Uba tuba , Caledonia or St Cecilia

11 years ago

Hi I am building a new home with a semi custom builder. I was going to do my own granite but things are just so costly for the house itself I am thinking I will take theirs and can change it out at a later date . I have blue pearl right now which I love . The builder had three that I would consider. Uba tuba and St Cecilia I worry about them having to much gold in them? Not sure if Uba Tuba has gold or not but for sure the St Cecilia does and I can not pick the slab to get one with less gold. Caledonia is nice my daughter has that but I hardly ever see anyone here on this forum get that granite. The cabinets will be a medium color builders grade the dark ones look stunning with St Cecilia in their model . I am not sure abou the darker ones though with Caledonia or Uta Tuba though. . I posted a link below of model house so you can see the granite in model . I wish I was such not a chicken about the St Cecilia but I for sure have seen some very gold slabs unless I am confusing it with another granite .

Here is a link that might be useful: link to Dr horton home in Florida

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Comments (2)

realism
11 years ago
How much more costly is it to source your counters yourself rather than go through your builder? I am thinking its probably a pretty bad idea to get your granite through the builder. The 3 colors you have mentioned are all pretty low level granites and not terribly expensive as far as granites go, yet I am sure they are probably charging you a lot more than they would cost if you sourced them yourself. I would also never let someone choose my slab for me, especially with colors than can vary so much.

My suggestion would be to ask your builder for an allowance for counters and do them yourself. If you can't afford to get the granite you want immediately then I would install a cheap formica counter and save up for the granite you want. This offers a number of advantages over just getting the granite your builder is offering:

1) You might save money- If you could pocket the difference between the allowance and the formica you could be well on your way to having the money for the granite you want.

2) Its not as wasteful as getting the builder granite- Sure the builder granite isn't great but it would still be wasteful to have granite counters installed and then just trash them in a couple of years.

3) You can avoid the potential damage that would result when removing the builder granite- You said you are getting builder grade cabinets, so I would be worrisome of removing the granite in a few years. You never know if the cabinets would be able to withstand that. If not, then the whole process may end up costing you more.

4) Your kitchen will be more unique than the rest of the houses in the development- The three colors you mentioned are all lower level granites. I don't want to sound disparaging, but in my experience with semicustom home builders a lot of buyers don't know the difference between granites and are tricked into buying builder grade granite colors that are not particularly interesting or original because they just know the buzzword granite. By doing granite yourself you will be able to get a color that is a lot more interesting and stands out from the rest of the homes in your development. It will be a lot less cookie-cutter.
Kathy Rivera
11 years ago
I agree with realism - you should ask for a credit and go find some yourself that you really love.

If you can't/don't want to do that, I'd pick the St. Cecelia. I think it will look best with the dark cabinets. It can have some gold, but I've never seen any that I thought "GAH, so much gold!!!"

Uba Tuba is dark green with slight flecks of gold and can be very beautiful with the right colored cabinets (e.g., natural cherry - see badergal's kitchen for a wonderful example), but I think it will look terrible with the dark cabinets.

The Caledonia looks the 'cheapest' to me. It screams 'builder's grade'. It looks a little boring and I don't think it will warm the space the was the St. Cecelia can.
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Uba tuba , Caledonia or St Cecilia

Comments (2)

realism

Kathy Rivera

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