Built up (thick) Granite/ Stone on Island. Anyone do this?

12 years ago

My husband loves the look of a thick slab of stone on the island, so we have been looking at 5cm Carrara marble.

I like the durability of granite and quartzite and we have found some beautiful Super White quartzite slabs.

We have been discussing building up the edge on the quartzite to give us the thick marble slab look, but with the durability of the quartzite.

We have two issues though. One is that our island is long and one slab won't fit so we are considering using a piece of butcher block at one end of the island to avoid a stone seam (and because my husband loves the look).

I assume one's options are somewhat limited on edges on the butcher block piece and also assume that we want the butcher block and quartzite edge to somewhat match?

Also my husband prefers a simple edge, and most build ups I have seen tend to be much fancier than we are looking for... or you can see the seam along the edge.

Does anyone have any experience doing a build up? We have also been talking about a mitred edge - more expensive and has to be raised up, but eliminates the seam on the edge apparently.

Anyone done the mitred edge? Pros? Cons?

I found this pic of a laminated edge on granite - I think it's beautiful and maybe easier to match up this kind of edge with butcher block? This edge would be about 6cm and add a bit of height to the island. Is that ok?

Or there's the stacking, where about the simplest edge we could get away with would be something like this:

Despite being fancier looking, the second option is about half the price of the first as it's much easier to do, but what of the matching up to butcher block?

Or should we scrap the whole idea and do Super White perimeter counters, and Cararra marble 5cm on the island?

Thoughts?

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Comments (7)

suzanne_sl
12 years ago
On the west coast here, the norm is to use 2cm granite, so everyone's edges are built up - plywood base, 2cm granite on top, and built up edge to cover the plywood. I've got to say that I've never noticed the seam connecting the slab and the built up edge, so I going to go out on a limb and say it's no big deal. Raising your slab a bit to allow an extra deep edge is pretty much the same thing people doing 2cm granite do, only yours will be thicker to start with - plywood, granite, built up edge to cover granite. This will make your countertop higher than usual, but not by much. Unless you're short, it shouldn't be a problem.

I have no actual experience with matching up the butcher block, but I suspect you'd do the same thing as with the quartzite/granite: lay down a plywood base thick enough to bring the butcher block up to the level of the stone and add a built up edge. I've never seen it done that I know about, but in woodworking terms, I can't see that building up the edge would be a problem. Do you have a cabinetmaker?

Maybe some of our west coasters will take pictures of their edges so you can see how that looks. Unfortunately for this, I am one of the few westies to actually have 3 cm granite, so that doesn't help you.
vsalzmann
12 years ago
Here's my mitered quartzite. I think mitering is best because looks like a solid slab and you don't lose the workspace you get on stacking various edges. Also, I insisted on having the miter around the sink, rather than having the thin edge there and thick edge elsewhere (as in the photo you posted). In my opinion, it defeats the point of the thick edge if your sink reveal shows how thin the slab is. Some fabricators won't do this because it's a lot of work for them.

Everyone who sees it comments on how beautiful my super thick slab is (not knowing its 2cm.
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hobokenkitchen
Original Author
12 years ago
The mitred edge looks great, and good point about maximizing the workspace, particularly as our island is narrow.

We don't have a sink in our island though, so don't need to worry about that aspect - our perimeter cabinets will be the usual 3cm thick.

I just checked and the island countertop would be 3" thick, which does add a good couple of inches to the height of our island. I hope that isn't going to be an issue.....
cakelly1226
12 years ago
West coast here and we have the built up eased edge, mitered does look the best to me since it doesn't show a seam. But it is quite pricey an option- at least it was for us. I love my 4 cm looking countertop and the seam is really not noticeable.
hobokenkitchen
Original Author
12 years ago
The mitering is expensive - it's a $1200 upcharge just for the island.

Going with 5cm Cararra marble would almost certainly be less expensive, but we like the resiliance of the quartzite.

I think we're going to go for it - my biggest worry is marrying it to the butcher block in a way that works.
Bunny
12 years ago
West Coast here. I have a dark mottled Caesarstone and the built-up edge seam is virtually invisible. I love running my fingers along the edge and it's smooth as a baby's bottom.

vsalz, the thick edge around your sink looks really nice. I never thought about it with mine, in fact, I had to get up and look at mine to see the difference.
hobokenkitchen
Original Author
12 years ago
What is the thickest mitred edge someone has, and if it's close to 3" could you post a pic??

Thanks!

Built up (thick) Granite/ Stone on Island. Anyone do this?

Comments (7)

suzanne_sl

vsalzmann

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Built up (thick) Granite/ Stone on Island. Anyone do this?

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vsalzmann

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