I’m usually the opposite of trendy when it comes to this stuff, so I was surprised when the person at the countertop place said it was becoming very popular.
Glad to hear yours are working well for you!
NRE - if you can swing the quartz sill, go for it. So. Much. Nicer. Than. Wood! I seriously had no idea it could be done until the designer lady who came out to give us the quote suggested it. Loved the finished product! 
never mind I can see in the photo the answer to my question!
@mathmom I don’t know exactly what the local code requires. This did cause our electrician some consternation because it’s basically solid wood under the windows and there was no way to install a box.
He found some sort of round outlet with one plug that he could cut into the wood without needing a box, and the inspector signed off on using it. You can see in the picture where a yellow wire is coming out of the wall under the will, that’s where it will go. Not sure of the exact make, but something like this:
So…the granite folks came back with an option 3. It’s perfect. Super good match except when I blew up the imagine up to the pixels , the front edges of the counter don’t align. I suspect that was the problem the first go around.
I emailed the VP to point that out, and her response back was clearly not meant for me and was supposed to go internally. In the email she basically said she couldn’t sell us on the fixes with the good yield and that unfortunately I liked the solution with the bad yield.
Totally get that they would try to maximize the left over slab to be used on another job but this was their error and it irks me that they tried to sell us on a less than optimal solution when they had an actual good option. The VP has yet to respond to my email pointing out her error.
They are installing our bathroom counters Friday so I don’t want to do anything to tick them off so they mess up, but at the same time, this doesn’t feel particularly good. Any thoughts/comments?
@notrichenough - I’d never seen an outlet like that. Pretty cool!
@momofsenior1 - Very illuminating to see the internal communication. Also aggravating, but a kind of funny too.
Thoughts/comments? Yes. Let the “4 F’s” be your guide. Strive to be firm, fair, frank, and friendly. Easier said than done sometimes, but usually very effective,
Tell the VP “Yes I would like to go with the bad yield option, please”. Then she’ll know you know, and be hoist be her own email.
The installers don’t care about all the drama, they’re not going to do anything bad. In fact they might get a kick out of it.
Came home last night and could barely recognize the upstairs! Wow. The new two-panel white doors make such a huge difference in terms of making the space look brighter bigger! Goodbye, sad, industrial quality, 100 lb, grainy oak veneered doors that were impossible to close properly.
Now I know what my next project is… painting the trim around the new doors!
@notrichenough - the countertop and the stairs look great! It will be so nice to look out those windows while standing in that lovely kitchen.
We have a disposal that you operate by pressing a button instead of a switch. The button pushes down a bubble of air that flicks the switch, so you don’t have to worry about wet hands. It’s drilled right into the countertop, in case you are looking to have less switches or more availability for plugs in that strip above your counter.
DW liked the idea of a stone window sill.
My builder says the wooden window sill would be easy to remove since he hasn’t secured it into place yet. So we will visit the countertop place and assuming they still have material (which they should, we only used 1.5 out of 2 slabs) we’ll see what it will cost.
You will not regret that decision, NRE.
Our door replacement project had a small hiccup. The hall closet doors were ordered too narrow. Oops. The installers will be back with the right ones… in 2 weeks. Lol. The cats are ecstatic - the closet is open for them to explore!
Now that I’ve seen my counters in person, I am really pleased with the look and feel of them.
Although I’m a little irritated that they used 5 separate pieces. I think they could have done it in three, and had only one seam instead of three. I didn’t ask to see how they were going to make the cuts, I just assumed they would try to minimize the seams. Live and learn I guess.
Pics starting here:
https://www.■■■■■■■■■■/photos/32532343@N00/43649872804/in/dateposted-public/
Love the view out of the kitchen windows. The countertops look super nice, and at least in the photos, the seams are not easily noticeable. As you said earlier, with stuff on the counters, they will blend in
We talked about seams a lot with the designer. Ended up with only 2, and that is because the lengths of our counters are above and beyond of what can be easily transported. It would have driven the price astronomically to have seamless pieces. The Cambria folks did a great job placing the seams where they are minimally seen.
Your counters are beautiful!
After tons of back and forth, we are getting a credit from our granite installer and living with the seam. She did find us a good match but they couldn’t guarantee the safety of the cabinets and said they would just reorder at their expense if something happens. The cabinets are custom and take 4 weeks to come in so it would delay the project be a very long time. I can’t deal with more delays so we’ll live with it…and I’ll find something decorative to hide it!
I talked to the counter place, they said that they tried to do bigger pieces, but when they would pick the piece up it would break. They were unhappy they had to waste so much material, to the point that the salesman claimed they were re-thinking carrying the material.
Maybe they were giving me a story, idk.
Fortunately (according to them) they had a third slab someone is using for a vanity, so there will be enough left to make the window sill from.
What does this even mean? Why would the cabinets be any more at risk than the first time they installed the counter?
My counter place had the following as one of the conditions:
Basically they are claiming they could drop the slab, crush the cabinets, wreck the floor, and destroy the entire kitchen, and have no responsibility at all.
Fortunately they didn’t!
NRE, that kind of clause covers their arse if for some reason flimsy cabinetry falls apart or something like that. The inevitable stuff beyond their control. Also, to prevent some homeowners from making claims that an old dent was the result of the contractors’ misdeed. However, dropping countertops and smashing stuff… uhm, no. The clause does not give them a license to be negligent.
Safety of the cabinets?! I call BS! Our cabinets are 20+ years old and survived 2 countertop replacements. Granite to limestone (why???!!!) and icky, dented limestone to quartz (yeah!!!).
Countertops do not go on top of the cabinets anyway. There is always some layer (plywood or something like that) underneath. Overhangs usually have nothing under them.
Yes, that is how a reasonable person would interpret that. How their lawyer would interpret it once we get to court… 