re: I'm trying to choose granite ... do you know what yours is? (update on page 4)

Have you seen concrete after ten years? Yuk. It definitely does not age well.

I have 8 year old concrete in my house, I made 6 slabs of it after Katrina, and it mostly looks good. It could use some TLC in some areas though. My wife is very rough on it. Most of the slabs are 2" thick, and they'll be here until the apocalypse.

That kitchen looks nice. I looked into concrete countertops for a house I am currently building and decided against.

The quotes were more expensive than the Caesar stone we decided to go with and finding a sub who has experience doing it well seemed difficult.

I will have a walnut butcher block island.

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I am in the industry. I would be glad to help you any way I can.

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The most frustrating part about this whole process is that you can't really go to a stone yard and know the prices. Either you or the stone yard tells your fabricator (or in our case, our kitchen person who tells the fabricator) the name of the stone and the particulars of the slabs and then the fabricator tells you what the installed price will be. This process is so tedious!

And now we're wavering back towards quartzite, but we're not sure just how much more expensive it will be.

Since you're in the business, are there any shortcuts? Or general formulas like quartzite installation will be about 30% more than a nice granite?

I have a granite called Dakota mahogany. It wasn't the cheapest choice, but I love the rusty tones (picks up the color in our cabinetry and the brick tones of our Old Chicago floor) interspersed though the dominant slate colors. I love the look of dark granite, and it is surprisingly easy to keep looking good. Because it is variegated, it doesn't show every little water spot like black granite would.

An added bonus is that it is quarried in the U.S.

ETA: It looks stunning with stainless appliances.

It's about the colors as much as the pattern. Took friends and wife to the granite yard and we all agreed on the same pattern and color to match the kitchen interior (some walls are brick). It had to be 3 cm and they did penciled edges. We liked it so much we also made a kitchen table out of it and an island top. It's been about 10 yrs and we have yet to re-seal it.

Dunno why the stone yards aren't quoting you prices on the slabs....I did not experience this in the NOLA area.

Maybe they used to do it differently, but that's pretty much SOP with stone suppliers. They won't tell you the exact cost but they'll tell you the grade. I believe it's graded A-F with A being the least expensive.