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We finally have our kitchen back and boy did The Polished Edge make her beautiful! All of the guys were friendly, hard-working and cleaned up after themselves. The work was done as and when promised with no detail forgotten. Thanks for the referral on here for them in the first place and now I pass it nicely along!
I just wanted to follow up with this post. We decided on World Granite and Stone Art off of St. Albans Drive in Raleigh. This decision was made after visiting most of those recommended here and getting pricing. Not only was the price much better here but their employee Debby is awesome. She was extremely helpful, patient and did her best to help us pick out granite and keep us on track with our budget. So, just wanted to throw that out there for anyone looking for installers. And for those looking for kitchen faucets? Check out overstock.com as well as amazon. We actually got our faucet off of amazon MUCH cheaper than anywhere else we saw. Thanks all for the suggestions!
I just had my whole house done by World Granite. Their price was the same as other quotes I got but I selected them because they had a large selection of remnants, which I used for my baths.
I wish I could say I am thrilled with them, but that is definitely not the case. The templates are done with old fashioned techniques using wood strips. The tops were off in several places. Luckily I was there to figure out some corrections, like finding a way to adjust the bath top so that the door would close and closing a more the 1/4" gap in the kitchen top seam. They finally got that seam perfect, but then spread it back out when they sealed the tops to the cabinets.
They also did not match the caulk as good installers do. They used clear silicone for everything which dries dull and grey. My countertops are tan with brown speckles.
Unfortunately I had left the kitchen after I approved the layout. I would have been in the way as it is a closed kitchen. When I went back it was too late to move the tops in and seal the gap. It is right in front of the sink and is an eyesore. It is not huge, just twice as big as it could have been if they had been paying attention and cared about their work. You see it the minute you enter the kitchan as there is a big window and bright light over the sink.
To add insult to injury, they were perfectly happy with their work and kept making comments about me. Several thousands later and I have a $550K house that just went down in value before it is even finished. Granite countertops are a huge factor in the sales of homes. Consider yourselves warned!
Sorry I left out,,,
Also, although they had both the sinks and templates to use, they managed to make the cutout for the undermount sink have a 1/4" overhang on two sides (correct) and be shy 1/4" on the other two sides. The latter allows water to stagnate in the gap and mildew, be a haven for germs etc. It is very hard to clean that way. The silicone they spread there is bumpy, too, which exacerbates the above.
My boyfriend is looking to put granite in his new house. This is scary and I don't think it's worth the risk. He was considering Silestone too. Corian scratches. Everything is bad for us, including that dairy in your cheesecake
Not only does Corian scratch, but it cracks too if exposed to too much heat. We have 2 cracks in the upper part of our Corian countertop that are above the cooktop. We'll be using Silestone when we remodel our kitchen. We had it in our former house and really, really liked it.
There are many natural and man-made solid surface alternatives to granite. Some are cheaper, some are more expensive.
Currently, there is a "growing" (no pun intended) issue with some porous natural materials like granite allowing water to penetrate and collect on the bottom of the countertop providing a growth medium for mold and mildew. Excessive amounts of water can collect, saturate the top of the cabinets and cause them to rot.
Check out Hanax, Formica, Quartz, soapstone, and marble and compare look, color, care, and cost.
We used Mogastone of Cary and were very satisfied. They installed about 2 days after we ordered. They were great!
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