Sneak Peek of our new granite slab above.
Did you know that you can go to a countertop distributor and pick out the exact granite, marble, quartz or quartzite slabs that you want for your new counters? We had no idea until I couldn’t find a quartz slab in town that I loved. They suggested I look on line at a distributor and then they could order it for me.
After looking on line I read that we could go and tour the distributors slabs in person. It was an hour away but worth it to see what we were purchasing. I walked in determined to buy quartz and told her to show me what they had. I found one I liked but it didn’t make the bells and whistles go off. I said that I was 95% sure I still wanted quartz but just for the heck of it, show me granite.
I fell in love so fast, looking at all the granite slabs, that I changed my mind immediately! It is amazing the beauty of the hard stone that is cut from the earth with all the beautiful colors and designs made by nature. Brazil supplies the majority of the world’s granite for countertops, followed by Italy, India, and China. Our granite came from India.
After I picked out my favorite slab, the lady asked where should she send the information to. We couldn’t buy it from the distributor so I had looked on line and saw three places in my town that was authorized to accept granite from this distributor.
I called a place 10 minutes from our house and the customer service was awful. Not returning my call or sending my estimate when they said they would. When he finally got back to me, everything was extra such as making the edges smooth, sealing the granite etc.
Believe it or not, Home Depot was another place they dealt with. Although the same exact granite was a little cheaper, the reviews said their installer was horrible, an hour away, they took weeks to install and didn’t return any phone calls.
Finally I called a local monument company that also installs countertops so we made an appointment. The customer service was absolutely amazing. They have been in business since before I was born! It is a local company that is family owned and I found out the owner lives right down the road from us!
I asked about sinks because I wanted a 16 gauge stainless steel sink. He said he will give me one for free. This place was $1,000 cheaper for the same exact slabs we picked out compare to the first place. They didn’t charge anything extra other than a bracket to hold the sink in. So my point is, do your homework because as bad as the service is anymore, there are still good company’s out there and it may just be the little guy that has a family business.
We were asked to go back to the distributor to pick out the two slabs we wanted. I found it interesting the way they moved the slabs so here are a few pictures of the process.
The huge steel beams had a pulley system and some sort of clamp that grips the slab tightly yet it doesn’t damage the granite.
Next he used the remote control device and it leaned the granite forward.
He lifted the granite slab up into the air. We needed to have two slabs and it was necessary for us to make sure the colors matched. It was nice to be able to compare the two slabs before they were installed.
I asked the lady if they have ever dropped a slab and she said yes. She said it shatters everywhere and the workers run!
When the slabs are cut from the earth they are labeled in order A-B-C and so on. That way you get the closest color and design as possible with multiple slabs by picking the ones cut next to each other. The round holes are where they drilled for the dynamite.
A template has to be made of our cabinets which is done with a laser device for a perfect fit. Then two weeks later they will install the finished countertops.
Don’t take your countertop for granted (pun intended). Look on YouTube to see how granite is removed from the earth, you will be amazed and then understand why it is so expensive. No two granite countertops are alike as they are made by nature and not by man.