My fabricator is holding onto mine for now, and I may remodel the bathroom and use it there.......cant face thinking about another remodel for a while, though. Not done with the kitchen even!

I don't know anything about selling them, it seems there should be a market somewhere - ebay? They are really good for fireplace surrounds or the top of a bathroom cabinet. What about a shelf in your kitchen - brackets that match your cabinet and the shelf itself in soapstone.

We've got one large piece and three smallish square pieces left over. Two of the smaller squares will probably become the top of our buffet. The other one will probably replace a piece in our kitchen. (Our mistake - we weren't there when they cut it and they had to shift the template into an area we had wanted to avoid.) The large piece will, hopefully, become a free-form backsplash behind our sink once we do our great room remodel. (At that time the sink wall will be open to the great room.)

Leftover pieces would be great on outdoor tables. I have a small wrought iron ottoman that I'm wanting to top with a solid piece of stone.

Here are the four things we did with our leftover slab pieces:

1. Fabricated a new surround for our laundry room sink, replacing the old, ugly formica surround.

2. Fabricated a granite piece to use as our above-kitchen-sink window sill. It looks great and functions well since there is not wood near the water.

3. Fabricated 1 trivet and 1 lazy susan. Wish I had one more to put on the patio table.

4. Fabricated 2 large squares (just like the trivets) to use as a base for computer monitors. This works great to prevent scratching our wood built-in desk when people move or swivel the monitors.

Almost all of these things seem like they would be less thick than the counters. Did you just get them cut down in thickness?

I don't think the granite is that thick. Our trivets and sill are about 3/4 inch. Our counter top appears much thicker than that because the fabricators doubled it on the ends to make the wide, rounded edge.

Also, about the reselling of scraps: in California, it is against the law for fabricators to resell scraps. They ARE allowed to charge for fabrication. I got a gorgeous partial slab for free to redo a desk top and only had to pay a very reasonable fabrication/installation fee.

Anyone can go to this fabricator's "bone yard" and take scrap pieces of any size, as long as they can carry it out themselves. This would be a great option for someone wanting to use a scrap piece as an outdoor table. The edges wouldn't be finished, but that might be cool. You might want to check with fabricators in your area to see if they have bone yards in which you may scavenge. You'll be surprised by the wonderful pieces you'll find there.

I did not know you got to keep the extra pieces. :(
The KD worked with the builder and I was given an allowance by the square foot. I did pick out the slab though.
I am bummed.

The soapstone samples that I have are all 3.2 - 3.3 cm or 1.25 inches. Are these thicker than a normal counter? I agree that 3/4 inch would be good for lots of applications.

3cm, also called 1.25 inch, is the normal thickness for countertops. As mentioned by havnen, many granite countertops are done in 2cm (.75"), supported by a sheet of plywood and doubled at the edges.
I can't imagine any way of slicing 3cm thinner.

Much of my extra stone went to good use in the backsplash, but I still have a bunch in the garage. I have some ideas for what to do with it, but other projects need to get done first. Shelves, sills, corbels, etc., come to mind. I've flirted with the idea of making a sink but wouldn't be able to use it in this kitchen.

- D

our extra is the hearth for our fireplace :)

I hope Joshua chimes in, because he has done some cool things with scraps. He made a beautiful wine rack with two soapstone shelves. He has made a variety of dishes with smaller scraps. I have a tiny dish he made that I use to keep my rings in on the window sill when I'm washing dishes.

We had quite a bit of extra granite left over. We had a table top, lazy susan, side shelves and pieces over the window and range riser made.

Here are some pictures:

november, I'd love to see the hearth you made with the extra ss. And if anyone did a fireplace surround, I'd love to see that too. Thanks.

This thread gave me the idea to try a fireplace surround. I have tile there now that looks OK, but having the SS at both ends of the greatroom would be cool I think. It'd end up being a fairly random jumble of rectangles rather than a nice clean slab, but I think that could look nice. Won't happen anytime soon tho, gotta got other things done first.

- D

My KG was just here this afternoon, for a final check measure for my new granite. He is going to use the old granite to make two window sills, and backsplashes from the sills down to the counter, and a BS for behind the stove. My 'homework' for the weekend, is to mockup exactly how I want the curves (am going to use the curve someone here with a gorgeous green granite used as my inspiration). Am thinking if there are any more pieces left, I'd like a couple of hot plates for my glass deck table. (Mine is 2cm, but he's going to keep the plywood backing on for the window sills, scrape it off for the BS)

What do you do with the sharp edges when you make small projects? I asked our granite guy about his extra pieces and he said it is too costly to finish the edges. Our's is so thick that I don't think we could cut it with anything we have.

There are some videos on YouTube showing how to round over the sharp edges of granite with an angle grinder and diamond sanding pads. Works for finishing the edge of granite tiles too.

- D

Our company sells soapstone by the square foot rather than by the slab, so we have lots of remnants left over. Some of the remnants are big enough to do small jobs such as vanities, desks and such. As mentioned above, they are great for fireplace surrounds, hearths, and mantles.
Many of the smaller remnants become sink parts and we are building more and more of those.
Smaller pieces yet are good for stone corbels. I have also played around with pieces at work and made soap dishes, and business card holders.
If I ever get time, I would like to try and make knobs for drawers.
The stuff works great out in the yard too. Round and oval sink cut outs(vanity sink size) are good stepping stones. Also, random sized broken pieces make a good little walking path. I have one from our driveway to the front step.
And to answer the thickness part, yes, you can make the stone thinner. A good cup wheel on a grinder, lots of care, and lots of patience will thin the stone down.

I have the same question and am hoping somebody might have some advice on the part of your original question about selling leftover pieces. We have a small kitchen and are hoping to fit all our pieces into one slab, but it's looking like maybe we will come up just a little bit short :( That would mean we would have to buy a whole extra slab that we would probably only use about 1/4 of (a long thin piece for a bar countertop). Seems unfair to have to pay for a whole slab. Surely some other customer would be able to use 3/4 of a slab? Or maybe another customer would've had a slice left over?? So I too am wondering about selling this leftover amount. Or even whether customers ever team up to share a slab???? Not sure how this would happen ...

Seems like there should be a slab-share network :)

I didn't own any leftover pieces because my granite was sold by the sq ft. In my original order I included a deep windowsill in the kitchen. But there were pieces left. I was able to negotiate a reduced price to do another deep windowsill in the adjacent room that the kitchen opens on.

The granite was a good solution for these windowsills because they are big and invite plants and other messy stuff. They previously had varnished plywood sills that were a mess.