• Please be sure to read the rules and adhere to them. Some banned members have complained that they are not spammers. But they spammed us. Some even tried to redirect our members to other forums. Duh. Be smart. Read the rules and adhere to them and we will all get along just fine. Cheers. :beer: Link to the rules: https://www.forumsforums.com/threads/forum-rules-info.2974/

Granite or Quartz counter tops in the Kitchen?

Kitchen update: 10-31-05

There is all sorts of progress on the kitchen, the counter top guy was here. The tile guy was here. They talked to the lovely Mrs_B. Ideas were whirling around and the costs were escalating. The simple plan is no more.

Someone. Anyone. Please go into my office.

There is a gun in the middle drawer on the right side of my desk.
It is loaded.
Rack the slide to put a Federal Hydroshock bullet into the chamber.
Come to my house.
Shoot me.
Hurry please.

Bob
 
Last edited:
It just figures that the one guy on these forums who is strongly anti-gun would be the one who answers my plea for help.

Thanks for nothing :14_6_20:
 
Well, yes, I am strongly anti-gun, at least in the sense that they should be more closely controlled. However, they have legitimate uses -- target shooting, hunting and putting a remodeler's husband out of his misery all spring to mind. My children have orders to shoot me if they ever catch me driving in the left-hand lane for no reason; that's an obvious capital crime, and I'm normally against the death penalty.

But, I'm older than you, son, and experience has taught me that you will recover from this, however unlikely it seems at the moment. Worse, once you have gotten over the intial shock, you will most likely appreciate the changes. I just hope you don't really have to sacrifice the Avanti...
 
I tried to warn you that it was not going to be just a new counter top..... you wouldn't listen. That is why I had to call the Lovely Mrs_Bob and give her the advise that she should take all the time necessary to get it done exactly the way that she wants, no matter how much it costs. Think of it as she is spending the money that you would be spending on lawyers if you don't allow her to have it her way.... :wave:
 
Counter top update time.

I went to the big box stores with the lovely Mrs_B. Wanted to get some 'ball park' pricing so I'd know how far I was going to have to bend over.

Well the first big box store carried granite and SileStone. Mrs_B really fell for the SileStone. Naturally she picked an upgraded grade of SileStone, but since she picked me I suppose she couldn't settle for 'normal' anything :whistle:

Well we give them our kitchen diagram and measurements and they qoute me a price. $9600.00. :moon: Ouch!!!

So we start to hunt a bit more. We visit my brother's new house, he has 2 differnet types of granite in his kitchen. His wife says that she looked at SileStone and granite was cheaper. But the lovely Mrs_B is not swayed, she still wants SileStone.

So I decide to call my contractor and talk to him about SileStone/quartz. He comes out and measures. He goes to the locally owned lumberyard that all the contractors go to. They sell granite, SileStone and a dozen other choices. They send out a guy who specializes in granite and quartz tops. He takes measurements, he asks questions, he shoots digital pictures, he maps out the kitchen with a computer, he does all sorts of fancy stuff. In the mean time, the lovely Mrs_B changes her mind. She doesn't want the upgraded SileStone for $9600, she wants to up the ante again and go with the top of the line premium grade SileStone. So we get a call back from the contractor after all of this. His price, installed, $5500. This is for a better grade than we were quoted at the national big box store!

$4100 less expensive from the local firm, for the upgraded premium top, with an experienced contractor. Huh?

Now I have seen the local guys beat the Big Box Stores many times on the price of lumber, screen doors, windows, etc. And it does not surprise me that they beat the price on the counter top. But the magnitude of the whooping they gave the big box store surprises the heck out of me.

I even went back and double checked the math of the big box store! It was correct. But they had so many add on expenses that the local guy didn't charge for, and they charged less per square foot, so that the total bill was 40+% less! YIKES.
 
B_Skurka said:
but since she picked me I suppose she couldn't settle for 'normal' anything
Click to expand...
Nuff said.

Ohh, sorry Bob, you we're saying that in a good way, weren't you?

Wow... I wouldn't have expected the price difference you came up with. I'd be having a talk with the box store mgr to see what their story is and how/why they charge so much.
 
The box store charges for every cut out. So $50 for this and $100 for that and it all added up. They also charged more per square foot for the top. Like I said, they did the math right, the square footage was correct but that alone was far more expensive.

Did I mention that they also required me to remove my own counter top for them to come out to do the final measurement? They would not even send the guy for final measurement until after I confirmed I removed the top. My kitchen counter top is "C" shaped and has 3 corners and is all one big piece that is essentially 12' by 14'. Now how the heck do they expect me to get it out without destroying it? or destroying some cabinets? When it was installed it was built in place and glued together so now it is one big piece.

But even assuming I took it out, I'd have also had to pull out the cooktop that is set into the current top and pull and disconnect the sink. So then what the heck are we supposed to do for the next 3 weeks while we wait for the new counter top? We'd be left with a kitchen that had no counters, no working sick and no way to cook. Yeah, I want to buy from that company!!! Sure. Here, take my money. Morons!

Funny thing was just before I was getting my bid I overheard them telling an older very well dressed couple (probably about age 60 and appeared to be high income types) who were looking at granite and/or SileStone the same story. The guy gave the lady a look like she was crazy. I honestly figured that I misunderstood what she was telling them until she repeated it to me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top