Granite/Quartz kitchen countertops.. Experience?

[Snipe Hunter]

We're moving our kitchen. Flip flopping our kitchen with the dining room. Yippee 
 
We have the new layout 99% settled. And would like nice countertops. Preferably granite or Quartz. Quartz is a little cheaper as it's man made and more colors available but it's still pricey. I'm seeing $100 to $200 a sq. ft. for quartz and about 25% more for Granite. Honestly, I wasn't expecting these prices. The countertop will cost as much if not more than the cabinets. I'll tell you right now, the wife won't settle for any other materials.
We're looking at approximately 67 sq. ft. of countertop. Two sinks cutouts and a cooktop cutout.

I'll be doing all the work with the exception of the countertop. We're weal close to ordering cabinets. Cabinets will take about two weeks to get.

I've never bought granite/quartz countertops. I'm guessing that once my cabinets are in, they come out and measure. Cut pieces at the shop and come out and install. What kind of lead times from measuring to installing? Are the cutouts an up-charge or is that generally included? Any "gotchas" that you experienced that might bite me? I'd like to know your experience with either of these two materials from pricing, to dealing with the installer/supplier... anything that might help me plan ahead.

Old kitchen space


New Kitchen Space

[varkpilot]

Installed quartz about two years ago.  Very happy with it....cleans well....resistant to "stuff" that I thought it wouldn't be....things have been dropped on it without breaking

ALLEGEDLY..........granite is on its way out in favor of other solid-surfaces.  But there will ALWAYS be granite fans!

[jteneyck]

We have had granite kitchen countertops for over 22 years.  I got the best company in the area for the job - a cry once approach.  Quartz is definitely more popular these days, although I see unpolished granite is making some inroads, too.  Ours are black and polished and have never been resealed despite daily hard use.  Whether or not they need to be resealed depends upon what granite it is, as some are more porous than others, and some stone being sold as granite actually is not, and also on how much of the shine you see is from polishing or the sealer.  Lower cost companies often cheat on how far they will polish it and use a wax sealer to make it look good, for awhile.  

The company that did ours took at least two weeks to come out to template everything, and they still do it that way despite the lasers some are using, and then about a month before they came to install it.  I pushed them to do things they had never done before, like radiused ends on the 3/4" thick backsplashes, and full bull nosed edges around curved ends on the 3 cm thick countertops, so the cost was pretty steep.  About $10K way back then but I have a lot of square feet, too.  Sorry, can't remember how many.  All I remember is it cost more than the rest of the kitchen, though I did all the work myself including building the cabinets.  Anyway, you pay for every cutout, edge treatment, etc. but it's in the quote though not broken down.  They take your sinks to use directly for making the cutouts now, to eliminate problems with customer supplied templates.  I gave them templates back then and everything turned out fine, but I guess that wasn't always the case.  In any case, they don't normally mount the sinks until after the countertops are installed.  The adhesive they use is incredible after it cures in about 24 hours; it's never coming loose.  

As for cabinets, just make sure they are flush and level on top if you want the countertops to go in without a bunch of shims.  

John

[rschissler]

$100-200 a square foot seems really high. I prefer the look of granite--let the wife decide!  One extra cost would be how you do the edges, eased edge, bullnose, bevel.

[rwe2156]

I went through Home Depot and was satisified with the install.

Pay attention to how they do the sink supports. A year later I discovered he did a lousy job because the sink was dropping. But I fixed it no problem he just didn't make the wood support long enough.

They will suggest it, but definitely buy the sink through whoever is doing the countertop.  They have to cutout at the plant & have the templates and the install will go without a hitch.

Varies but I think mine was about 2 weeks from templates to install.

I don't know anything about quartz but I would check on crack resistance vs. granite.

[Willyou]

We had the quartz material installed a few years ago. We really like it. Manufacturers and sellers refer to it as "anti-bacterial". That means that it is non-porous and therefore won't trap liquids and particles that support bacterial growth. And it does not require periodic sealer as granite does. If you like the colors and patterns available, quartz is the way to go.

Yes. It was expensive. But, should last a long time. You will likely get tired of it before it really needs replacing. So, get a color and pattern that is not too trendy. Prices and lead time will probably be different with each installer. I would get multiple estimates.

[joe1086]

Neil, years ago we used Atlas Stone Fabricators in Odenton, MD for the kitchen and last month they came and installed a vanity for the master bath. Ten years ago they made plastic/cardboard templates, last month they used a laser to measure. Not sure if that makes any difference in the final result; both of our projects came out great. Took one week to schedule the measurement and another week for the install. If you go granite:

• You might need two slabs for your kitchen. I'd want to see the slabs for color, pattern and layout options. Large fabricators like Atlas have inventory you can choose from. Not sure if I'd make a choice by looking at a granite "sample" and not the whole slab. 
  
• Like John said above we got one lump price that included our selections of thickness, edge treatments, cut outs, etc. For the kitchen we were over $100/sq ft but under $150, but my impression it's gotten less expensive than it was 10 years ago. The marble on the 5' bathroom vanity was $1K, two sinks.
  
• We had the backsplashes milled to to about a 3/4" thickness. Full thickness granite seems visually chunky to me for a backsplash. That cost about $10/running foot.
  

Another thing, they take high res photos of each of the the slabs. With their design/fabrication software they were able overlay the cuts on the slab pictures, then stitch a new image together showing what the finished counter top (and seams) would look like...pretty cool. Not as big a deal if the granite doesn't have a lot of pattern. 

Granite vs. quartz - meh, it's whatever you like better. Ten years after the kitchen granite was installed it still looks new. Never been resealed.

[Snipe Hunter]

Thank fellas.
Joe, thanks for the Atlas recommendation. I'll have them quote it.
RWE, I did stop at Home Depot today to see what they have. Pricing was very reasonable... most granite was under $68 a sq ft installed. Quartz was a buck or three cheaper. Biggest issue with them is that I can't see the granite slab. I'll still get them to quote it.

[MarkSingleton]

We did quartz. Love it. The company sent out a measuring team with a very precise
laser/computer device on a tripod. When the time came for installation, there was NO
issue. Fit EXACTLY.

We couldn't get the HD folks to pay any attention to us at all.

Went with a local company and all went well.

[jteneyck]

Friends of mine had a company install quartz countertops.  Beautiful, but it took them 3 tries to get it right.  They used a laser system to measure everything, yet the first two times one of the pieces didn't fit, and not just by a smidge; it wasn't even close.  The point is new technology is great if the guy using it knows what he's/she's doing, and ain't worth a darn if they don't.  

Go with the best company you can find.  If they charge more there's usually a reason for it.  

John