granite countertop cost?

[vicb]

Glad to have found this thread, we are in the process right now.

We have looked at slabs and have two samples we are deciding between, then back to tag a slab.

Planning to have an under mounted sink (no lip) but don't like the stainless look in my kitchen so going with the pricey cast iron with porcelain finish

My questions for you guys are this:
1) did you do the 4 in granite backsplash? (I know some said they did)
2) if you did a backsplash did you do tile above it to the cabinet bases or just paint drywall?
3) or did you run tile all the way down to the granite counter top?

 

[Tinkermommy]

Glad to have found this thread, we are in the process right now.

We have looked at slabs and have two samples we are deciding between, then back to tag a slab.

Planning to have an under mounted sink (no lip) but don't like the stainless look in my kitchen so going with the pricey cast iron with porcelain finish

My questions for you guys are this:
1) did you do the 4 in granite backsplash? (I know some said they did)
2) if you did a backsplash did you do tile above it to the cabinet bases or just paint drywall?
3) or did you run tile all the way down to the granite counter top?

We do not have a granite backsplash. We have tile that runs all the way down to the granite and up to the cabinets. I love it. I think it looks much nicer as well.

We have an under-mounted sink and I love that as well.

My in-laws have the corian countertop and sink. It is a beige color and the sink always looks dirty to me. It's about 10 years old now but it has looked that way for years.

I recently saw a Pedge commercial that says you can use it to clean granite. Does anyone use Pledge on their countertops?

 

[bicker]

I recently saw a Pedge commercial that says you can use it to clean granite.

I saw that, and my response was, "Why?!?" I bet for every type of surface there are less expensive and perhaps more appropriate ways of doing what Pledge is supposed to do.

 

[walden]

We just got a new corian kitchen counter top, and so far we like it. We are pretty careful with it as to not scratch or stain it. If we still had kids at home, we may have gone with something else. Kids are hard on stuff like that.

Yes, and it comes in lovely colors too. Unfortunately I'm probably just as hard on my kitchen counters as kids. I cook a lot!

Bicker, on the concrete counters, when I was researching 4-5 years ago they were really very new. I remember that people were reporting cracking, staining, lack of heat resistance, and the sealant being quite fragile. As with granite, concrete needs to be sealed and cared for. This is from memory and they may be better now.

Just an FYI for everyone redoing kitchens, try the Gardenweb Home Site kitchen forum. Those ladies really know their stuff and are very helpful!

 

[vicb]

We do not have a granite backsplash. We have tile that runs all the way down to the granite and up to the cabinets. I love it. I think it looks much nicer as well.

We have an under-mounted sink and I love that as well.

My in-laws have the corian countertop and sink. It is a beige color and the sink always looks dirty to me. It's about 10 years old now but it has looked that way for years.

Thanks. Have you had any trouble with cracking of the grout/caulk line where the tile meets the granite? I am worried about that.

I agree about the corian sinks not looking clean. Initially I thought we would do corian but have changed our minds.

 

[jrmasm]

Thanks. Have you had any trouble with cracking of the grout/caulk line where the tile meets the granite? I am worried about that.

I agree about the corian sinks not looking clean. Initially I thought we would do corian but have changed our minds.

I have a tile backsplash that goes from the counter up to the bottom of the cabinets. I have no idea what the grout even looks like. I think it's clear silicone. I'm guessing there is no cracking because I haven't noticed it.

 

[ccgirl]

Glad to have found this thread, we are in the process right now.

We have looked at slabs and have two samples we are deciding between, then back to tag a slab.

Planning to have an under mounted sink (no lip) but don't like the stainless look in my kitchen so going with the pricey cast iron with porcelain finish

My questions for you guys are this:
1) did you do the 4 in granite backsplash? (I know some said they did)
2) if you did a backsplash did you do tile above it to the cabinet bases or just paint drywall?
3) or did you run tile all the way down to the granite counter top?

I got the 4 in backsplash only because I couldn't pick out a tile backsplash. So, I had all intentions of replacing it with tile from counter to cabinet. But...that was 5 years ago and I sill have the 4 inch backsplash.

Not a big fan of corian. I tend to put my hot pans on the counter and spill the kids juice. Those just spell disaster with corian.

As far as what to use to clean, I have not tried pledge as a PP suggested but Windex does the trick.

I have the undermount sink. However, my counter hole is a bit larger the sink so I do have the little lip on the sink. Drives me crazy. I use a toothbrush to clean it every now and then when I'm in an OCD mood.

 

[pixiewings71]

How do folks feel about those solid surface countertops that integrate the sink in? I hate hate hate the lip of the sink. I would love to be able to just wipe crumbs and such directly into the sink and thereby down into the garbage disposal.

I have a stainless steel undermount sink in the kitchen. I it!!!!! The edges of the granite by the sink are not rounded, they are simply straight cuts, it looks good, and it's so easy to clean up. I love wiping crumbs into my sink. LOL

Glad to have found this thread, we are in the process right now.

We have looked at slabs and have two samples we are deciding between, then back to tag a slab.

Planning to have an under mounted sink (no lip) but don't like the stainless look in my kitchen so going with the pricey cast iron with porcelain finish

My questions for you guys are this:
1) did you do the 4 in granite backsplash? (I know some said they did)
2) if you did a backsplash did you do tile above it to the cabinet bases or just paint drywall?
3) or did you run tile all the way down to the granite counter top?

The stainless looks good in our kitchen, but our appliances are black and the SS just goes really well with the colors we used. We have tiles on the wall by the stove, the tiles go from the counter top to the cabinets. Our tiles are granite tiles that are an exact match to the counter tops we chose.

Thanks. Have you had any trouble with cracking of the grout/caulk line where the tile meets the granite? I am worried about that.

I agree about the corian sinks not looking clean. Initially I thought we would do corian but have changed our minds.

No cracked grout, it's been 4.5 years since we moved back in (our fire was at 3 am on New Year's Day, so about 2 hours after we went to bed) and the group looks just like it did from day 1. When choosing your grout color have a sample of the granite with you, chose a color that's darker then what you want because when grout dries it dries lighter. At least that was our experience.

 

[MrsPete]

I just put it in a relatively small kitchen for $2500

Wow. My laminate was $2400 a couple years ago. Our house has HUGE rooms, and that means that anytime we change anything . . . it costs a fortune!

When we build our new house, it's going to have a SMALL KITCHEN with a MONSTER-SIZED walk-in pantry. A pantry is much less expensive to build, and I can store all my things there and just bring out what I'm using at the moment.

 

[bicker]

How do they break down the pricing? Surely they charge separately for materials and labor, and the price for materials is probably very closely related to square footage, but the price for labor, I suspect, is regressive, so the difference between a small job and a big job is probably not as much as the size of the job might imply.

 

[Rumpus]

Glad to have found this thread, we are in the process right now.

We have looked at slabs and have two samples we are deciding between, then back to tag a slab.

Planning to have an under mounted sink (no lip) but don't like the stainless look in my kitchen so going with the pricey cast iron with porcelain finish

My questions for you guys are this:
1) did you do the 4 in granite backsplash? (I know some said they did)
2) if you did a backsplash did you do tile above it to the cabinet bases or just paint drywall?
3) or did you run tile all the way down to the granite counter top?

When we did our kitchen, instead of a stainless sink we chose a granite composite sink. I can't remember the name of it, but it blends in so nicely with the granite and it is undermounted. My neighbor has porcelain and she has to be very careful. It scratches. I did not want the backsplash. I thought it would be too busy. We opted for the tile all of the way down. I am happy with the way it turned out.

 

[minnie56]

I have granite and LOVE it! I only have it as backsplash on my island which is 2 level the upper being the sit up at a counter and that is about 6 inches perhaps higher than the level that has the sink.The rest of the kitchen I have tumbled travertine backsplash with random inserted small copperlike tiles and a larger insert over my cooktop. Total cost, granite only was $14,000.

 

[Disney Doll]

We have a decent -sized kitchen with a lot of counter space....people actually come into my house and exclaim "I can'tr believe all the counter space you have!!!!".

We redid the kitchen a couple of years ago. Got a granite counter. We looked at Silestone briefly, but DH was fixated on granite. I found a couple that I liked. The granite place let me take home samples of them so I could put them in the kitchen and see how they looked at various times throughout the day in the various types of lighting that (electric, fluorescent and natural) that occur in the kitchen. I found that to be very helpful in choosing. The installer did such a fabulous job of hiding the seam that you would actually have to run your hand over my conter to find it and you might even have some trouble then. It is one of the best granite installs I have ever seen.

We have a stainless steel undermounted sink, which is nice for the crumb-sweeping thing everyone is talking about. Stainless steel appliances as well, so thanks for the tip about the Windex Multi Surface Cleaner as the streaky appliances have been driving me insane and all the stainless steel cleaners don't seem to be doing the trick.

We tiled the entire backsplash from countertop to cabinet bottom with an alabaster tumbled marble subway tile with glass tiles in shades of silvers, grays and greens (granite is a gunmetal gray with green and lilac and peach flecks thorughout) interspersed for some interest. Truthfully, I LOVE our backksplash. I think it makes the kitchen! The glass tiles pick up the stainless silver and the flecks of green in the granite. Really looks nice. I just have to get out fo the habit of having a lot of crap on my counters so people can actually see the backsplash!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Our kitchen redo was budget driven as we're in the midst of a whole house, primarily DIY renovation.

We looked at all the options for countertops. They were the one thing we were unsure about. Like most people, we assumed granite would be more costly than other options. But with shopping around, we were able to get granite for less than the cost of the corian. (I really liked the colors of recyled glass countertops but their cost was double that of the granite.)

We went with a Mom and Pop type operation, but they price matched and we shared an order with someone else getting the same granite. They came out and did the template the day after cabinets were put in, and installed the countertops within a week of template, as promised. That was huge as it was hard being without a sink or fully functional kitchen for the weeks it took to do the renovation and some places said it would be three weeks from template to installation. We went with basic edges and have a small kitchen so we didn't need seams.

I really love it but I must say, I baby it, lol. Probably because the last time we got new countertops, which was about 20 yrs ago, my sister sliced a bagle right on the formica about a week after we got them and it left a huge scratch smack in the middle. I lived with that darn scratch for a long time and it drove me nuts every time I saw it! So I still use trivets and cutting boards, and I usually just wipe them down with a damp paper towel. Once in a while I use a granite wipe which gives them a nice shine.

We kept our black appliances as they were fairly new, and I'm glad when I hear complaints about streaky stainless because that would also drive me crazy. As we do need appliances, I'll probably start getting ones that are both stainless and black, combined. We aren't going anywhere so resale isn't an issue. We just want updated living spaces we'll enjoy right now.

 

[Lanshark]

I love it. I too went through Home Depot and picked the slab I wanted. I believe it was around $3200. Keep in mind that the sink, faucet and backsplash price can add up quickly.

 

[lsyorke]

I LOVE my granite! Got if from a local granite wholesaler(large place), picked out own slab. 50 sq. feet, installed for $3800. Construction was very down in our area, so they negotiated really well.
Undermount stainless steel sink.
LOL! Guess I should have waited until they fine tuned the closing on those end drawers!

 

[Fly4free]

Another fan of Quartz here. I chose it because I was afraid of the kids staining it. I can't tell you how many times I've come home from work and found Juice or punch, grease and other things that are very bad for counters left sitting there. The surface of the quartz is so solid it does not absorb anything so it does not stain. It also wont hold bacteria and never needs to be sealed.

I chose Cambria cranbrook and absolutely love it!