<p>“Garden Web is great isn’t it?”</p>
<p>I LIVED on Gardenweb before I came here.</p>
<p>Yes, love that GW! The best part is that people post photos of their projects - a picture is worth a thousand words. </p>
<p>This is another excellent resource from a quality granite place regarding how to choose a fabricator and/or supplier, what to look for when choosing slabs, the pricing, quality etc. </p>
<p>[Granite</a> Countertops | Reluctant Gourmet](<a href=“http://www.reluctantgourmet.com/blog/toolsequiptment/granite-countertops/]Granite”>http://www.reluctantgourmet.com/blog/toolsequiptment/granite-countertops/)</p>
<p>It explains why all stones by the same name are not equal, how one vendor’s Level 1 can be another one’s Level 3 (or more) and why you may think you are getting a good price as compared to somewhere else, but when comparing apples to apples it’s not the case.</p>
<p>Also - I’d take issue with choosing any slab site unseen, and would definitely not do so with a Santa Cecelia or a New Venetian. I’ve seen slabs with those names that do not so much as resemble one another. Even if you’re talking Absolute Black or Black Galaxy, I’d want to examine the slab for fissures, inclusions etc. Most places are selling 3 cm granite across the board now, but I know there are some areas of the country where you’ll still find the 2 cm. granite. Some people do built ups edges (to make the granite look super thick, usually on islands ) even with the 3 cm stuff, these days. </p>
<p>Also wanted to mention about seams -I agree that they are important and you see a big difference in the skill of the fabricators. MIA standards call for less than a 1/8" seam but that is out of date, IMO. The better places have the technology, state of the art cutting equipment and expertise to do seams that practically disappear - 1/32" or less. I used to ask (thanks to advice I read on Gardenweb!) if the place uses vacuum suction and clamps (Gorilla Grips) during fabrication and also to see an example of a seam. From that perspective price did not always go hand in hand with quality - even some of the expensive places were not all that great with the seams. </p>
<p>Hope all this is not more than you wanted to know, LOL!</p>
<p>“Yes, love that GW! The best part is that people post photos of their projects - a picture is worth a thousand words.” </p>
<p>I only did the gardening forums. On the tomato growers forum, we debated hybrids vs heirloom like private vs public!</p>