I totally relate. We went to so many yards, and it seemed to be a full-time job! I had to look up your "Polare" granite. But, as it always seems with granite, the names are all over the place. There was Polare Blue, Polare Bianco, Polar Blue, Polar White, and Volga Blue which was listed as "aka Polare Blue". Do you have a pic?

Can you explain what "nesting technology" is? I am always interested to learn granite terminology.

That's so funny! I spent about 40 hours in SODO torturing myself and then the fabricator I'd chosen told me that I ought to go check out Denali. Mark rocks (pun intended)! The nesting software totally helped and I have to say that his slabs were far and away better quality than what I saw at the big slab houses. I just wish I'd known about Denali before I wasted my time downtown.

Congrats, newcastle! How exciting to have another decision nailed down. I took a peek at Polare on Mark's website and it looks great. Sounds like he is really taking care of you!

BTW, I was in your neck of the woods this past weekend. Played China Creek and shot the best round of golf of my life!

Thanks Linda. I'll e-mail you for some names. I'm not sure who my GC uses, but I want good references! BTW, I called Mike yesterday. His voicemail back to me said he's booked until December, but I'm going to follow up with him today to hopefully speak with him. It may still work out with him if we pushed our time back a bit. I wonder how many weeks it takes him to build?

Pugrolls--did you pick your stone? I've been hit and miss on the forum the past week so I may have missed your search results.

Please, please I want to see....where is "Mark's website"

Athomeswing - Well, I pieced together from this thread's references to Denali and Mark and Seattle, and found the website Denalirocks.com. Their photo of "Polare" looks almost exactly like the granite we put in our kitchen, which is called "Alaska White". The granite names can make you crazy. I also saw on the Denali website a stone called "Polaris" which looks more like the "Polare" pics I got just from surfing the web for "Polare"--and coming up with a slate-blue stone. Never mind, they're ALL gorgeous.

Here is a link that might be useful: Denali in WA Pic of Polare Granite

Hi Guys, Nice to see everbiddy's here!
Athome, I can see how you'd think they were alike, yet Polare and Alaska white are two pretty different stones. I only know this because I've had my nose pressed up against them for 2 weeks now.

Thanks to you (you're a peach) I can post the photo. The Alaska White I saw has more brown in it, and the patterns are different. Polare is Polaris too. I think it's unique. In all my granite gazing (as DH terms it) there wasn't another stone like it. Less 'busy' than Delacatus, less spiky veins than Alaska, less brown than Bianca, and less red or purple than most of the lighter colored white stones. More creams and taupe and gray, shiny black veins, rare paintbrush flowers of espresso, a light sprinkle here and there of burgandy, faint but striking gold mica. Overall a little cooler than some. Not a single rusty vein on it. (Some like that orangey rust quartz veining; me, not so much.)

Fixen, the one on the Denali website is mine now - I recognize the patch in the lower right. It's this most stunning cluster of gold crystals. And it's the only slab that had it. He had 4 slabs on Tuesday; and one left now.

Denali's Nesting software takes high resolution photos of each exact slab, and your plan view components, and then overlays them much like cad cam. He can 'cut out' your counters from the slabs you choose, and then place them back into a plan view. You get to see... how the veins lie, best piecing on either side of a seam, which spot on which counter will end up with that cluster of gold crystals. While I was with him one afternoon we tried 3 different nestings and found the best possible layout. That's why he likes his customers to make an appointment. He's into customer service, but I think he's also loving the artistry. And the fabricators like it cause most of the hard part of the templating is done for them.

Breezy, sorry Mike is so booked up but not surprising, huh? I have another name to share if you want another custom guy. His prices and quality were comparable to Mike, and he does frameless (Mike's are framed.)

Pugs, way to go!! Don't you just love the views from that course? Did you sit a bit at the 19th hole and listen for the bagpiper? When do we get to see photos of your counters? Must be going in soon, I bet.

Brittu, I agree with you. Mark's slabs are higher quality than anything else I saw in Soho or Fife. And the fabricators seem to know it. Did you decide on your granite yet? He just got another shipment in a day or 2 ago.

Here is a link that might be useful: NewcastleMom's Polare

NcMom.....

I'm in the process of shopping for my granite. I want something 'whitish', on the cool end of the spectrum and it seems that your selection might be what I'm looking for. I'm not keen on the garnet accents that a lot of these slabs in this color palate seem to have.

Just curious, where did the $3000 savings come in? On the fabricator side? Slab side? A combination?

Thanks!

Newcastle....I'm pretty sure your link is not a pic of your granite.

I hope you don't mind if I try posting it here, it is gorgeous. Let's see if this works:

{{!gwi}}

Newcastlemom's Fabulous Granite

The link was for a brownfield paper! Not exactly what we're all lusting after around here!

Mike and I are going to talk this afternoon. We may be able to make his timeframe work, depending on how long it'll take him to fabricate. How long are yours taking? Of course, I still haven't actually SEEN his cabs yet to check out quality, paint finish, etc.

That slab is GORGEOUS!! Pental in Fife is the only place I've looked so far. I love B.A., but am really wanting to see everything out there in this color range, such as yours. DH liked the Alaska White there.

Brittu-which granite did you pick? From where?

BTW, I think we should all have a kitchen party at the first person's house to finish theirs! I think Pug will be done first! I'm waaaaaaay behind you! ;)

Pepper, Polare is the lightest cool white I found that didn't have veins of orange or rust (or even more than a sprinkling of red.) The bad news is that no one else here had it, as of this week. Are you local? Maybe you're in Texas and Seattle inventory is irrelevant to you. Mark told me he tried to get more Polare when he was in Brazil some time ago but couldn't get it.

I asked each fabricator to present their bids with materials and labor separated out. Since I was looking at a few different stones when they submitted they were keen to comply. The variance in price was in both materials and labor. One person claimed a math error (and I believed her) but she was still more than $2500 high. I thanked them for their work, gave them some feedback and every single one went back to their calculators and then presented lower revised bids. The guy I chose was nearly a grand lower than the next highest fabricator and since he's done more than 15 installs for my KD I'm comfortable with him. Very down to earth, easy to talk with, listens well, offered 6 different edge details with no up-charge. Just ordered sinks from him yesterday too. Best finish and soundproofing I've seen at that price point.

Somebody (wish I could recall who) went to all the work of posting the collective wisdom of granite shopping and I took my notes from that with me to my meeting with Andrew. "Do you do this? Do you do that? How about positive sink reveal?" And he said "Yes, yes, yes" all down the line.

ATHome to the rescue once again. Thanks for the technical support (and moral) support. ;)

Breezy, So glad you liked the slab. It really is prettier than the photo. What's B.A.? If you liked Pental in Fife you'll want to see Cosmos there, too. Or maybe you will just skip all that and make the trek north to Denali Studios. (You can swing by the tasting room on your way home) Mike mentioned today that he talked to you; I can't say how long it takes to make the cabs because I think it depends on your choices and the size of your job. My process is longer than some since I chose a raised panel door that is painted and then glazed; thats a 6 step process. Good idea about a local meet and greet.

Echoing the question: Britu, what did you pick?

Pug, still waiting for photos. You must be so close!

Newcastle, I'm embarrased to say that, while I THOUGHT my quartz was going to be installed last Monday, the email from my fabricator clearly said Monday, 10/4 -- next Monday. (Whoops. Guess I got a little excited). That said, I got a call from them today saying that the slabs are ready ahead of schedule and ready to be installed! I set an appointment for first thing tomorrow morning. Whee! I am excited!

But, are you ready to hear my drama? After putting up with months and months...and months! of B.S. and delays from my contractor, I pushed hard for a final, drop-dead, done-done-shiny-done completion date, not letting him wiggle out of the question like he has been doing for months. Really, there's just a bunch of little stuff to do! There's no reason he shouldn't be able to knock it out in a single day (you know, a full working day -- not that he ever worked one of those during the ENTIRE project). Anyway, he started to be really mean and bully me. DH asked me later that day whether I finally got a completion date and I told him what happened. He then called our contractor who WENT OFF on DH (about nothing, really -- "I injured my f*ckin' shoulder and couldn't work because you MADE me install the f*ckin' fridge! It took me 87 hours to paint 3 f*ckin' walls because I was doing a really really good job! You didn't f*ckin' pick out cabinet pulls when I told you to so I couldn't get anything else done around here while I was waiting for you to pick out cabinet pulls! You're unlawfully holding back a retainage! I'm gonna f*ckin' sue you and put a f*ckin' lien on your house!" -- he was just bullying to try to deflect attention from the real issues) and...that was a mistake. DH fired him on the spot. (D'oh! Don't bite the hand that feeds you, buddy!) Things had been tense between us for quite some time, but I really had hoped that we could all just keep it together until the end of the project. Oh well.

So...sigh. Although the countertops are going in tomorrow, I will be left with a bunch of finish work and no one left to do it. Guess DH and I should get ready to put on our overalls and tool belts again! I'll probably end up finishing AFTER you, breezy, and athomesewing!

Oh, and breezy, after all of my granite and quartzite hunting, I went with the easy way out: grey quartz. I'm still planning to do a carrera marble backsplash to tie in the grey and bring home the "transitional" look.

newcastle, the course is indeed gorgeous! Some of the best golf course vistas I've ever seen. We did go to the 19th hole for lunch, although I don't remember any bagpipes. I do remember the cross-cut french fries topped like nachos though! Talk about a gut-buster!

Oh man, I'm so so sorry to hear that Pug. How does that guy even stay in business if he talks to his clients that way? Foolish guy to threaten you two with a lawsuit... espeically you two! Do you want me to talk to my little brother the GC to get a name or two of anyone out your way? If yes, send me an email of what kind of skills you need for that punch list.

Through our conversations, I've learned that most of his GC experience is through his wife, our realtor (she hires him to fix up houses she's selling or has purchased herself for a flip). She ends up being the client-facing person in those situations, while he just rounds up all of his subcontractor buddies to do the work. Before that, he worked in a non-client facing capacity as a cabinet maker for most of his adult life. And yeah...it is kind of funny that he threatened to sue us. DH said, "really, _______? You're going to threaten to sue two lawyers over $3,000 when you don't even have a valid claim to that money yet? Really? You know my wife used to litigate construction claim cases, right?"

Anyway, just trying to move forward now. Thanks so much for the offer, but we have a couple of guys in mind to help us finish the plumbing, cabinetry, and touch-ups, and we have always been the contact for our electrician, so we're still good there. And I'm excited to try to do the backsplash myself. I really enjoy doing crafty stuff (including making mosaic tile mirrors), so I should be able to do a decent job. Onward and upward, as they say!

OK, I feel better hearing that.

To complete my thread hijack, newcastle: my countertops are in! Woo hoo! I'm not going to post pictures yet, though. Because we went with a plain grey quartz, the backsplash and kitchen accessories really are going to be the stars of the show. I want to post pics once the stars are in! :)

Wow. Pug, that's simply great. I'm glad that your dirty rotten scoundrel of a GC didn't delay your counters. Looking forward to those photos, and yes, worth waiting for the stars. How do they look to you? Are you pleased?

Hi all. I just wanted to let you know that thanks to Newcastlemom's generous offer to let me see her custom cabs by a local maker I'm considering, I got to see her GORGEOUS granite also! Wow!! She's right about not seeing anything like that out there anywhere else. Not busy, not spikey, not too brown, not too gold, but just right. The photo posted above is beautiful, but does not do it justice. Seeing that made me put a trip to Denali on my to-do list and hope his stones aren't waaaaaay out of my price range.

Great selection!

And thanks for letting us crash your new kitchen yesterday! You are a very gracious hostess.

You're more than welcome, Breezy. And your kids are adorable. Tell that big boy I'll play puzzles with him any day.

Breezy....was this the post? The photo is gone, can you post it again? I would love to see it. I am reading your post, and it sounds EXACTLY like my experience I had yesterday with Mark. I don't think he had polare, he did have a very cool white color called: "White Diamond"

I think I am getting addicted to this forum :-)