Thank you

Shannon it was on a different thread and I apologized. I feel awful for saying what I said, just awful......

CC have any pics??

Here are some old ones...

Really pretty and it is busy so I like the calm backsplash

Thank you

Jan I have drawings and a plan

Here’s today...

Mind you, it’s honed. I’m not sure you can get your “pre- fab” counters refinished. I love the honed! It’s beautiful and shows nothing... 😁

CC, very nice. I like the honed and they did a nice job w/the corner seaming. You used a slab thought, right? much easier to fabricate those turns w/directional veining.

and yes, Kathy, with Fantasy, if you have an L or odd shape like CC has, it can be difficult to match the pattern. this is a good match up because they used a full slab. see how the veining runs the same way?

I can't find a bad pic, so use your imagination on this one. pretend this island is an L coming off that perimeter. see how the movement runs in the opposite direction?

If using two pre-fabs, you'll get different directions when placed together.

if you have all straight runs, you'll be fine. if not, you'll need a slab.

Same with the Viscount, aka of Silver Cloud

look on the top middle portion. compare it to the left. see the directions? they don't jive.

so if your countertops are laid out like these, Fantasy is fine w/the prefab

Beth I hade a u shaped kitchen with a peninsula. Am not dead set on brown fantasy. Just started looking yesterday, but I understand what you’re saying. I think! We are bumping out the peninsula 24-30” and swapping location of double oven and fridge. Otherwise layout stays the same. I have big drawers under the cooktop that I love. We have red oak hardwood floors already that will be patched and stained to match the rest of the house, I think it’s called Aged barrel. All new appliances, cabinets countertops backsplash

Windows

Beth do you know what granite that is in the pic with the blue bowls

We could also do an L shaped with a small island but don’t know if I want ther

It's fantasy brown. all of the pics are FB except the raised bar one

So with you size kitchen and countertop layout, you're going to have to go w/a slab IF you plan on using a very directional movement stone like Fantasy, or anything with strong veining.

you will also need to look at the fabrication BEFORE they cut it, to make sure your veining is going to line up properly. in some cases you may need to buy another slab.

if you want pre-fab, you'll need to pick a more solid type of granite, a quartz or something with a lot of random speckles. Alaska White may be doable, depending on the movement in the piece you pick.

Ok thanks so much!!

Sigh ~~<

I get what you’re saying finally

Amen, because now i don't have to say what Beth just said. You need.......s _ _ _ s: )

You need a trip to a good stone yard, WITH the actual cabinet plan , ( the one with all the dimensions , and appliances etc ) , in hand. You pull those slabs out, and you look and touch with a magnifying glass..

You can not select without that plan, No stone yard can offer good advice without that plan or hazard a guess as to how much you need.

Then? You make certain you have a very reputable fabricator, and you are HOME for the laser template, At that point you will see where seams will be located, etc, discuss the edge you want. Then you examine that and nothing is cut without that approval.

All of that and the good plan will spare you a trail of tears, here.

And spare you this.....

We have a VERY similar kitchen layout and went with a directional granite, but got remarkably lucky we did it with one slab. If not for sheer luck and tenacity from our fabricator, we would have needed to either buy a second slab or choose a different granite. BUT we ended up carrying the the bold, fat veins horizontal across the peninsula to achieve this. I have no problem with it, but I know others might feel it's "incorrect."

Here's the mock up from the fabricator. We got very lucky that the left corner seam is completely invisible except for a subtle inch near the edge. The right one is more noticeable installed, when you're close up and see that actually that thick vein has two different color patterns, but since that corner is in shadow and that's usually where our dishes sit before getting washed or rinsed for the dishwasher, it's nearly invisible to us. WE GOT LUCKY.

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Invisible seam was possible because of the "static" coloring in between veins. Since it's fairly even and steady throughout the slab, that allowed for matching.

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I can try to get better shots of the granite or hunt for my old thread on here. This isn't quite Viscount, and I've seen a lot of variation in those slabs.

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What it looked like before we painted. I know mine has more black in it than what you're looking at.

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All this to say - everyone is right about pre-fab and directional patterns for a U-shaped kitchen. It's not impossible, but it's going to be much, much trickier, and I don't know if a pre-fabber would take all the time to sift through the slabs and see if they can get you a decent seam match. When I was getting quotes, I saw wild swings in cost of the same slab from the same yard between different fabricators.

Also, when we weren't sure if we were going to get a good seam match, the fabricator was looking through their remnants to see if they could find something similar enough to work without making us buy another slab (the "waste" from each slab would essentially make one whole slab, kill me now).

Jan what is —-s?

Omg Sue!! What happened??

Not my granite, it was a thread here a couple years ago. It’s always stuck in my mind when this topic comes up.

Geez that’s a bad one

Wow Emilikins thanks so much. This is giving me a big fat headache

Yes, we have one Seam through the sink and it’s unnoticeable. We had a great fabricator. I was worried about seams so when he told us only one at the sink I was thrilled! Beth is right. If I remember correctly we paid by the sq. ft., we didn’t buy a slab. I don’t know if different stone places charge differently? It worked out in our case.

CC - Yeah, how they charge seems to vary a bit, but most of the places we'd quoted from did the slab purchase method. I did find out from someone later that one of our places actually only charges by the sq ft, but that was definitely not how it was presented to us and his quotes came in higher, anyway. It all worked out in the end! And we used up the WHOLE slab, so I do feel good about not being wasteful (aside from disposing of our old counters, ahem). A couple charged sq ft if it came from their stock, but we weren't woo'd by what they had, or they had a slab that would definitely need a counterpart and, well, they didn't have a second one from the same bundle to match up.

Kathy Furt - I know that headache well. If you really want veining/directional granite, I would either look for something that has quiet, even tones or speckling in between the ribbons. Generally the fewer seams the better, but we went with two, because it allowed us to cut the slab differently and hide the seams better than doing one noticeable seam. Our fabricator was a puzzler and perfectionist for sure!

Seams can go bad even with an static, speckly granite. My in-laws have Uba Tuba on their counters and their seams are definitely more noticeable than ours. They hate their seams. A friend of mine lives in a house more than twice the value of mine, very swank neighborhood, and she has a medium level of direction in her granite and it's like arrows pointing at the seams. I have no idea if it bugs her, and I honestly wouldn't have noticed except I'd gone through the process within the past year. Now I look for seams because it just makes me appreciate our fabricator more, not because I'm being snobby.

TL;DR - I think your fabricator can make or break any counter choice.

Uba Tuba.

We sold our new build track home over a year ago that had a seam that drove me crazy! It was blue pearl with carrera marble backsplash. We picked out the particular slab. This was a L shaped kitchen with an island. Seam area was all kinda bumpy!

emilikins- your countertops look great! I can’t even find your seam in the pics. You made the right choice! Kathy Furt- with your U- shaped kitchen see if you can do seams at sink or cooktop or both... that works best, IMO. Especially if you use Fantasy Brown or another busier stone. Here’s my one seam in bright afternoon light

emilikins- I didn’t see your whole post until now, I totally agree with you. I look at other people’s seams too! More out of curiosity than anything else. Once you know how it’s done you notice more 😉

Cc yes! Even my sister with her $8k Taj Mahal quartzite has a seam there

My husband is willing to buy up to 3 I think as we are putting leftover in the laundry room

My BIL put that quartzite in a new build he just sold! Gorgeous

I love Taj Mahal quartzite! $$$, though

Omg, I fell in love with Taj Mahal in the yards and ... yeah. Not gonna happen with two kids in daycare! Also an amazing slab of Super White that was way up in the $$$. I love what I chose, it doesn't feel like a compromise ... but it was totally a compromise from those first loves ;-)

So how much are slabs? $5k-10k??

Depends on the slab, the fabricator, your area, etc. In our area, you don't get direct slab pricing. The stone yard sends the fabricators their number, and then the fabricator gives you a quote for the overall job cost (material, labor, etc). I'd see literally the same slab come back with three different prices from the fabricators we used for estimates. Our counters came to $2800 all said and done, but the quotes went up to $5k on it. I saw similar swings with quartz coming off the same brand and model. Quartzite itself was always way up there.

The yards wheel and deal with the fabricators, then the fabricators tack on their costs. It's a strange process.

Yes indeed

The place I went to for my counters did it all. We picked our stone, they came and measured and then told us how much it would cost. I actually don’t remember how much the kitchen was because we also picked two remnants for the two bathrooms and had them all done at once. They fabricated and also honed the Viscount for us. Oddly, the salesman tried to talk us out of honing... I’m glad I stuck to my guns. It was an up-charge but I think we saved money by doing the bathrooms at the same time so it worked out. I don’t know if it’s better to find a “ one-stop shop” like that?

"...as are much cheaper than buying a slab."

Yes, but you're leaving out part of the price equation. Somebody's got to get that blank from that showroom floor to a fabricator. Who's paying for that? With such narrow pieces, compared to a slab, an extra seam or two is inevitable on certain layouts. What's that worth?

Your checking account balance will go up and down. Your countertops are going to say "Good morning." for a damn long time.

Good perspectives all....so true! We did our last house custom maple cabinets granite, thermador double oven and range, Bosch dishwasher. The back splash tile was handmade in Avignon France! Gorgeous! There wasn’t a day I woke up that I regretted any of it. Except the day we moved. Had that kitchen for 17 years

When the natural finish cabinets started to yellow we had them all painted white dove, refinished they hardwoods darker and painted the whole interior, walls, doors, trim, crown and redid the fireplace. It was a great refresh!

So. You have your answer. Courtesy of past experience. Next?????

We have less money this go around Jan. Trying to pad things for retirement and remodel 3100 sq. Ft. At the same time. This house will not appreciate like the last one did. The Bay Area is unbelievable with housing prices

A lousy result is more expensive. Better to do a simple honed black granite,white subway, and do it extremely well.............than have a bad install. For you or the next person. That person? May rip the kitchen anyway: ) Don't retire in the Bay area is the real answer...........

I would never do white subway tile. Waaay too boring for me

Not ready to retire so still need to work in the area, my whole family is here. So yeah retiring out of the Bay Area would be the final goal but so hard to give up this part of California . 45 mins to monterey, Santa Cruz great weather beautiful scenery....