Countertops Part I

So as ya'll might have guessed by our cabinet painting, we are in full kitchen reno mode. Which means we have been shopping for countertops, and oh, what a process that has been.
I started out online doing a ton of research on various local countertop fabricators and made a short list of a few places to visit. On a random day off, I talked MLW into driving wayyy out into Mount Pleasant because it was a place that sold every kind of surface known to man. I figured it would be a good starting point to get information on absolutely everything. And yes,  I know I could have gone to a big box store {we eventually ended up at Lowe's} but I like to shop local whenever possible.
So we get there, but no one would take us seriously! We got a bunch of "oh honeys." I finally started throwing around the budget we had in mind and got a little more respect, but we both walked out of there with a very bad taste in our mouths. However, the upside was that we were given pamphlets of several local warehouses and with a firm grasp that quartz and corian where out of our range. We have a large kitchen, and a medium sized budget so we knew we would have to make smart choices.

It got significantly more fun once we got the to the warehouses. Hello stone heaven! The first was just okay and by far had the smallest stone selection. The second had way more selection and a very knowledgeable and friendly staff. We even got samples! But the third, ended up having the prettiest colors.

Unedited photo of grey Carrara Slab 

Here are some bullet points on what we learned from the warehouses:
1. People are flocking to marble
2. A pretty white or light colored granite does not {in my opinion} exist
3. Carrara marble is at the lower end of the price spectrum
4. A lot of Carrara has a very dark grey background {The third warehouse had the most Carrara with a "white" background, thus our favorite}
5. Honed marble is the way to go

Unedited photo of a Carrara with a much whiter background 

Unedited photo closeup. So. Pretty.

With this knowledge and a list of different marbles we liked, we turned our attention back towards finding a fabricator. Here is how that went:
-First place, out of a garage and sketcy. We didn't even go in
-Second place, gave a quote on the spot, took all our information, very friendly and focused on building a good client base through word of mouth
-Third place, we took a card and left
-Fourth Place, perhaps doesn't exist anymore since we couldn't find it?

Andes Bianco on the left, Carrara on the right. 

Needless to say, the second place won us over. Better yet, they had contacted all of the warehouses and given us quotes on all of our marble options by the time we returned home. And a bonus, they remove the old countertops for FREE. I couldn't believe my ears and keep asking the nice lady to clarify and even got her to put it in writting. Almost every other place charged between $4-$10 a sq foot to remove. And when you have 68 ish sq feet, that ads up fast.

Another interesting difference between fabricators, they all gave us a different sqaure foot measurements for our kitchen. We got any where fro 48 sq ft to 78 sq ft. I had graphed out a basic layout with measurements that they all used to get these numbers. MLW and my Dad both did the math and got 68 sq ft. Funny thing the 2nd fabricator was the closest with 65 sq ft and she did it quickly. Another check mark in their favor.

Lagoon Countertops from Houzz

But then a monkey wrench was thrown at us. During a weekly {sometimes daily} trip through Lowes I noticed that Silestone "Lagoon" was on sale. 10% off and then another 5% if you use a Lowe's credit card. I had accepted that marble was our choice and was prepared to embrace the character and flaws that come along with it, but now I wasn't so sure. So we went to price them out. An hour later after making friends with the countertop lady, we got the quote. And guess what? It was still over 5k.

Made that decision easy! Carrara marble for the win! So now we are waiting to save up a few more pennies, and then its back to the warehouse to pick our slabs {I'm so excited} I'm not giving out any names of businesses, just in case something heads south, but my gut it is telling me we ended up at the right place.

For now I will leave you with our dream marble "Namibia." Its beautiful, we priced it out, I cried {although it still wasn't as bad as the quartz!}

xoxo
Betsy