I'm in Plymouth, Mi. Without a doubt I'd recommend Phoenix. I chose the slabs at Mont Granite and turned it over to Phoenix from there. Carlo and his guys did a great job for me. The templating was precise and the installation was done without a hitch. I was impressed. I have a zero radius sink and I wanted the sink cut out to be flush. It was absolutely spot on perfect! The guys were real gentelmen and did a fine job. 313-712-6500

Thank you so much for the recommendation.

How long ago did you have them do it? Have your seams stayed tight? Do you have pictures?

Sorry about all the questions!

I used granite planet in livonia for a bathroom this summer, he was great, very reasonably priced! For our kitchen redo our Gc uses ultimate granite in Redford.....both granite yards I went to (Dwyer and TM) said he's great! Best of luck...

My countertops have been installed for about two weeks. I don't have any seams because my longest continuous run is only 8 feet. The granite we choose has a lot of movement and there was a great deal of color variation within the slab. Carlo took great pains to make sure that the way he templated included the various colors throughout each piece so that it wouldn't look like we had two (or more) diffrent types of granite. A few days after they were installed I noticed a small pit. Based on my experience up to that point I was completely confident that Carlo would fill it and make it invisible - and he did. No pictures, at least not yet. We still don't have adequate lighting in the room to be able to take pictures. Finish electric and mechanicals this week. My GC has used Phoenix for several years and uses him because he does such a great job and always is reliable. I personally know of four other kitchens in Plymouth that Phoenix has done. Each looks great. In fact, in one of the homes there was a major settling problem that caused a piece to crack about two years after it was installed. Phoenix was able to repair it to near invisibility.

Keep away from Great Lakes/Booms stone. They use "independent contractors" for different stages of the project including installation, and one hand does not know what the other is doing. I got a great price, but the attention to detail is severely lacking, at least they have been willing to come back and try to fix, but I do not recommend them at all.

I had the best experience with a small shop where the owner did the templating, cutting, and was there for the full install. Unfortunately, because of the economy, he closed and went into a different business.

PMP has a good reputation but is pricey.

There was a thread like this a while ago here. Things change over time, especially in this region because building for the most part stopped for two years, but it may be helpful to read.

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg0918484021777.html

Thanks stayaloft! I tried to find Phoenix online, but the phone number only comes back as Mace Marble and Granite in Livonia, would this be the same place? Did Mont Granite have a large selection?

Christine40, Thanks for your recommendation, also. Were you happy with the granite selection at the 2 yards you went to?

Sorry to be such a nag, but I live in Ortonville and all these places are quite a drive, but worth the trip if I can see a large selection.

I thought Dwyer had a large selection....TM marble was smaller, but definately had some higher end stuff, and some very different things. Depending on what your thoughts were for granite....I saw cosmic black that I liked at Dwyer, and 2 or 3 different things at TM, still waiting for pricing to see of they are in my budget!

We are also doing custom cabs from Eurocraft interiors in sterling heights.

We used PMP Marble in Troy. This was the contractor suggested by my builder, so we used them. I didn't price compare. You only pay for what you use, so if you need 1 1/2 slabs that's what you'll get. They are the warehouse and the fabricator. They have a huge selection and seem to get new stuff in all the time. If you only need a smaller piece for a bathroom counter, they have tons of remnants. I used remnants for all of my bathrooms and my laundry room.

They did a fabulous job - no problems at all with the install, seams, etc. They are very professional.

Feel free to ask me any questions.

Thanks Christine40. So you get no idea what the granite is per square ft at these places? That makes it very hard to decide if it's way out of budget. I don't like the idea of falling in love with a piece only to find out it's twice as much as I want to spend! Do you have to find a fabricator to get the price for you?

Michiganrachel, do you have any pictures of your installed counter? I do work in Royal Oak, so maybe I could pop over there after work one day. Do they give you prices of the granite there?

Yes, I am finding that part really weird, different fabricators will charge different prices. At dwyer, they give you " retail prices", which give you an idea of price group.....for example our Gc gave me an allowance for a level 3 granite, Dwyer therefore told me to stay in a certain retail price range....so I knew if the price was 75+ I shouldn't even look at it. At TM they put things into price groups, but until you know what the fabricator charges for different groups I didn't find it very helpful.....it is a slow process at best!

Abfabamy. Yes, I believe that would be the same outfit. The number I posted should get you directly to Carlo. Mont had a great selection and I was pleased with their professionalism. Note however, they will only hold your slabs for 14 days - no exceptions - so have your ducks in a row when you go in!

Thanks Stayaloft. Our cabinets are being delivered on Friday and we are doing the entire install from electrical to flooring ourselves. So it will probably be a month or more before I'm ready for install, guess I'll hold off for a week or so before I begin looking. I don't want to find "The One" and then not be done in time!

Sorry it took me so long to post these! I don't have closeups of my sink cut out or anything, but they were both done very well. I do have a picture of my runnels. If you click on any of hte pictures I think it will take you to other pictures of my kitchen.

I have no visible support for my overhang, but there are steel rods inside the granite.

Here is the marble in my master bath

michiganrachel, your kitchen is stunning! And your island is very much like mine is laid out. I was worried about the overhang because I didn't want brackets or corbels, glad to know there is a way to support it.

I also really wanted runnels but I heard that not all companies have the means to create them. Glad to see this one does.

Was this company good with making suggestions on the best way to get the look you wanted, or did you already know exactly what would work?

Met with my kd today, we are going to Mont on thursday, I'll let you know how it is!

Oh please do! Good luck finding the perfect stone!

I wish I could help you because I really am super happy with how the granite was done in my kitchen but I cannot remember the name of the fabricator. I know some people who have used PMP and are really happy with their results.

Thank you abfabamy! I kind of knew what I wanted as far as edges, etc go. I made many trips to figure out which granite and they were helpful as far as hardness and how good it would be for a kitchen (I loved a few marbles that were just too soft for kitchen counters). I knew I wanted runnels from seeing them on here. I love them! I only wish I had gotten 4 instead of 3! They were $200 each, though.

They do have some sort of tiered pricing structure, but I'm not sure what it is. In all honesty, I was going to get what I wanted for my kitchen. I didn't want any of the crazy exotic blues, so I think that made things easier. I was willing to sacrifice for the bathrooms, but am also very happy with what I selected for those!

Rachel

Thanks Rachel! I am so glad you included the price of the runnels. I will have to seriously think if I want to spend that much :(
I love them, but a drain board would be $10, LOL

Wow, $200 each for runnels, after seeing them on here, I am considering them also.....hum, I may have to rethink that as well!

Ended up going to Mont by myself today, as my painted door sample didn't get finished. I am going again with the KD on Tuesday am. I really liked Mont...lots to choose from, but again, a pricing system only a monkey can understand..they price group from A-Z...so I stayed away from X, but picked lots I liked from D-S....Saw some darker slabs of Typhoon Bordeaux, which I LOVED!!! My KD sent it out to bid so I can at least see if I am in my price range! And the cosmic black (which came in right at my budget), is sold out at Dwyers, next shipment due in January---who knows how it will look....that was my top choice..boo-hoo!

Going up north to a hockey tourney tomorrow, so all kitchen stuff is on hold (sigh of relief!), back at it with granite on Tuesday, with a painted door sample in hand I hope!!

I also asked the KD which fabricator, and they bid out to someone is Redford and Detroit. I will try to post pics of some slabs, but not sure how??

christine40, were you able to wander around yourself and see what worked for you? So nice that you found something you liked.

I went to Great Lakes yesterday in Redford and I had to pick which ones I wanted to see in the showroom from the samples they had. The sales guy told me the samples were pretty much what they had.

Then he called into the warehouse and had them pull out the 3 slabs I said I liked and took me back to see them. I was able to see the other slabs that were stacked in their bins as we walked over to see my choices, but didn't feel I could really walk around and see what struck me. I did ask about some of the other slabs we walked by and a few he named were not in the showroom. It wasn't really a positive experience.

But it's my first trip out to a granite place, so I have more to go see and hopefully I'll have a better experience.

If you want to post pics so they shows up in your post, you need to upload the pics to a service like photobucket.com. The link I posted here will explain how to do it.

Have fun at the hockey tourney and good luck Tuesday!

Here is a link that might be useful: Posting pics.

Going granite shopping today with my KD, found out that the typhoon Bordeaux I saw at mont is within my budget!! Husband hasn't seen it yet, he's off work next week, so hoping to narrow down choices today and make a final decision then! Will get back to you soon!

christine40, what is the color of your cabinets? I was strongly considering Typhoon Bordeaux also. Glad to hear Mont has some beautiful choices in that. Post pics of the slabs if you have figured out how. Good Luck!!

Also, if you don't mind, let me know which fabricator you settled on.

Hey there, the perimeter cabs are painted...possibly BM feather down, or slightly darker, island is an espresso on cherry. I was so sad today....saw those beautiful typhoon slabs at mont with the KD, we both agreed they were perfect in color and price....they were just put on hold 5 days ago....they will have some more but from a different lot so who knows if they will be similar or not......more to come, this granite thing is becoming quite a saga with slabs getting sold out from under me!

That's such a bummer that those slabs were sold. We went to PMP in Troy and I found some gorgeous Colonial Gold, but every slab was sold within 3 days of receiving it! Maybe you could try around some other places. I'm finding as I ask around there are quite a few granite yards. I've been to 3 so far and didn't see anything I absolutely loved except the already sold CG :(

Well the KD Is hot on the trail to see if those slabs of typhoon on hold are going to be a go.....money talks! Went to TM today.....you should check out theor website , they have lots of slabs on line. Saw several I liked....crema Bordeaux, sucuri, and calico. The sucuri slabs were already on hold for my KD for another client, they chose something different...so they are still n hold for me! We are also waiting to hear from and see pics of the typhoon bordeaux over at AP in Clinton twp. I don't want to drive all the way over there for the slabs to be the wrong color!

So, we press on....and still waiting for some price quotes to come back on 2 others I saw at Mont, but I don't want to fall n love with them, I think they may be severely out of my price range!

PMP had Typhoon Bordeaux. They had a batch inside the warehouse and a different lot outside. The one outside had less purpley-red in it and was a more muted. Just a thought.

My KD won't use pmp, I think they insist on fabricating, and this kitchen place has a couple of regular fabricators that they work with. Found a slab called sucuri at TM today that I really loved!