Installing the Countertops

September 7, 2007. The Countertops are complete. The guys really worked hard to install it in one day, staying until close to 7pm until it was done.

Here’s the crew: Juan is the lead guy with the red cap. The rest of the crew is Carlos, Antonio, Lucas, Gabriel and another Juan.

Here is a link to more pictures taken of the crew installing the countertops. Notice the flooring was protected again for their part of the job.

They spent over 3 hours trying to get the countertop to fit all the way out to the window, fitting under the frame properly. Originally, the plan is to have the seam off to either side of the counters. But the seam wound up down the middle of the window, through the sink. To us, it seems more noticeable because of the light coming through the window. So we called Thaddeus to send Jesus to have a look. Remember, Jesus is the one who measured the countertops and talked about how the granite was going to be fabricated and said the seams off to either side of the counter would be done. At least we have just one seam rather than 2 seams.

Overall, it looks great and I like the contrast of the black island with the white Caesarstone.

In the middle of the night Max woke up and could not go back to sleep. He forgot to have the granite guys drill a hole for the disposal button.

So Saturday, Jesus and one of the workers, Antonio, came back to add more epoxy to the seam to make it less noticeable and drill a hole for the disposal button. They didn’t quite finish and will be back Monday to polish the granite. Today, Max told me that Jesus actually owns the fabricating company. We admire entrepreneurs and I thought, “Good for him.”

I'm interested in seeing if the polishing will make the seams disappear.

Deciding and Buying

Countertops


I’ve learned so much about Countertops. In previous sections of our kitchen remodel blog, I told you that we have researched and read books on what to get and decided on granite. It has been around for awhile and very durable. Max still loves the idea of concrete, but we’ve decided to put concrete in the bar. We just didn’t feel concrete would be ideal for our kitchen, but could work out well for a smaller space with not much traffic and use. I'm so concerned about subtle cracks on a highly used countertop and the high maintenance. There are others who disagree, but we made a decision. Granite.

Surprisingly, we both decided on Absolute Black granite. The choice will continue in the modern theme, plus it won't contrast the colorful backspash we had in mind. So before either one of us changed our minds, we moved quickly, asking ST for a contact to fabricate the granite. Jesus came over to talk about the size, plans for how the granite was going to be fabricated and to measure the countertop space.


We needed a large slab of granite because we wanted to extend the granite from the countertop and into the window. While discussing this, we discovered that the countertops were not even with the base of the window. It would be tricky to fabricate the granite possibly having to make the edges longer to compensate for the uneven sufaces. Max checked it further and the window was level, but the countertop was not. So when the cabinet guys came back, Max pointed it out to them. The level never lies! So to fix it, the cabinet guys will put inserts to level the countertops as much as possible.

After Jesus completed the measurements, he said we could get by with 2 slabs. If we wanted to play it safe, we could put a hold on a 3rd slab, keeping on hand a slab that would be close to the ones that are being installed. If we came back another time, the slab could be entirely different looking. That was a surprise to us because black is black. But believe me, after seeing the slabs versus what is on display, they can be very different.

Granite slabs come in various sizes and to avoid seams altogether, we would need a slab that was 122x85 inches. This size would cover the major part of the kitchen through the window area. Unfortunately, finding that size is highly unlikely, because they wouldn’t fit in the standard shipping crates. So we will have a couple of seams in the main kitchen area, but we were assured it would be hard to see. We also decided on the edges to be square, again to go with the cabinet structure and Ziggurat style crown molding. The top edge will have a hint of bevel so that no one would get seriously wounded if they accidentally bumped into it.


The Island


Since the island will be black, we could continue with the Absolute black granite as the countertop, but we felt it would be too much black. While we were wandering around looking for countertops, we stumbled upon Caesarstone. It comes from Israel and is 93% quartz. It costs about the same as granite and is very resistant to chipping, cracking, heat, household chemicals, etc. It is even more durable than granite. I wanted to get a different type of granite or even marble or travertine to match our travertine floors even better. But as we looked through several granite yards in Anaheim, we could not find granite that is close to travertine. Also, we were told that marble and travertine are not recommended for countertops because it would not be as durable and could stain easily.



Countertop Buying Spree


Once we made the decisions, time to buy. Now, here is how it works. We got the fabricator, Jesus, from ST. After Jesus measures our countertops, he sends us to Coastal Tile and Stone located in Costa Mesa. I wondered, Costa Mesa? All the slab yards are in Anaheim or Orange. Coastal Tile and Stone is a middleman who claims they can sell us slabs less than if we go to the slab yards directly. We didn’t have time to bargain shop, so we just went with the flow. So Travis and Thaddeus are the guys we dealt with at Coastal Tile. Once we were ready, Travis called the slab yard so that a rep can meet us, taking us directly to their supply of granite that we were looking for: Absolute black and the dimensions we needed. The first yard had Absolute Black but we were very disappointed. I mean, it’s just plain black so how different can they be? Yes, there is a difference in the tiny specs in the granite. We were looking for tiny and the first ones we looked at had large, busy shiny specs in it. The sales rep, Alex, was very nice and didn’t push us. First he explained that in direct sunlight and the angle of the display wasn’t in the best way to see it. So he had the yard guys go through all the trouble to pull it indoors. But we still didn't like it. We wanted to look around and Alex said he would hold it until Friday. He explained we wouldn’t hurt his feelings but to let him know what we decide.

After calling Travis, he sent us to another slab yard in Orange. We found exactly what we wanted and reserved it. Because we just wanted to get all our orders over and done with, we drove through rush hour traffic from Orange to San Juan Capistrano to order our Caesarstone. A few weeks ago we had just left Pacific Sales in San Juan Capistrano and I did a search on my Blackberry Google for the nearest Kitchen Design shop for Granite. While we were there, we noticed Caesarstone on display. We decided to mull over the idea of Caesarstone, but today, we wanted to place the order. Paula was very helpful, took our order and said she and Thaddeus will connect. So we called Thaddeus who will then pick up the granite slabs and Caesarstone from the different suppliers with Jesus.

We called it a day. Ka-ching!

A week later, Travis contacted us with a date for installation. September 5.

Should we have chosen Concrete?

Today is August 26, 2007. Last night we were with friends at a wedding. Sergio and Tina were excitedly telling us of their fabulous concrete countertop they installed around their BBQ...themselves. With a little help from a friend of theirs at a fraction of the cost of having it done professionally. They loved it, it looks beautiful and they have the satisfaction of doing it themselves. They are doing other remodeling, Pam and Ken finished their kitchen remodel and we are in the midst of our own kitchen makeover. The thought is that we would have a remodel progressive party to show off the finished projects. Sigh…don’t we wish this were over and done with.

The house has been a mess, dusty and inconvenient. But it will be worth it. It will be worth it. It will be worth it….