Has anyone ever bought their marble sight unseen?

betsyhac

14 years ago

I'm thinking of ordering Danby out of Chicago, but I really don't want to go there. Would this be a huge mistake?

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Comments (16)

malhgold
14 years ago
Can you at least get pictures of the slabs? I wouldn't buy anything like this without seeing it. Each slab can look very different.
rookie_2010
14 years ago
It's a risk...I buy just about everything that way so when it came to picking out a slab of calacatta, I was lucky that the stone supplier had a nice website with pictures. Each slab had it's own number. The fabricator went to pick it up and he looked it over and thought it was fine too.
So, then my marble tile, again, a place with a great website, the installer went to pick it up and I told him to go with medium to light veining. He did great. It would have been a 2 hour drive for me and with building a new home and working full time with a pre-schooler, it just wasn't gonna happen!
My original intent was to get Danby out of NJ, the only place I could find it had plenty of it but no website and no one willing to mill about the place taking pictures of stone to send me. So I went with the calacatta. Best of luck to you, just try to score a picture if you can!
BTW, I didn't see the inside of my first house until I had it under contract.....
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belle_phoebe
14 years ago
betsy, where are you located? If you are closer to Cincinnati, I know of a Danby supplier here. I have been looking at it myself.
betsyhac
Original Author
14 years ago
Hah, Rookie! So I'm not entirely crazy then. Thank goodness. Belle, I'm 1/2 hour north of Milwaukee. Pictures of slabs is a great idea. I'll see if I can work that out. Thx much.
country_smile
14 years ago
Oh Betsy - please be careful with this. Photos can be so deceiving. We wanted marble for our hutch and the fabricator sent a photo over the internet to our contractor. I almost ruled it out because the color on the photo looked a bit yellow or dull. We had time on a Saturday and went to check it out and I could hardly believe it was the same marble because it was beautiful and was thankful that we didn't rule it out. However, it can work the other way too and look like it's the perfect color in the photo and turn out to not be something you like.

If you're sure the photo is an accurate depiction of the color. . .

. . . just please proceed with caution.
azstoneconsulting
14 years ago
Betsy -

I can tell you that you should PHYSICALLY LOOK AT AND APPROVE YOUR SLABS!

DO NOT rely on a photo, or someone else's "best judgement" to decide what
YOU are going to be married to - kitchen countertop wise...

I have been a mediator in way too many cases - just like this - (where for
whatever reason, the stone was chosen WITHOUT the homeowner's approval)
and once the work was done - the customer/homeowner did NOT like the
stone.

Fabricators do NOT like to play "guess what you are thinking" - we do countertops for
our living, and we focus on getting the job done and moving on to the next one -
not lingering on a project becasue a client couldn't or wouldn't approve the
stone, and now they don't like it.....

Not trying to be a hard nose or a jerk here - however - doing what what you are
proposing is in my opinion - just foolish. GO to the distributor and LOOK
at, scratch-n-sniff - fondle - whatEVER you have to do to be 100% SURE
thatthe stone that will be fabricated into YOUR kitchen counters - is what
you REALLY LOVE......

Go to Chicago - make a fun day of it - have a nice lunch or dinner after you
approve your slabs, and return home with visions of beauty in your head - anticipating
the day that your tops will be installed, and look forward to how great they
will look in your home.

hth

kevin
simplegirl
14 years ago
Betsy, Do you mind me asking the name of the supplier/fabricator for where you are going? We live west of Chicago and I am seeking recommendations for marble folks. Am wanting calacutta, danby or carrara. (Maybe I should post my request for marble recs in the Chicago area separately, but thought I would quickly ask you.)

Also, I thought my marble supplier would also be the fabricator. Do I need to find a separate contractor for fabricating? A little confused...

Thanks much!
betsyhac
Original Author
14 years ago
Simplegirl:
You've made me feel a lot better by asking these questions! I drove out to the fabricator's on a Sat. aft. at about 2:30, only to find they closed at 2. Went back on a diff. Sat., only to find out that I needed to go to the marble slab place and pick out the slab first. So as far as I know, the fabricator and supplier are always different people. I've also found out (I think) that the fabricator determines the quality/grade/price of the marble. And, from what I've been reading on GW, it's very important to get a good, experienced fabricator. On top of not being able to find marble up here, I can't tell you how many times I've been told that "nobody does marble" around here. Not something that instills a lot of confidence in the work about to be done. (Plus, they all spell it calcutta, which just bugs me). So, yes, do put up a separate post asking for recs for a fabricator in Chicago area, because I will be riding on your coattails. :) Where are you west of Chicago? I grew up in Morton Grove.
betsyhac
Original Author
14 years ago
I found a Danby website on the net, which is how I found a/the (?) marble site in Chicago. I've attached a link.

Here is a link that might be useful: Stone City
bobb_2010
14 years ago
Do not buy this expensive item wo seeing it live. Unless you can return it. Ask supplier if he can send u a big enough sample, 12 x 12" ?

As a photographer, I tell u picture doesn't work. Human eyes and cameras see colors differently. Then seeing enough of the entire pattern also matters.
niffy
14 years ago
I've seen the Danby at Stone City! One that I was looking at was white with dark veining. The dark veins were kind of a dark charcoal-y GREEN- not what you would expect or guess from photos (I was LOOKING for green, which is why I checked it out). It is expensive. It is worth going to see in person if you really are interested, to be certain it's what you want.
simplegirl
14 years ago
Betsy- We are in Geneva and a place called MarbleTech (link below) has a location here, but I am seeking additional recs for pricing, selection, etc. Their site says they recently expanded from 5 Chicago locations to 11. Note: It seems their showroom locations are often not called MarbleTech (e.g., Geneva's is 'Granite Countertops').

Their slabs are in their Crystal Lake showroom and you can view pics of the slabs on their site, but the person I spoke to said it won't be up to date with the shipment they just got in today. He said there was a lot of marble in it. In fact, he said their demand for marble has gone up recently. (I chuckled to myself thinking it's all the people who follow this forum getting the courage to follow their hearts and put marble in their kitchens!)

Anywho, I stopped by tonight to ask some basic questions and the person working explained to me that they are both a supplier and fabricator. That's lucky for me, I think. He also said that they can *easily* get something from another place (they don't have any calacatta or danby as of now) if they don't have it-- w/o any sort of commitment from me. Said they swap slabs all the time. Try saying that 3x really fast! I need to get further clarification on how exactly it works... Not sure if they would, for example, get a slab of danby from Stone City (thanks for that rec!) and then I could see it, or if they would want me to go to Stone City to pick the slab of danby and then they would 'swap'. He made it sound like it's not an additional cost. I'm tired & not sure this is making sense now, but I plan on talking to someone at the store tomorrow who I trust to understand it better. I want to start looking at slabs!!!

At any rate, I am checking back tomorrow when the person I spoke to originally a couple of months ago (when I started scoping my remodel) will be in. She was fabulous and was 110% supportive of my choice to do honed white marble and even offered further encouragement! Needless to say I trust her and will get additional clarification on all of this, what they have, what I want and how to see it, etc. (And her name is Betsy-- go figure!) I will let you know if I learn anything useful.

Thanks again and hope this helps you too!

p.s. Do I only get an email of a response to my question if it's a thread I actually started? I had to dig to find this again and then saw your response. Sorry to be such a newbie here!

Here is a link that might be useful: Marble Tech
aokat15
14 years ago
belle_phoebe - where can you get Danby in Cincinnati? Did they give you a hard time about putting it in a kitchen? Thanks!
portland_renovation
14 years ago
Not marble, but I bought 4 slabs of soapstone sight unseen. I got 2"x2" samples, and picked the one I liked the best. I guess it depends on how much control you want over details.

My slabs came 2 weeks ago, and I still haven't bothered uncrating them. I visually inspected them to ensure that they weren't damaged, but haven't really even looked them over. I will have plenty of time to look at them when the carpenters are installing them (tomorrow) and over the next few years. I guess I'm just not that TKO!
sabjimata
14 years ago
I bought my soapstone unseen. Am buying a custom soapstone sink again...unseen. Marble tops going in kitchen. Marble will be unseen. I think it depends on how flexible you can be with what you get or how important it is that you get something specific. For me, the most important thing about the marble is price. And I am getting a good price plus I trust my fabricator.
jeri
14 years ago
plus I trust my fabricator.

Trust is the most important thing. :-)

Has anyone ever bought their marble sight unseen?

Comments (16)

malhgold

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