Brian:

It may be technically possible to refinish the faded areas if it's only the very top layer of resin that's compromised.

Two things not covered.., UV degradation, and a heat induced stress fracture.

You're hijacking every Cambria post you can find and saying they don't honor their warranty (on an issue that was never covered). Yes, that's trashing.

Since your warranty has expired, try using some Tenax Ager on it. You can order it online. It is a color enhancer and we have had success with it bringing faded colors back to life. Our little secret shared!

once again, it is a Lifetime Warranty and has NOT expired. Cambria has excluded Light damage from their coverage. I will look into that product. Thank You...

Once again, and slowly. No matter how long Cambria’s warranty is, it’s still a “limited’ one. It doesn’t cover UV damage. That‘s because it’s a natural reaction to sunlight and they can’t prevent it. But they state it which warns you. It’s similar to a wood floor. Any wooden floor will fade with sunlight and no company will come and replace your floor because you find the color’s changed. Cambria isn’t at fault and doesn’t deserve your heartache.

Yes, it is a Limited Lifetime Warranty, I NEVER STATED OTHERWISE, but, it did not Expire as others have stated. My complaint, if you would read through, is that NOWHERE on their website (and possibly other manufacturers) do they warn consumers about this. Nor do they provide the availability for customers to voice their opinions. I understand (now) and accept my situation.
My motivation is to educate/alert future consumers of this problem. When people spend more for a product than natural stone, thinking they're getting a better product, they need to understand all the issues with that product.

Please note: the current warranty shown on their website does not exclude damage from sunlight, unless installed outside. It wasn't until later, when I requested the warranty for my installation time period did I see UV damage specifically called out.

Many "natural" stones are resinated at the processing plants. That resin is subject to UV light degradation, same as engineered stone. I saw the stuff peeling off in sheets at an outdoor top in a Vegas hotel.

Looking for suggestions. my island quartz is going to require a seam due to it being oversized. I made the decision early on in the design process to make sure it was proportionate to the rest of the kitchen. I also chose colors and textures to work with Cambria's Brittanica Gold. I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it. The problem is the Cambria rep/fabricator in my area presented me with a layout that I know i won't be happy with. It doesn't seem like its for a lack of trying but more the movement and veins that are causing the problem. I would love some advise before i sign off on anything.

You are not going to be happy with that. They have obviously tried to do the seam in the area where there is not much veining but it doesn’t look good. We ended up buying two slabs and getting an almost exact match but I know that is an expensive way to go. We were able to do our whole island in one slab but the backsplash had to be matched.

That’s a shameful job of matching the “vein”. Totally unacceptable!

Is that using a Jumbo Slab? 4 cm laminated, or 6 cm laminated?

They also did a J seam.. oops

This is not a Cambria mistake..it’s a fabrication error. While their patterns are gorgeous and mimic the look of a natural stone from Mother Nature, that seam is completely unacceptable and it sounds like when the fabricator would not help out, the consumers starts to badmouth the product. Same with cracking which occurs when installed improperly...and that’s any stone product. In my experience a layout can be “ drawn” on a slab or 2 to see which veins and character you want to see and where the seam will end up being. Shapes, or really large L shapes can be tricky.

Miagia22 have you considered having 2 tiers or a lowered bake area? I will design with those in mind to try and avoid seams and break up the need in an oversized top.

What size is your island?

the island is 12 feet long. we are using a jumbo slab. its a straight seam, not a j seam. i really didn't want to break up the sleek look of the island design by doing 2 tiers but it's not out of the question at this point. they are very willing to work with me and even took the 6 consecutively produced slabs to try to match them best but still this is what they came up with.

love my Cambria they were great I understand your disappoint but it's not Cambria fault

nope, not pointing fingers just looking for suggestions. like i said, it's not for a lack of trying on their part but the nature of the beast.

How long is a slab? Our countertops are 96” if I remember correctly and they used an entire slab. We love it!!

miagia22 I agree with the others that the seam, as presented, might drive you crazy. We have a single run of 113" Brittanicca and it looks great. I literally just stand and look at it. If a drop-down counter is an option, that might be it if you want to stay with this pattern. It will still be dramatic at that size! (we're still finalizing lighting).

Floform, our fabricator did an incredible job installing our Cambria Brittanicca counter tops in December. The seam is almost invisible even though the veining is bold and dramatic. It is important finding a fabricator that will take the time and effort to ensure that the veining is a perfect match. We are still awed by the workmanship every time we look at our counter tops.

I understand your disappointment. It's not everyday we spend $6,000 on a countertop. It is a beautiful pattern still. If you can't get any satisfaction from the manufacturer or installer mayb

Do you mind sharing your your square ft? My fabricator is quoting me $13k for my kitchen with waterfall island. Cambria Quartz :-(

If you want the veining to be perfect, you need to be prepared to buy more material than you need.

For instance if you have 55 sf in your kitchen you will most likely need to buy 2 slabs - 120 SF to have enough room to move around the pieces to make them match up.

Everyone loves the veining and movement, but everyone shops on price (or like the comment just above mine - trying to figure out what the “best” SF price is.)

Bottom line is to have a final product whose veining lines up perfectly it is going to consume a lot of material - this does not matter if it is granite, quartz or solid surface.

We install a ton of Brittanicca and veined colors. If the customer does not have the budget to do it right we will not sell it to them. We will not cut corners and make it work like the fabricator did above.

All that does is leave a customer upset and blaming the fabricator, when in reality the customer did not have the budget to get the extra slab needed to make the veining layout better.

Nobody ever says “I could not afford two slabs so the fabricator did the best he could with one.” Instead they just say, “This fabricator’s work is horrible.”

We understand that sometimes sales reps are not knowledgable about the need for extra material to make veining line up and fail to inform the customer, but more often than not this issue is driven by budget constraints.

As slabs with veining have become more and more common we moved away from SF pricing a long time ago. We show the layout and what it will take to do correctly.

No shortcuts, but that comes at a price.

I am considering Cambria Skara Brae or Brittanica Warm for my major kitchen remodel.

For all of you who have stated the problem is not Cambria but the fabricator, consider this. I was told directly by Cambria two days ago that all Cambria dealers and fabricators are trained by Cambria. So it shouldn't matter what dealer you choose. So it seems maybe the blame should probably be shared.

My concern personally is that my big sample of Skara Brae was beautiful but then I saw a different sample and it looked nothing like it....full of "bubbles" that are the resin. I had a second virtual visit with Cambria and their rep said once I brought this to their attention the bubbles were all any of them in the Cambria headquarters could see. And now I'm seeing this in the three Brittanica choices. This is a an expensive product and the predominance of these spots/bubbles make it look so manufactured. Thoughts?

Countertops 101 when I bought my Brittanica they told me I would need 3 slabs. When I went in to place my counter pattern the fabricator was surprised to know I wanted the seam through the white section which saved me buying another slab. That was a pleasant surprise $$ for me!

Julie F. Here’s my thoughts on Cambria. Brittanica, Skara, and some of the other designs make a statement in your design. Not many people are fortunate to be able to afford Cambria and if you can then go for a statement. Some of their patterns are plain and I would never spend the money on Cambria when you can get a similar pattern cheaper somewhere else. Look at all the counters on HGTV, white with a little movement. You can’t tell who made the quartz BUT if you saw Brittanica or Skara on HGTV a consumer would WANT to know who made it. My advice is to make sure you choose your slab. It will be stunning!!

Agree completely unless they are going to be side by side. Their colors work well together.

Cambria told me all the slabs are identical so how can I choose?

"Cambria told me all the slabs are identical..."

Cambria fibbed.

Sue, that is great news. Glad it worked out and you only needed two slabs.

Julie Feuling - not all fabricators are trained by Cambria. All fabricators have the option to attend Cambria University, but even then there is not much taught there that most seasoned fabricators do not already know. You need to do your do diligence with fabricators as there are HUGE differences in fab quality across the spectrum. Shopping for countertops is not like shopping for a TV. Ask for references and go see their work.

Also, their slabs are not all identical. Depending on the design we have noticed that most veined slabs have similar directional movement, but there are always outliers.

The “spots” or “bubbles” can vary from slab to slab - some have none, some have a few, some have lots.

Generally you do not get to pick your Cambria slabs like you would granite. The only exception would be if you found a fabricator that stocks cambria and would let you pick.

You do not get to pick slabs from a cambria distribution center.

Very helpful! Thank you!

Agree wholeheartedly about checking out your fabricator and their options. I went on the Cambria site to look at different edges and was excited about one of them. Once we placed the template I told the fabricator which edge I wanted and he told me I only had two choices bc those were the only drill bits he had. 🤷🏻‍♀️😡 too late to change fabricators.

I just had Brittanica Gold installed yesterday. It's perfect. The fabricator came from Virginia as I fall into that district.

Coming in late to the game here, but it sounds like the installers didnt meet your expectations when it comes to matching up the veins. I dont understand why this is Cambria's fault?

It is not, in the sense that Cambria's only fault was a failure to train their authorized fabricators/installers about properly setting customer expectations.

NONE of the boldly veined quartz work well on a perimeter without a lot OF EXTRA MATERIAL. . Even then, the reason the ads for this stuff show it on an island? That is where it works BEST. Sorry. that's truth.

Every surface has a best case use - this is one of those. Designers and fabricators generally warn just that. If they are given to truths.

I did get Cambria to redo a piece that was a horrible match (I'm in MN). As soon as it was installed, I rejected it. I took pictures, calmly called Cambria, said most of the work was beautiful but their backsplash (2 pieces) was unacceptable. I wanted to give them a great review and asked if this was really their best work at matching the counter and the backsplash? They agreed it wasn't a good job and would re-do it. We talked about ways to make it work and they did it. Luckily it was an easy fix - popped off the 3-inch backsplash and brought back another one. I even approved the final. Is it a perfect match? No, bc there is an angle and I am reasonable and didn't want to buy another slab. But in this egregious situation, they admitted they did a poor job in matching the major veins. Sometimes it pays to be calm and ask them to do better. And if you want perfection, pay for the additional slab.

I agree with the author

Back in yesteryear, all girls had to take sewing class in school.

I never picked a pattern, because it was not easy to match up a pattern at the seam, and you would have to buy a lot of extra fabric and how would I know if I was buying enough?

And if it didn't match up perfectly at the seam, I knew I would be miserable, and I was sure the whole world would notice.

If you have ever had anything upholstered, you also know this.

And the more expensive upholstery fabric, the more $$ you are paying, just to ensure that the pattern matches at the seams.

And you have to have the very best upholsterer or the pattern won't match at the seams.

Or if you are buying a new piece of upholstered furniture, if you want a patterned material, be prepared to spend a lot for quality workmanship and all that extra material they needed. And the larger the pattern repeat, the more they need.

Sounds like the same sort of thing here.

Unfortunately, that seam is the result of the fabricaton not the product. My fabricators and I communicate on all seams and veining like that. I have had nothing but good experience with Cambria. Hopefully it all works out for you

To avoid seams, I had a full slab used for my kitchen Silestone Soap Stone countertops. They have subtle veining. Fortunately the Silestone slabs were big enough to accommodate “ no seams”. My kitchen designer stressed the importance of not having seams. I am quite happy with that decision❣️I am so glad that I used an experienced kitchen designer, who I researched thoroughly prior to employing him.

Seams that can't be avoided can be minimized. For instance, switching from a standard undermount sink to an apron front sink can "extend' a slab by nearly three feet. This eliminates the seam at the front and reduces the seam at the rear to about 5" nearly half of which is covered by the faucet escutcheon. That far back, you're not going to have a conspicuous seam no matter what the movement in your top is doing.

Did you sue them ?

What you are showing is not Cambria's fault what so ever. When ever you have veining on a stone top you should expect veins to not match up. Do you think they pour your countertop on the job-site? If you think what you have is not acceptable, you should have chosen a pattern without veins.

The paperwork you signed was not Cambria at all but your fabricators paperwork to help protect them from people like you. If you didn't like what you signed you should have asked questions at that point. Your expectations were unachievable.

I am wanting to get this countertop. It’s scary to think mine could possible look like this from Cambriausa.com I hope you have found a resolution . Please let us future buyers know!!

@cmarkey663 just have your fabricator show you the layout to approve first and you will be good to go.

cmarkey663:

You can't really get any better that this Cambria Brittannica seam. It's the fabricator and installer, not the manufacturer.