More pics of the rest of the kitchen...

And more pics, the area to the left is where the 2cm would go

Wait, why do you need 2 cm instead of 3 cm? Too bad you aren't here in the Bay Area where it's mostly all 2 cm.

I wouldn't change the entire look of my counter just because of a problem in one small area. Isn't there some modification that can be done to accommodate that extra 1 cm? It seems like a very minor issue to cause such a drastic change of plans.

Why don't you like your cabinets? They look nice in the photos. I think a light counter would be just the ticket.

Your cabinets look great in the photos sorry you had issues with them and or Lowes. I think black galaxy granite would be too dark with your cabinets (and I actually have dark counters in my kitchen, although with lighter wood cabinets than yours)
I would get that light colored granite that you want and go with a a different material for the problem area. You could use natural maple butcher block if it is not too thick or perhaps stainless steel.
Good luck getting this figured out.

I am with Linelle in that I still don't fully understand why the 3cm won't work there?

I'd consider 2 cm white quartz for that one area. Is the problem that your coffee maker etc. won't fit under the upper cabinet if you use 3 cm countertops?

I would stick with the granite you like most in the bulk of the kitchen and do something different in that one little area.

I think something dark there would be nice to set it apart. Maybe there's a remnant that size?

I initially had a hard time seeing why there'd be a height limitation, but you mean at the left, between the bev fridge and the drawer below the coffee maker.

Thank you! Yes it is the area under the coffee maker cabinet and the beverage center below it that cannot be adjusted. This is the view of the kitchen from the great room. I am worried about looking at it from this view (which is most often how we would view it) that it would look odd to see the different color of granite in that one section. My fabricator does not have quartz in 2cm width. Any other ideas? So stumped! And for the person who asked, I like the cabinets it is the Lowes designer made SO so many mistakes with this design but that is a story for another post!

I would probably do stainless steel. If you don't like that idea, I would pick the black granite just for that section. The black granite will probably just blend in with the dark cabinets. I would not do another light countertop in a different granite/material.

This post was edited by housebuilder14 on Thu, Jul 3, 14 at 16:02

Thanks! Yes I definitely did NOT want to do a different light granite in that one small section. I think it would look odd!

A good finish carpenter or cabinet maker should be able to shave 1 cm off the piece at the bottom of the drawer (the piece of face frame that I'm assuming is under the drawer front) then re-mount the drawer front up a cm higher on the drawer box, giving you the clearance you need for the 3 cm all around. You would need to have the cut edge colored but that's no big deal. In this case your templating would take a tab of the 3 cm granite UNDERNEATH the cabinet edge under that drawer front.

If the cabinets are face-frameless, you still may be able to move up the drawer front then meet the granite edge up TO and flush against the cabinet face, instead of a tab of granite fitting underneath it. Then it's just a matter of a skilled caulk job to cover the crack, which will mostly be hidden anyway when the drawer is closed and the drawer front is up against the cabinet face.

You will lose 1 cm of reveal off the bottom frame edge under the microwave or whatever that is above, but this will not be very noticeable at all.

This post was edited by beautybutdebtfree on Thu, Jul 3, 14 at 16:23

The difference between 2cm and 3cm granite is 1/2 an inch. 1/2 inch cannot be shaved off of that cabinet. Thanks though!

I don't think it would look odd to do that one section (not JUST the coffeemaker section, but also the base cabinet next to it) in a different, dark granite. And I'm NOT a huge fan of multiple color cabinets or multiple counter materials. In your case, though, it faces a different room/direction then the rest, so it makes sense in my brain. It would seem purposeful.

I think it's a great idea to have a dark granite by the beverage center, at least you won't have to worry about coffee stains. The microwave's glass door looks black, and I think the black granite will blend in really well in that area, making it look like a purposeful decision. I'd use the light granite for the rest of the kitchen. I love your kitchen, it's going to be beautiful, please show us more pictures as you progress. To me, this is serendipity, when something bad happens, but the end result turns out better.

Thank you all! Seriously I have learned so much from this forum. It's nice to have a place like this to exchange ideas with people going through the same thing.

We are going to go out tonight to look at stainless counters in that area and what it would cost. I think stainless may look really cool and not compete with the other counter. The only other issue I have with using the 2cm black galaxy granite in just that area (and Astoria everywhere else) is that we are forced to buy the whole slab of Black Galaxy and we only need 10 sq.ft. Although I did tell my husband that we could use the rest of the slab for our master bath counter... hahaha he almost had a heart attack. This "simple" (cough) kitchen project has already resulted in us redoing several other rooms on the first floor. I think touching anything on the second floor is going to send him over the edge!!

You ought to be able to find a black remnant. It would be crazy to buy an entire slab for 10 sf!

Stainless is a good option for looks, but you have to be prepared for scratches and smudges.

Buy the 3 cm granite you want and have your fabricator throw the coffeemaker piece on his CNC and turn it into 2cm. It's not that big a deal, especially for a piece that small.

If you get the stainless (which I think would look pretty sharp there), would you have enough granite leftover (or from the sink cutout) for the fabricator to finish off the edges? Then you could place that piece on the stainless and it would almost look "on purpose". I made a lazy susan out of mine, but my kitchen is not as sleek as yours. Others have posted here that they made pretty neat cake or cupcake stands or cheeseboards out of remnants. An opportunity to turn a "whoops" into a custom element.

I was hoping Treb would pipe in as a pro. I was thinking the same thing but didn't want to get laughed off the site if that was just layman crazy talk.

Trebruchet, My fabricator for whatever reason can't / won't do that. I've asked. I cannot go somewhere else, they already have my $$.

i agree with kitchenlover about the dark granite....could be a blessing in disguise with the coffee stains...

another good idea from phonelady about the turn-table made out of your granite to put on SS....if u go that route...

personally, i like the idea of the black granite in that area...its always nice to break things up and not have everything so uniform... JMHO

I would consider taking that half inch off the toe kick, it's not in a run of cabinets so it's not like it would be too noticeable. Due to my measuring mistake we ended up taking 1" off the toe kick on the pantry rather than remove all the cabinets and readjust the height (if we hadn't been installing I would have had installers fix them all. But we were the installers, and it was the last cabinet, and we just were not going there). It's only noticeable if you know to look for it.

Also,our kurig can't be opened sitting on the counter under the uppers. Initially it was a little annoying, now we are used to it and it's no big deal. Personally I would rather go with pulling out the coffee maker, getting a new coffee maker, or shortening the toe kick before I would give up the counters I wanted.

Unfortunately the coffee maker was $2500. It's built in and not something we are willing to lose. The problem is with the coffee maker cabinet, there's no way to shave a half in off of that. Also the base cabinet next to it cannot be easily removed, it's attached to the refrigerator cabinet. The Sub-Zero was already installed by a SZ tech. We are leaning towards the stainless steel counter and backsplash in that area. Although my granite fabricator said they would be willing to do a black galaxy slab of 2cm there for an additional 1000 which isn't too bad. Does anyone think this kitchen would look good with black galaxy?

I think the stainless would look like an intentional design decision, very sleek.
The deep rich wood looks great with the stainless appliances.

I really like the idea of a stainless counter for just that small area. It would look great and seems like an easier and less expensive option than modifying your cabinet or buying another piece of granite.

I agree with Juddgirl2 and a few others that I think a stainless counter in that small area would look very nice and look like you chose this different counter due to the coffee maker.

I like the idea of stainless steel in that area as well. That would look fab!

I would go with a super light marble or granite for the rest of the counters. I would also go with one that is simple (not to speckly or veiny) Unless the veins and or speckles were really light as well.

LOVE your kitchen!

"Trebruchet, My fabricator for whatever reason can't / won't do that. I've asked. I cannot go somewhere else, they already have my $$."

RealHousewifeNJ:

Tell him I said he's an amateur. I could do it with a saw, a chisel, and a grinder in hour or so.

I think the idea of stainless in the beverage center is fantastic and would look great, would reflect light and not look so dark as using the black granite! I think using black galaxy everywhere would make for a very dark kitchen. Your dark cabinets seem to be made for a light countertop. Your kitchen is looking gorgeous...can't wait to see it finished!!

Thanks all! We are going to meet with the stainless countertop people tomorrow, thinking of doing the backsplash in the stainless in that area as well. That way it will look like it was meant to be that way in a stand alone area. Hopefully it's not too expensive, although this kitchen has gone so over budget that what's a few more $$$$. :)

This is the granite we choose for the rest of the kitchen.

What chrissy suggested wasn't shaving off material from the coffe maker cabinet. It was reducing the toe kick by about the 0.4 inches needed to get the extra cm. That wouldn't affect the coffee maker - the beverage fridge might need to have it's feet adjusted down a bit - does it have some height adjustment available?

That should be possible and since the area doesn't adjoin other counters, it shouldn't be noticeable.

If you don't want to do that, just use the black granite for the coffee station and keep your choice for the rest. Since the beverage area is more a part of the family room than the kitchen (it's around the corner from the main kitchen), it won't look odd to have a different counter material on it. I think that would look much better than doing black granite with the dark cabinets in the whole kitchen.

You said that your granite yard keeps only one granite in stock in both thicknesses. That implies that they might have some granites in 2 cm only. In that case, you might look to see if there is something for the coffee area that you would like better than the black galaxy. But if they don't, black galaxy is a fairly neutral granite. If it is like the black galaxy I've seen, it has some nice blingy sparkles.

I love the idea of stainless, but as some have pointed out, it scratches easily and most ceramic coffee mugs have rough edges on bottom, although some love the look of a patina and say it increases the beauty. In two years, I have three scratches on the front of my stove, so far, I'm not loving the patina. :) Love the granite you've chosen.

Quick metals.com has sheets for backsplashes that are very inexpensive for a small area. Also, they have trim pieces, so it would be possible to use a flat piece for the surface and just use the trim for counter edge.

Here is a link that might be useful: STAINLESS STEEL

I would not give up the granite you chose. No way. It's gorgeous!

Here's the website I found when we were planning on stainless behind the range. (Decided it was too hard to figure out with 36"hood and 30" range). The link is directly to backsplashes. I didn't poke around to see if they offer counters as well.

As big of a fan as I am of stainless in many applications, if I could get a remnant of black or some other granite that looks super different from yours for a reasonable amount, I'd still go that way. What style is your family room? To me the stainless takes it modern/industrial/cold, where your aesthetic seems to be more warm/traditional. But maybe just that little bit wouldn't give that vibe.

Here is a link that might be useful: commerce metals

OMG thank you all! I will look into those links. I love this forum - so many people willing to help and think outside the box.

Cloudswift, the beverage center is as lowered as it can go and we cannot take 1/2 inch off the cabinet above it. We can (well we could at great expense) shave the toe kick off the cabinet next to it (but it does not help because we still have the coffee maker cabinet problem). Another problem is that base cabinet is attached to the refrigerator cabinet into which the Sub-Zero was already installed (by a certified SZ installer), I believe the fridge is bolted to the studs in the back. After the money we spent on purchasing that and the installation, I do not want to mess with removing that fridge! Thanks though, trust me I have been up every night thinking of ways to resolve this dilemna!

Would it be possible to get a 2 cm piece of wood finished to match the cabinets and use that between the beverage center and the coffee maker, then start the granite on the adjacent cabinets?

While reading this thread, the entire time I was thinking the same thing that atmoscat has suggested.

Rodney

I thought the same thing and almost posted, but looked more closely at the photos. The beverage fridge is the depth of the base cabinets and that would leave a gap between the wall cabinet depth and the base cabinet depth, not sure if the top of the fridge is finished. But I'm sure a good carpenter could box it in as another option.

Stainless is really the answer in that corner. It will carry the material over from the coffeemaker through to the fridge. It's a very elegant solution.

OP here. I wouldn't mind a wood counter, stained to match the cabinets but my husband is adamantly against it. We have decided to go stainless with the counter and the backsplash in that area. The only problem is we can't seem to find a fabricator for these counters! We are in Southern NJ, if anyone has a suggestion we are open. We do not want to use a mail order fabricator, rather someone who comes out, templates and installs. We are willing to pay to have it done (and hopefully look) right! Thanks!

Can you ask for your remnant and have a different fabricator do that section?
Call around and ask if another shop can shave that section down and let your shop know you are going to have to have someone else "fix" it since they do not have these skills.

If Gardenweb says it can be done then I would not give up.

My fabricator stepped up and made things right when I showed him the posts on gardenweb showing it could be done the way I wanted.

I think it was the idea of being outdone by another local shop that made them step up.

I like what atmoscat suggests. You could treat the gap between the beverage center as cabinet rather than counter. You could get a piece of wood 2 cm thick (or a bit less since the beverage center could be raised slightly to narrow the gap) finished to match your cabinets.

The piece should an inch or so deeper (front to back) than the distance from the front of the beverage center to the front of the coffee maker cabinet and as wide as that cabinet. Attach that to the bottom of the coffee maker cabinet so that it covers where the beverage center extends beyond the coffee maker cabinet.

Then your granite can be used on for the counter to the right of the beverage center.

Oh my your granite is perfect for your kitchen. The red wine color running through it will look great with the stain on your cabinets. Can't wait to see it all finished. I'm also on board with the stainless for the counter and splash. It shouldn't be too terribly expensive ⦠hopefully!

I like the idea of stainless. It is the one place where you can do something different and make it look planned and that was my first thought. Look for a machine shop -- stainless sheet metal or commercial kitchen suppliers. You'll want a brushed finish, not highly polished.

Getting your hands on the remnant and using a different fabricator to make the adjustment sounds like it would be worth checking out. If you use the wood under the coffeemaker (if it needs to be filled at all) and only have the small piece in front of the coffeemaker that actually needs to be reduced, it's really a very small job.

Another possibility would be to have a remnant for a piece of matching granite in 2 cm shipped to you from someplace like here that sells mostly 2 cm.

This post was edited by lascatx on Sun, Jul 6, 14 at 21:20