for you. At the very least they could try to match the color of epoxy better to make it stand out a little less.

Hopefully people reading this post can become more educated on what kinds of questions to ask a potential fabricator/contractor before the finished product is delivered. I would think an experienced fabricator would have went over those kinds of details with you so you would know what to expect. Managing expectations of finished installations starts when picking out a material.

Hopefully this all works out at some point for you.