Try_Hard's granite layout experience (lots of PICS)
GW Kitchen Forum - I am almost 5 weeks away from closing on my new construction house. Here is a description of my granite layout experience, which occurred last Friday. This is actually copied over from my personal blog and written with the assumption that my friends and family are reading it, therefore, I speak with a familiar tone and as if my audience is uninformed about granite. You will also recognize that I used a picture of Theresab1's island granite to explain why people attend their layout session. I hope that's okay - if not, somebody speak up and I'll delete the picture.
My granite yard calls my granite "Golden Mountain" but if you google that nothing comes back, so maybe that's just their own name for it. It's 3cm.
Perhaps this post will help those of you with upcoming layout appointments feel better prepared or know what to expect.
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Last week the granite people went to the job site and took all the countertop measurements and made wooden templates for the granite and quartz countertops. Today, they brought our granite slabs into the fabrication shop and marked them (according to the templates and measurements) for cutting. They call this part "the layout".
I learned on the GardenWeb Kitchens Forum that it's quite common for people to attend the layout session to work with the granite fabricator to decide the layout. This seems to be particularly popular with people who buy granite that has highly varied patterns and colors and lots of movement. And that certainly describes our granite! I asked Granite-Saleswoman-Donna if I could attend the layout and have a say-so in the plans and she said I could. So this morning I went to the granite shop and worked with Granite-Layout-Guy-Jason to mark the slabs. It took longer than I expected so I ended up using a few hours of vacation time for it, but it was worth it.
I mentioned our granite having lots of movement. Basically that means it has big swirls or large changes in color; the appearance is not uniform or consistent. If you buy granite that has less movement it will be of uniform color and/or pattern and it probably doesn't matter how the layout is done because the whole slab looks the same. For example, here is a close-up picture of a popular granite called New Venetian Gold:
Typically, the whole slab looks just like this. So it usually doesn't really matter from which part you cut the countertops since they will all look basically the same.
But if you go with a granite like this one (Azul Macaubas):
Then you would definitely want to be present at the layout to be sure the granite guy selects your favorite piece/section for your kitchen. Since our granite looks like this:
We definitely wanted a say in which sections and slabs were used in our kitchen.
Our kitchen and butler's pantry will use 2 slabs. One slab is used for the island (48-1/8" x 108") and the other slab will be used for the wall cabinets and butler's pantry. Here is the measurement sheet for our granite:
Both slabs were stored outside last night so they were wet and lightly coated in ice when we started the layout. Granite-Jason uses a white-out pen to mark the slabs and then applies duct tape and stickers to identify measurements, piece location, and edge type. Tape doesn't stick to icy, wet granite so Jason used a hairdryer-thingy and then a small blowtorch to heat up the granite enough to sweat out all the moisture. Here you can see him using the blowtorch.
The wooden things are the templates for the cooktop wall. After much discussion, we decided this was the best place to position the cooktop wall because it included alot of the clear and amber quartzite chunks we liked and the seam, which will be under the cooktop, should not be too noticeable. Here is a close-up of the sample, which shows the clear and amber chunks:
The granite is sitting on this tilting, lifting table:
After he dried the slab we spent about half an hour placing the cooktop wall, oven wall, and butler's pantry templates.
Here is the final, marked-up slab:
And on this one I drew pink lines to show you which sections will be used. The left one is the butler's pantry, the top, small one is the oven wall in the kitchen, and the two on the bottom right are the cooktop wall. You will notice we did not use any of the salt-n-pepper looking stuff on the left side of the slab - we don't like that as well as the other sections.
After finishing the first slab, they moved it back out to the yard and brought in the island slab.
I didn't get a picture of the final markings on the island slab but it will basically be like this. The smaller pink rectangle in the sink.
If everything goes according to schedule, the pieces will be cut next week and installed on Friday, February 28...
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try_hard
Comments (25)
plllog
16 years agolast modified: 9 years ago
try_hard
16 years agolast modified: 9 years agoRelated Discussions
Try_Hard's appliances, one year later...
Comments (43)NSCHLOSS - I installed (18 months ago) similar to the pictures above, EXCEPT I went one step further. Where she has the blank panel above the two drawers, I had my cabinet maker do a third drawer there. It was tight, and we weren't sure if it would end up being a fake drawer or a working drawer until we did the actual install. But, I really wanted a utensil drawer there if at all possible. And I got one... when you pull the drawer open, the actual drawer behind it is only 2" or so deep, the front makes it look like the normal 6-7" deep. Just deep enough to put non-combustible turners, tongs, large spoons, etc. for cooking. I don't keep rubber scrapers or even wooden spoons in there just to be safe. So, hows this been working in reality? I would defintely still do it for the handiness of having the utensils there. Every once in a great while, the jumbled utensils catch briefly beneath - but a quick jiggle and that addresses that. And sometimes, when I have three burners or more going, I will open up this drawer to aid in ventilation - not that it needs it necessarily - but, just to be cautious. It never seems to get very hot beneath the cooktop. Other than that, it's perfect. I'd definitely do it again... Although, I will caution - should you have a problem with the cooktop within the warranty period, I suppose they could argue that you have an improper install and deny any warranty claim....I decided to take that risk. Hope this helps you.......See MoreGranite plus... wood, other granite, something else? Pics
Comments (5)firsthouse, I about choked when I read that... six slabs?!? I can't imagine! Except I can imagine wanting to own every inch of that gorgeous quartz you have. I'm glad you will be able to use the remnants. I'm not sure how the seams would appear with the pattern of the MC. jrueter, thanks for the suggestion. Currently that is the direction we are heading in. Fabricator came over yesterday and worked with me on getting the rest (except the outer island) out of one slab. Actually I had worked it out ahead of time and it's what we ended up with. There will be one seam in the granite, in the corner 11" out from the wall, plus the seam between the wood and granite. He walked in and said his wheels were spinning fast. I thought he suddenly had a brilliant idea about how to get the whole thing in one slab, or some alternative that would look good. Turns out he was reconfiguring my layout, thinking it would be possible to get everything from one slab if I changed from my (already ordered) slide-in range to a cooktop and a wall 0ven right next to the window to the left of the range. I quickly vetoed that and we moved on. My next task is to figure out where to find a wood top 1.25" thick (most are 1.5"), what kind of wood (right next to the sink). Thanks for your help!...See MorePsst, naked cabinets. Shhh! Lots of pics.
Comments (47)Oh my gosh, Holligator! You've still got the island sketch! I'm still planning on the cafe table, and I think with this island design it will work out well. I don't know if you recall, but you all also convinced me to add the back door to the porch, and to separate the fridge from the freezer so that the fridge would be convenient to the sink and stove. It made for some tense moments trying to design that wall of stacked cabs, but the carpenters came through with some really creative ideas there. And having the door has already been great. I can't believe I was set to skip that. And thank you, thank you for the link to tsdiver. That's the one I was remembering, but couldn't find it. I'll print out those pics as ammo when I go talk to soapstone people. I can't imagine anyone finding that island anything but gorgeous. Lavender Lass, that's a beautiful picture. It calls to my inner Victorian. I thought about switching to wood for the island, but I like the way the wood looks with the sun coming through the windows, and I love the idea of soapstone across from the stove for both baking purposes and for landing hot pots. Holligator has given me confidence that I can make the soapstone work. Dretutz and Irishcreamgirl, thank you for the kind words. I think you're both right that its the floors and maybe the fireplace stone that seem to want a deeper color than cream. I keep coming back to the word "muddy" but that's not accurate, I think maybe muted is better. I'm going to check out BM "honeymoon." And Irishcreamgirl, I've been hoping to work those floor in somewhere forever. I'm also hoping to put the pavers on my front porch to continue the herringbone theme....See MoreAnother Garden Web Inspired Finished Kitchen ( Lots of Pics)
Comments (51)LRy511, since you posted a picture of your beautiful backsplash with the smaller cabinet over the sink and glass shelf, I did a search for your kitchen. Your title picture I had printed since I love the running bond pattern you used which I have decided I am using also. I LOVE your soft white cabinets (love their style, color and hardware), your granite, your beautiful backsplash over your range, your sink set up, your faucet, your 20X 20 beautiful tiles, the way you got the beam out of the way, your wheat-back chairs (I have the same one but mine I think are in a honey maple color now), all the light you have in the kitchen with that bay window and all the ceiling lights, your wall color, the drawer storage, the pantry pull out drawers and your doggie! Thanks again for sharing. You did an amazing renovation that is beautiful as well as more functional....See Moreraehelen
16 years agolast modified: 9 years agotry_hard
16 years agolast modified: 9 years agoRaehelen,
Unfortunately, I don't have a nice clean final layout drawing that I can post here. But here are a few photos of my cabinets as they were being installed.
This is a view of the kitchen from the family room. The back of the island has doors for more storage. (In retrospect, I should have skipped that extra storage and made the island less deep so that I could fit a 15" overhang, but oh well, hindsight is always 20/20, right?) There will be a 12" overhang there for a breakfast bar. The tall pantry on the right is not installed in this picture but in a later photo you will see that it fits against the wall with the other cabinets:
The island was constructed in 2 pieces so they could get it into the house. The island will be stained and is roughly 4' x 9'. There is a bookcase on the end. The island will hold the sink and the dishwasher. I'm standing in the kitchen nook to take this photo:
Here is a view of the cooktop wall after it received its first coat of primer. All the wall cabs will be painted creamy white. I will have a GE Profile 36" induction cooktop here. The vent is a ventahood that vents to the outside. Here you see the pantry has been put in its place. There is also a walk-in pantry off the mudroom that's between the kitchen and garage.
And here is the oven wall. We will have an Electrolux ICON convection electric oven here and the coordinating convection microwave above it:
Here is the lower cab for the butler's pantry. It will be stained to match the island. The section in the middle will hold a built-in wine rack:
The door on the right is hiding a pullout in which we will store the small number of liquor bottles we own. I wanted them out of the way yet accessible - no digging into the dark cabinets if we needed a hit of the hooch. I had the cabinetmaker put higher sides on it to keep bottles from falling out of the pullout:
The liquor bottle pullout was inspired by this picture I found on the internet, presumably here on the Kitchens forum. I don't recall whose kitchen this is or else I would give credit for it:
try_hard
...try_hard
16 years agolast modified: 9 years agotheresab1
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16 years agolast modified: 9 years agoKortez15:
The island cabinet is 36-1/4" by 106". The countertop that sits on top of it will be approx. 48-1/4" by 108". That gives us about a 12" overhang on the breakfast bar.
I don't have many pictures yet because the island was stained early last week and covered in plastic while the rest of the house was painted.
Here are the bookcase doors, open. The bookcase is at the nook end of the island:
This is a first draft sketch from the cabinetmaker with incorrect measurements but you can see what the front of the island looks like:
This is a hidden electrical outlet that will be on the front of the island. The electric hasn't been installed yet but you can see that you tilt out the cover to access it. This is so that I can use electric at the left end of the island if I need to. Since it won't be used often, I went with the hidden tilt out. There is also electric at the right end of the island.
The door under it is a false door - it doesn't open.
I don't really have much else that I can tell you about the island at this time. I hope to see it in person this weekend and take more pictures.
try_hard
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