I would call them about that large crack and chipping or gouges on the corners. May have happened during installation, unless it’s 2 pieces and they didn’t line it up properly, but there is usually just one slab, so it looks like a crack to me

The two island pieces aren't sequentially bookmatched, for instance instead of being piece 1 and 2 it is piece 1 and 4 so the pattern isn't a match. Secondly I would have talked you out of the mitered edge with such a fragile stone. In the end though, the fabricators don't seem very skilled. Hopefully more people chime in.

Quartzite is $200 a square and up because it requires advanced fabrication skills. And fresh new blades.

How did you select this fabricator? That stone?

You can't apply Corian seam standards to natural stone. Corian seams are usually highly inconspicuous and invisible every now and again. You're not getting that with chippy natural stones.

The adhesive color matches aren't bad. I'd consider reprofiling and polishing the edges on site to more rounded. That will erase a lot of the chips and make subsequent chipping less likely.

The second-to-last island seam picture looks like the adhsive was screeded before the catalyst kicked. When it did kick, it shrunk and pulled the adhesive below flush. Might be able to pretty that up with some super glue and a razor blade.

Thank you all. Verbo, the stone is from a local So Cal stone yard that our GC recommended and the fabricator is his guy. Says he has been top notch but has health problems that were not disclosed until after this all happened. Not a peep from anyone that this stone might have such ugly mitered edges. Joseph, Corian isn’t for me but we could have easily picked quartz if we were informed this was the expectation for the edges. I’m cautiously optimistic that the edges can be improved but overall just disappointed.
As it stands the sink area will have to be from a different lot entirely and I hesitate to start that if the we are going to end up taking it out to start over.

@Jennifer Lofft, I used to live in LA and used 2 very good fabricators over the last 10 years. Can share their info if you need a second opinion or a new fabricator. I bought 7 quartzite slabs at Modul during that time too. I found them to have the best selection/quality and Marble Unlimited a close second. Wasn't impressed with most of the other stone yards in the LA area.

I have a honed marble island with a 2 5/8" mitered edge. It looks amazing. No chips. No noticeable seams. Your slabs do not look book matched. I would push back heavily on your GC to repair/replace this mess.

Jennifer, I too am in Southern CA and had quartzite installed in February with mitered edges. The edges do not have any chips and the seams are well done. Message me if you would like the contact info. of either the fabricator or the stone repair company we used for sealing the stone (they also got rid of the only instance of staining we had from a dishwasher air gap that had a washer improperly installed). I’m so sorry you are dealing with this… I know that stomach-dropping feeling when you invest so much time, money and energy into a remodel and something visually important like countertops are installed in a manner that doesn’t meet expectations.

It doesn't sound like their other guy was too optimistic that he could make the edges that much better and that still doesn't address the mis-bookmarked? How might I find out if I was sold bookmarked slabs that were out of sequence or if this is a fabrication issue?

Do you have any photos of the slabs? My slabs were numbered on the sides and I photographed the slab and the ID tags. I purchased slabs out of sequence because of my personal preference for the choices of slabs. Book-matched needs to be sequential.

Even sequential bookmatches are not going to be exactly perfect with natural stone. This is a bookmatch quartzite and you can see that the slabs are not quite identical at the seam (where the veins form a triangle). There will always be some slight variation between even sequential slabs that will become more apparent when bookmatched.

Oh wow! It took me a minute to even find where those come together. What a nice job they did and a beautiful stone.

I have a feeling based on your username that I live pretty near you. I've not installed bookmatched stone, nor am I an expert, but there are more than a few stoneyards in our area that pride themselves on bookmatching, and yours doesn't look bookmatched to me(looking at the 2nd and 3rd photos).

Of course, it would cost more to do so, but I'm assuming you paid for bookmatched stone.

So, if your GC really is "reputable", then you're going to find out about that! Because I would not be happy with what you received.

Oh yeah, that creepy owl face staring me down, waiting to snatch food out of my pan, would definitely have to go! That would seriously give me nightmares. 🤣

Setting aside all the chipping and bad edges, I wonder if it would have been possible to have cut that ugly part off and then seamed it together.

Here I cut out just passed the part that we don’t like on both sides and then put the two pieces back together.

Before

After.

It might have not been exactly perfect, but it might have been acceptable. Maybe with whatever $ refunded that you paid extra for book matched?

Another problem that could be an issue is the fact that they have to redo the sink counter and it has to come from a different lot. Even if the island was perfect, it might not match very well to the new lot for the perimeter counters. 😩 So frustrating. I am so sorry you have to deal with this. Here’s hoping they will redo everything.

Beautiful quartzite btw! What is it called? Mont blanc? I love your floors. I also love love love the color of your island. From the teeny peek I can see, it looks like it might be a teal color? What is the paint color?

Hey, if you do get to pick all new slabs, maybe you can find a quartzite you like even more? Although that one is pretty darn spectacular! I have seen some slabs that have a bit more of the teal color mixed in with the veining, which would look great too. Please keep us updated on how it all works out.

Ha ha, creepy owl! Your 're-cut' without the owl would have been a potential solution, if only they would have actually talked through the templates as requested. We just met with our GC and we are probably going to take out the island in addition to the sink area and get 3 new slabs. We will likely leave the other two counter areas unless they prove to be a poor match. Oh and this stone is nowhere to be found. It is called California Dreaming in a leathered finish. Now we wait. It sound like, unless we want to scorch the earth, we will pay for the 3 new slabs. That absolutly is a gut punch. How is the division of cost typically 'eaten' when things go sideways? It sounds like out GC is not willing to recoup anything from the fabricator due to the guys health condition that will force him to close shop. Kind of him, yes, but also seems like more of the burden gets shifted/guilted my way. They also had to pull out an expensive bifold window that they ordered folding in the wrong direction and want us to pay 1/3 of cost of the new window. Also they reportedly traded old window (that was installed and then removed) for $300 to ofset the cost of the new install. it was a 4K window. The contractor and his project manager couldn't be nicer guys but damn, mistakes left and right and that is not even all of them. I don't want to be unreasonable here but struggling to understand why their mistakes are costing me.

I really love the paint color too. More super dark green with a hint of teal. it's BM Salamander.

Nice guys? Nice guys wouldn't stick you with the cost of their mistakes. Sorry. I would not accept the cost of the window issue. The quartzite edges are not acceptable. You did not approve the template as initially agreed upon. Your GC needs to handle this and make it right.

They see you as willing to eat the cost and are more than happy to prey on you. Sorry. But you should stand firm and insist they eat their mistakes.

You should not have to pay for their mistakes. That’s not good business for them either. For them to expect that is ridiculous!

I am a fabricator. "I asked numerous times to approve the templates prior to beginning but that was never done." Your fabricator blundered. Even a customer that doesn't know enough to ask to approve the templates should be required to do so by the fabricator with a stone like quartzite. Even with book matched slabs there are usually compromises and options that should get customer approval before anything is sawn. (The biggest failed job I ever had was a customer that insisted she didn't need to review everything before sawing and then still felt like she could reject the job after it was installed because she "didn't like it". If there ever is a next time I will walk away.) You have every right to insist on a remake particularly if you have documentation like an email that proves you requested the template prior approval.

Hi Jen, dealing with some similar issues with an install that we just had done. I'm socal based as well and was wondering if you ended up with a new fabricator that you would recommend and how the edges in particular were corrected. Thank you!

Hi Corinne, I'm sorry you are dealing with that! We ended up having them buy new slabs and refabricate the island as well as the sink area. We decided that we could live with the seams in the beverage center and one other area. The GC ate the cost of the new slabs and had someone different fabricate them, also at no additional cost to us. I'm sure he was less than pleased. It seems that quartzite is a lot more challenging to work with well and requires very sharp tools and experienced fabricators and I would imagine extra cost. I'm not sure who he used, sorry!