Not sure that a piece of wood laminated to the bottom would be preferable to the seam of a stone lamination. Our vacation condo has a modern look, and we used 2 cm material, and we are very happy with the look.

2cm should be fine as long as you don't do heavy baking or if you have kids that could potentially sit on the countertop.

We often as as standard in residential use 3cm stone; however, when someone chooses to use a 2cm stone it can be laminated as you mentioned. If you choose this route be sure that there is a sufficient substrate, basically the wood underneath the stone. This way the edge looks as though it is thicker but the strength and support is carried across the stone. This is especially important when you have an overhang as you said you do. This should not be seen unless you look underneath but not at all from the edge view. Good Luck!

I agree with Dytecture, my only concern would be the overhang, make sure you can some type of support. Granite can break and it's not always about the thickness, some stones are, for lack of a better word, 'softer' and tend to break easier, however a good granite company should know the answers to these questions if they also fabricate and install the granite.

The only major difference between 2cm and 3cm is the look of the stone--the strength and durability remains basically the same. Generally, people gravitate toward 3cm because it is noticably thicker, especially on the edges. Sometimes, as kaveac said, people going for a modern design use 2cm. If you want your edge profile to be appear thicker so as to give the illusion of a 3cm slab, you could do a build-up edge or a box-miter edge.

That would be a very large overhang for 2cm granite. We use 3-4 different fabricators and I don't think any one of them would agree to that. I would have some type of additional support for the overhang and I would also have additional support built across the tops of the cabinets.

2CM is more common in the West coast markets. 3CM is More East coast Standard. I'm working with both as we make for both east and west coast and its all good. as for the laminating edge, you can just double the 2 or 3 cm or even triple or more once considering doors and drawers clearance under it.

Yes, very true. Use the rule that most reputable fabricators use, more than half of the depth on the support of cabinetry etc and the rest can be overhang overhang. We stock support brackets for bar tops and islands etc that have more than a 12" deep overhang and place them every 24"-30" down the length. I wouldn't have imagined the added support was not being used in this dilemma already. Good Point!

Thanks for all the suggestions and advice. We are going with the 2cm piece and will do a laminated edge to make it look thicker and are using the underlayment for additional support as well as a bracket for the overhang.

Another question though - when using an exotic with a lot of movement or large pattern, what is the best edge to use so that you don't see the laminated seam or notice the change in pattern with the added piece?

Ouch! That is a tough one. Unless you want to have them match the edges, which is hard when material is limited and budgets or not plentiful all have there pros and cons. Here are a few that are acceptable along with a couple alternatives to the standard edges. The final edge and sketch usually requires extra funding depending on who does the work, trust me it is laborious, but results are beautiful!

Wow Amy, that mitred corner seam is really well done.

It is really amazing! What is the edge called on the top left corner one?

Thanks but I did not have pics on hand so these photos are not of our work, had to clear that up.The top left is an 1 1/4" Ogee on top and a 1 1/4" Half Bullnose bottom. The Mitered corner is a work of art for sure, I have personally seen some High End jobs come through our shop and the customer and CNC operator hand select how the edge will roll. Simplified, it's a lot like Wallpaper with a drop match, there is a lot of waste and extra special labor to achieve this look. It is difficult to say if your fabricator has the tooling to create and Ogee Edge on your 2cm, we had to buy more CNC bits to make a recent job ourselves given the 2cm Ogee is not as common in our area. Here is our edge in our Design Center. We like to set the expectation so we intentionally did not match the edges here. When a client is visiting we will point out the options. We do nice work too!

great info here....looking at 2cm vs 3cm quartz right now!

Does anyone have any idea what granite that is in Amy Burke's two photos above in her last post from October 10, 2012 @ 11:29 a.m.? It is beautiful and in line with what I am looking for in my bathroom.

Hi ttugirl,

Those photos above remind me of a Crema Bordeaux granite. Crema Bordeaux can vary greatly from lot to lot, but that stone will definitely give you a similar look.

I agree it looks like a Crema Bordeaux.

Edge detail is a factor not mentioned (unless I missed it). If you like the look of the 3cm and have 2cm, an ogee or another edge detail with a shaped profile can be effective in masking the seam. You do want to have the same thickness throughout the kitchen for a look tht is well pulled together.

thinner is going to be in vogue for the next 10 years.

Deborah is correct. The granite is Crema Bordeaux. It is a gorgeous stone. If you look below at my other Elmwood Showroom display I Designed you will see how versatile such a stone can be no matter what color and style cabinets.

This is a very informative discussion! I have a question about underlayment for 2cm tops. How is it different? Does the contract just lay a 0.75" inch thicker underlayment to make the countertop height standard? Thank you in advance for any information!

So would it look wrong to have a 2 cm island with laminated edge (totalling 4cm) of an exotic quartzite and then a 3 cm neutral taj mahal quartzite on the perimeter counter tops?

Why is 3cm common on the east coast

Hey guys. Looking to replace my Corian with granite. Any ideas? And 2cm vs 3cm? I found this color below called Pictor/Saturina...

It is always better to start your own thread. Once people see how old the original thread is, they will likely not comment because they don't want to read all the way down to find your post and to see what has already been said.

2cm is not used much in our area. It is considered too thin and fragile to hold up to daily kitchen use.

When I lived in Texas most counters in my area were 2 cm and the post above says it's more common on the west coast. I wouldn't use it for a large overhange but most people seem to find it works.

This is a great discussion with good information. I am considering using a 2cm Lagos Blue limestone in a guest bathroom and I am concerned about the laminated edge seam. This stone is not available in 3 cm. A chiseled edge might help disguise the seam. Would love to hear thougths about that edge detail on this type of stone. Also, in this bathroom, we have 2 undermount sinks. Would love to hear if anyone has experince with this type of installation and if it is feasible to have 2 cm material only at the sinks (I realize the fabricator/contractor will have to manipulate the sub surface so it's not visible at the sinks) or if that would look strange to have 2 different thicknesses. Thank you for your feedback.

Limestone in a bathroom? Fall out of love, please.

I'm confused by the 2cm reference. (See my correction below!) 3" is sometimes used--I have a client who insisted on it. But, for most applications, 3" is proportionally (and structurally) heavy and adds considerable cost. Laminating an additional edge sometimes achieves the 3" look, but the seam is often visible.

Thanks John. By 3" do you mean 3 cm? I've always understood most stone slabs to be either 2 cm or 3 cm (centimeters) thick. We'll see a seam unless we do some sort of edge treatment to conseal it... What I'm wondering now is if it's ok to have a 2 cm thickness at the sink and a 4cm laminated edge at the edge of the counter top. I've always done 3 cm as I like the way it looks, but this stone is not available in 3 cm. Thanks so much for your feedback (and anyone else who has experience with this situation).

Sorry for the confusion--I tripped myself up in the blend of inches and centimeters--always a challenge with clients who typically think in inches and trades/suppliers who operate in the metric system, compounded by the reality that quoted sizes and actual sizes differ (ever seen a true 2x4?).

3cm is our standard countertop and I would not go thinner, especially where there is any overhang. In your situation, Arcturus, I'd add a laminated edge and disguise the seam, perhaps with a bevel cut (1/8-1.4" depending) so long as a text cut provides assurance that the material can be cut cleanly. I use a bevel cut in a variety of ways to customize.

Arcturus Studio:

I think 2 cm tops with a 2cm edge build up looks just fine at sinks. So did the guy who paid $3,500.00 for this apron front retrofit. (His front and rear reinforcing rods exploded.)