Honestly, there's only so much a fabricator can do with a stone that is all busted up like that. When we were looking, there was a slab I was considering, and the woman at the stone yard said "for that price, I wouldn't recommend it. The stone is just not solid." It too had several cracks in it. That was my first clue that some of the stones are just more prone to this kind of problem.

It seems like your fabricator has put a lot of elbow grease into this job, with a stone that you chose that clearly has integrity issues. I'd probably put it all behind me and move on, if I were you. JMO.

Should they have sold us a stone with integrity issues?!

And does the seam issue, polish discrepancy and tape etch squares have anything to do with the integrity of the stone (not to mention the corner and the seam).

You may be right about putting it behind us, but I don't think it's quite as simple as all that.

When we were talking with the fabricator we decided to go with, she said that she rejects slabs that have significant integrity issues when they come into her shop. She said that it's just not worth it to put them in - they have to fight with it during fabrication and the end user generally isn't happy with it either. There is one local distributor that she said she suggested avoiding because of the number of times they tried to send her a "bad slab" and that it actually wound up with disagreements with the distributor because according to the distributor, "This is the slab that the customer wanted." Her retort was, "Yes, but they are usually just looking for something pretty, they don't think to look at integrity issues."

Ideally, you find a fabricator that will tell you point blank, "You shouldn't use this slab". And then, hopefully if given that news, you decide to pick another slab that is more suitable.

Some slabs just aren't meant to be.

I would contact the fabricator and calmly let them know that you discovered an additional fissure and ask them what they suggest doing.

At this point in regard to the etching, you could point it out, but I'm not sure they would say it was them, particularly after you've had the slab in your home for a few weeks.

I'm sorry to hear that you are so disappointed. I really wish that it had gone better for you. Not knowing how much you paid overall for your slabs, I don't know if I would be able to feel warm and fuzzy with the discount...if your slabs were $15K vs $4K, the discount seems a lot less significant, so it's hard to say if it was "enough". At one point, you must have felt that the discount was enough to make it worth it since you went ahead, but in finding additional issues, you feel now that it wasn't.

Can you post a photo, please? That's the only way I'd be able to say what *I* would do in this case. It does sound like quite a messy situation. I'm guessing you don't feel the fissures add 'character' to the stone?

Lol'ing at adds character. That's how we are trying to look at it!! : )

Ugh it's just so annoying, but it really isn't the end of the world. Now I've calmed down I'm inclined to just get over it, but it still rankles.

I should mention that the fabricator in this case is also the supplier of the stone. They sourced the stone themselves and fabricated it. All as a one stop shop, so there is no distributor involved in this case.

I have pics of the new fissure. I'll jump on the laptop and post them.

How disappointing. I haven't worked with a fabricator yet, so if this sounds naive, just disregard it.

I'd call him up and say, "Bob, we've got etching and other problems with the counters - could you come over and look at the finished product with me and help me understand some of the issues with the stone?" When he gets there just tell him you're already saving for another slab, show him exactly what you don't like, and let him know that a few years from now you might be working on this together again (however unlikely), so could he explain how you went from a granite you loved to a counter you hate? Ask him whether the problems can be fixed (surely he can polish out the etching for you). Ask him how you can get the look you wanted.

My guess is you see the imperfections now, and after a couple of years, will be too busy to notice them. If you let it go, though, it'll be a sore spot for you. If you at least discuss it with him, you may actually get some of what you want.

First two are the fissure, third is the seam which I think is a decent seam, but doesn't look to me like one continuous piece of stone, but like two different ones pieced together.

Last pic is the wonky corner.

I'd say something. You accepted the stone and discount based on a known flaw, but more issues and flaws popped up after that including a fissure you can feel that wasn't there before and some install glitches? No, I think that's unacceptable. If it's something that really doesn't botheryou then I'd let it go, but if not, then I'd want it gone and no discount could sway me to keep it. But is that even possible now and/or are you willing to fight for that?
Interested to see your pictures. Good luck and sorry to hear you've had these problems.

Must have been posting around the same time because i didn't see your pictures, but now that I do I agree, that looks like a direction change. Maybe not 2 different stones, but it's the same stone they certainly didn't lay it out in the same direction and they should have even if they had to cut out a chunk! Shouldn't they have told you before they fabricated and installed it or were they hoping you wouldn't notice? That happened to my sister. Beautiful kitchen with one GIANT seamless slab of granite for the island. They cracked it near a corner, filled it and installed it and when she noticed tried to convince her it was like that! She stuck to her guns and the entire slab was replaced with a new one at their cost.

After looking at the pictures, I agree w/island. I would DEF raise cain !! And you can tell them that word of mouth is the best (worst in this case) advertising for their business!!

To be fair they absolutely offered to replace the island slab with a different one at the time.
The problem is we didn't think their new lot was a patch on the one we had picked and we had been to a LOT of yards to find slabs we liked.
We couldn't use our second slab as it had already been cut for the perimeter (although no mention was made during that visit about the additional necessary seam either).

I think they did try and make it right from that perspective, but the trouble is that while they thought the lots were "identical", we didn't like the new lot at all and would never have picked it.

So I do feel like they made an effort on the island piece at least - but we're picky and I'd rather have the fissure on a slab we love than no fissure on a piece we didn't like. I do think the fabricator had some trouble understanding this.

We're in the group who drives to as many different yards as necessary to find the dream stone and then seperate out each slab to pick the nicest pieces. So switching to another slab for our feature island was not a simple choice for us.

I would switch out the piece that has the new fissure as it's less important.

I can see how we would be frustrating to a fabricator who did offer us a slab from a different lot, but I guess we're just very picky when it comes to rock. More so than almost any other kitchen feature.

i think it needs to be torn out and re-done. remember, some day you might want to sell this house. the issues you show would cause me to question the quality of the remodel if i was a new buyer. if you cannot find more stone that complements it you might want to consider a wood island as a contrast?

i know what i am suggesting is not what you want to hear but now is the time to hold firm and ensure you complete a quality remodel. do not lax your standards now, even though i know you are exhausted and tired of the whole thing. i had to have my counters ripped out and redone (full slab of marble ruined) and it caused a 2 month schedule delay but so glad i did it, it looks much better.

i am also not sure given the existing credits and efforts they have made to work with a flawed stone that they owe you a whole lot more. you might want to start from scratch with a new fabricator, that is what i ended up doing when my GC's fabricator screwed up royally (found out he did not have sufficient marble experience after the fact). i was able to get a credit and have a new more experienced marble fabricator complete the job.

good luck keep us posted on what you decide.

"
I think they did try and make it right from that perspective, but the trouble is that while they thought the lots were "identical", we didn't like the new lot at all and would never have picked it.

So I do feel like they made an effort on the island piece at least - but we're picky and I'd rather have the fissure on a slab we love than no fissure on a piece we didn't like. I do think the fabricator had some trouble understanding this."

I think you have your answer right here. You say you'd rather have this slab, with the fissures, than the other slabs they offered in its place. At this point the fair thing is to ask them to look at the new fissures, determine what if anything can be done, and keep this stone. OR - pay for new stone. It sounds like they tried to tell you the stone had issues but you liked it much much more than anything else and so you accepted it ... even after their advice.

I don't think the corner looks bad at all, and I think you'd have to be looking at it from an odd angle to see that issue.

It is a beautiful stone, I can understand why you were smitten with it. Hindsight being 20/20, it would have been wise to put function over appearance for such a hard working surface in the kitchen.

If you can feel the fissure, then they can inject some resin in it for your peace of mind. That's not a big deal to do. Usually. The resin joins the stone together in a bond that's stronger than the stone. But that's a lot of fissures. I would have my concerns as well. I wouldn't have thought an experienced fabricator would have approved the slabs here, so maybe the experience level isn't as high with these guys as you would think.

And, as you've already observed, you chose the stone with issues, and you held on to it even after being offered an alternative. With the discounts, you are getting very close to them not making any profit on the job, and that's also close to the line of exasperation for them as no one likes losing money, especially on something that may have even more issues in the future and continue to lose money. They've given you decent customer service so far, even if they did fabricate something that a more experienced fabricator would have rejected, and if they respond positively to your request to address the additional fissure, then that's got to be the last of the issues you bring to their attention.

But it might not be the end of the issues with the stone. If something happens down the line, then you need to start over by buying new stone and new fabrication. Frankly, a fissure or two isn't a big deal, but those several fissures so close together and parallel to each other are concerning. I would have the stone removed from my house if it had any overhang. If there's no overhang, I'd leave it be and just watch it while I saved for something else. Or put in some wood.