Question for the stone experts
Hi there...
As you may know, I'm rehabbing a kitchen on an extreme budget. Due to some lucky finds on Craigslist, however, I've come up with some great materials, including some used-but-in-new-condition Cambria quartz countertop (complete with attached Blanco undermount sink).
Basically, it's all gone great - the existing pieces fit better than we could have hoped, and my wonderful GC did a very good job of fitting them into our space within the limitations of the pre-existing sink placement and surrounding measurements (which had very little wiggle room because the space is so small).
My only disappointment with the entire project is that the caulking/epoxy/silicon/whatever-it-is-you-use-between-pieces is much lighter than the surrounding countertop and thus sticks out like a sore thumb. The seam is straight, smooth and aligned, it's just more obvious than I would have hoped. He didn't use clear because he felt the width would result in that being a black line, and went with one he thought would be a closer match, however... (!)
The width of the seam was unavoidable due to the lengths of counter we had available to us (again, with sink placement, we had to fudge a litle, hence why they're on the wide side) and I can live with that, but I would LOVE to put something else in there that is a closer match to the counter itself so it doesn't scream "LOOK AT ME!!" quite so loud :)
The wonderful pcjs posted a link to e-counters where they sell colour-matched caulk for Silestone - is there anything similar for Cambria? Or is there a Silestone caulk which would be close enough for Cambria's Becon Brown (probably 3-5 years old)?
Or any other suggestions (colour-related or not) that you can offer to improve the *look* of it would be warmly welcomed. And please don't fault my GC as somebody who "should have left if to the experts" etc etc - this project has been entirely collaborative, he did what was possible within his own skills (as clearly described to me), and my (extreme) budget limitations meant subbing out to a specialist fabricator was NOT an option. We're working together to make it as good as it can be, but "perfection" is not sought - I'm just hoping to find a way to make it "not quite so obvious"!
Thanks in advance for any suggestions you may have!
Here's the picture:
Comments (18)
glad
16 years agosusan4664
16 years agoRelated Discussions
Calling Stone Experts... what do you about this stone?
Comments (12)Here's my .02 cents for what it's worth: The stone in question (BV) has been available for a long time - and the quarry still has deposits - so it's not like a 1932 Ford Coupe... it'll be around for a while.. cost wise is a little more than the going rate for Fabricators - It's in South Florida where times are REALLY hard right now for Fabricators. This material (2CM slabs) is NOT for Monuments OR Statues (sp?).... It's for countertops or the "Dimensional Stone Market" _ it's totally gorgeous on any countertop - but IF you want to use it in your kitchen - it IS GOING TO BE VERY HIGH MAINTENANCE BECAUSE IT'S A VARIANT OF MARBLE!!!! I have only done this stone ONCE in a kitchen, and it was spectacular - BUT - The kitchen was not used a lot, and we combined the BV with Galaxy Black. IF you JUST CAN'T GO ON LIVING WITHOUT THIS STUFF IN YOUR KITCHEN - What I would suggest is having this material EITHER "Honed" OR "Leather Textured" to help hide the wear that will show IF you were to use BV in it's polished state.... There's TONS of OTHER stones that will work BETTER in your kitchen - but not as many that have that Psychadelic Rabbit Phlem - Acid Trip - "Look" that you get with BV..... LOL!!! It's your kitchen - just remember that IF you DO USE BV - It'll take a lot of extra care and maintenance (keeping it clean and keeping acids off the stone if it's polished) - to make it look like it did when it was new... hth kevin...See MoreQ for countertop experts: adequate support under stone table top
Comments (2)Thanks, oldryder, that gives me some peace of mind. Reading all these threads about overhangs and steel straps easily drives one batty....See MoreCambrian Black Owners (or stone experts) - please help!
Comments (15)Oh, and Shannon, on the sink fit. One of my complaints with my install was that the guys showed up and basically threw their hands up and said it couldn't be done with that sink and faucet. No way! They said the measurer comes in here like a knight in shining armor and tells you anything you want to hear and then these guys are stuck with the job (kind of true). I was kind of freaking out but their measurer had told me it would work, the salesperson had run it all by their head fabricator/installer. My husband and I had analyzed it ad nauseum. So I held firm. And after much grumbling and a little routing out of our side cabinets, it did work fine. We have 3.5" in front of our sink and 5" behind. We shrunk the overhang in front to 1.25" (instead of a more standard 1.5"). I will say that we thought we were out of the woods with the sink after it fit in on installation day. But our plumber was cursing our name when he was under there trying to hook it up. I looked after he was done and it is TIGHT. 4" narrow space that's about 10" deep and he had to hook everything up at the top of that skinny cavern. He said it was the tightest he had ever seen and he was relieved when he tested it and there were no leaks. So it's definitely not optimal. I am LOVING our big Allia sink though. It is beautiful and big and I love it. Only complaint thus far...it could use a little more angle down to the drain. I see wasting water trying to chase food bits down. I am also LOVING our Mico Simone faucet. I really love it. So happy and it was SO much cheaper than the Rohl U4746/47 that we really considered. Ours is sturdy and has ceramic valves. And the Rohl wouldn't work for us as the lever went backwards (no more room!) and this one the lever only comes forwards. I highly recommend it (after only a week of use, mind you). I will try to post a picture one of these days. Good luck with yours!...See MoreSTONE EXPERTS HELP FAST!
Comments (156)Quartz - Stone Care, Cleaning & Repair Experts, “2ManyDiversions We are Stonemasons and fabricators so we do know what we are doing.” I understand this. Your first response was this: “grab some MEK and remove the pattern yourself”. Knowing MEK is a solvent, I simply stated such, said I was not a professional (in granite) and said hopefully someone else would chime in. Meaning with further info, as I felt it needed. It was needed. It wasn’t until later that you gave detailed instructions. Offense was not intended. Again, I was only requesting the possible need for more info. Frankly, I think you are honestly trying to help the OP, but solvents are flammable, and care should be taken around appliances and flames. The OP is tired and stressed, and instructions/warnings on an MEK container might have been missed. Calling anyone here on GW an “IDIOT” is offensive, though I see it a lot. Posting a link to someone’s past that has nothing to do with the topic is counterproductive and, in my eyes, seems unnecessarily vindictive. When one calls themselves a professional, they should behave as such. If you take offense to my opinions/comments, I will not respond as taking part in what appears to be an ongoing pi$$ ing contest is disadvantageous to the OP’s request for help. ET Correct: One-sided pi$$ ing contest. And also ETA: I see you have removed the link mentioned above. Good....See Moredivamum
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