Granite Countertops- Costco or Home Depot?

[Elmer Pat]

Has anyone (out there) contacted GRANITE TRANSFORMATIONS?? Their product is approximately 1/4" and it is a non rip and tear project. It is installed over your present counter. Let me hear from you.

[scuba steve]

THREAD RESURRECTION!!!

Turns out the shop local thing hasn't been working out so well. Easy to get an appointment, but apparently our bathroom (large remnant size) is a little too small compared to some of the other buyers out there. I'm having a hard time even geting a quote at this point.

So I'm swinging by Design Materials tomorrow because they do granite. Also thinking about getting a quote from Lowes and the company that Costco uses (page 1 of this thread). Will that basically do it? I don't care about tear out or anything except for getting a 7ft long cultured marble countertop/sink out of here. The bathroom is about finished except for countertops...

[Rottnboys]

Originally Posted by scuba steve

THREAD RESURRECTION!!!
Also thinking about getting a quote from Lowes

scuba steve - I didn't read all 7 pages of this (sorry) - but wanted to comment on Lowe's - that is who we used for our mini-reno on our 1970's kitchen - we kept our cabinets but replaced the formica with granite countertops. We were overall VERY pleased with the entire process. We did have a slight delay in the delivery date, as the 3rd party granite company got covered up and had to bump us a couple days....but outside of that it came in EXACTLY as quoted, delivered EXACTLY as measured, and when a small piece of the backsplash wasn't on the truck, the granite guys easily fabricated it on site. The sales people at Lowes came out during the installation to oversee the job and make sure we were satisfied with the finished product. They inspected it also - to be sure they were satisfied with the job.

You do have to be part of the process though - stay in touch with your sales person, call on specific 'timeline' days to verify appointments, etc., but that wasn't a problem for us - as we are pretty hands on in our projects anyway. Good luck - we LOVE our granite and our 70's cultured marble countertop/sink is NEXT on our list!!!!

We liked that we could put the granite on our zero interest for 12 months Lowe's card too - that was a BONUS!!!

[heimerswt]

Originally Posted by scuba steve

THREAD RESURRECTION!!!

Turns out the shop local thing hasn't been working out so well. Easy to get an appointment, but apparently our bathroom (large remnant size) is a little too small compared to some of the other buyers out there. I'm having a hard time even geting a quote at this point.

So I'm swinging by Design Materials tomorrow because they do granite. Also thinking about getting a quote from Lowes and the company that Costco uses (page 1 of this thread). Will that basically do it? I don't care about tear out or anything except for getting a 7ft long cultured marble countertop/sink out of here. The bathroom is about finished except for countertops...

Have you tried Architectural Granite & Marble (AG&M) on Stahl? I'm getting a remnant installed for a bathroom in my house from them... And it is only 6ft.

[scuba steve]

Could give them a try... at this point actually getting a quote would be a major plus.

I don't care much for financing (cash purchases only) but if someplace is running a sale I could always go for that. Since it's a bathroom and there are two large sinks cut out you really don't see that much of the actual granite... it's mostly the middle section between the two along with topping off a pony wall. Selecting a slab and a higher grade really isn't that important for this room.

[xtranjero]

What people don't realize is that Silestone is a division of Cosentino, one of the largest importers of natural stone. They are their own competition. What do you do when you break a slab? You grind it up, mix it with glue and sell your trash for cash. The best way to describe the difference between fake stone and granite is to think of a lovely piece of grained hardwood and particle board, a steak and a hotdog. The hotdog is "mostly" meat but has lots of fillers. The fake stones are now more expensive than granite because they have to pay for lots of advertising to convince people to buy their trash. Very soon these fake stones will be the shag carpeting of this generation.

[scuba steve]

See: cultured marble.

[blizzrd]

I think I'm eventually going to do concrete countertops. If you're handy, you can even make them yourself and put custom features in it that none of the other products can do. A buddy of mine had some put in. They look great and were a fraction of the cost of granite.

[laura11872]

Just wanted to revive this thread and add some info that will hopefully be helpful to those thinking of putting granite in their kitchens.

We visited Triton Stone on Nakoma to look at slabs, and they gave us business cards for three fabricators. We had STI Granite and Marble come out, as well as Artistic Countertops (who I'd read about here and who a neighbor had recommended). We have 78 square feet of counter space, and a 4in backsplash (no tiling). STI came in over $500 less than Artistic Countertops, and their price included a granite sink (that we selected-they had no free sink offers at the time and we wanted a single bowl anyway-AC had a free sink offer with a double bowl stainless) and a plumber to reconnect everything. AC required that we got our own plumber. We chose level 1 granite (Santa Cecilia). Generally, the process was easy. My only complaints about STI is that they were perpetually late for appointments-for the first one to give an estimate (over an hour late, but he did call) and then completely missed the first measuring appointment and were late for the rescheduled one.

The demo and installation were done in one day-they started at 8:30 and finished around 7pm that night. They installed everything but left to cut the backsplashes and returned with those around 4pm.

They look great and are completely level. My issues are:
1. We did not ask, nor did they tell us, that we have to do the caulking between the backsplash and wall. It's not a big deal but it would have been nice to know in advance.
2. The crown moulding around the bar is trashed and we will have to replace it. The granite sits a bit higher than the formica did, so there are gaps. I guess I should have anticipated this.
3. There is some touch up painting that will need to be done-some that I expected, and some that happened during demo. Such is life I guess.

If anyone wants more info, and what we paid, please DM me. Overall, we are very happy with the experience and would recommend them.

[elnina]

There is a place on Walzem/IH35 that sells granite counter tops.
7876 N Interstate 35
San Antonio, TX 78218
(210) 544-5370
Builder's Mark Home Improvement