I'm in Fairfield County. One place told me $140/sf + cutouts and special edges. One gave me a quote of $5365 for 33sf/1cutout/pencil edge. (plus tax)

this is the $140/sf.
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this one i don't have a price, because it is a multi-step process like yours and am waiting on price of two others first that are still not in their computer! i'd moved away from costa to golds, but now the costas are getting nice again!this place i expect to be more expensive.
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Thank you! I am north of Hartford and most businesses in the Hartford CT/Springfield MA areas inlcude me in thier "local" areas. This area is usually a little less pricey than the Fairfield area, so I might be able to get if for less. That is a far cry from what they led me to blieve, though. Certainly a higher priced granite, but not in range of the blue they told me was 400.00 a square foot. From thier attitude I would have guessed 200-400.00 sq/ft. 140.00 is still too much for me, I think, but if I could find it for a little less and cut down the granite I needed a little, I might be able to splurge for it. I would love to hear the prices others got so I would have a better idea if your was on the higher or lower end of the price range for this granite. Do you know who the supplier for that fabricator was? My kitchen installer uses fabricators that get the granite from IGM granite and marble, but many others locally I have spoken to use someone in Mass.

Sue

sue - i don't know where they get their stone--they may even import it; both places sell stone and fabricate, which is why i got prices easily.
i hope you can find a good deal; all other things being equal,your area should be cheaper.

I'm all the way across the country from you in California, but if it helps, I was able to find 2 small slabs of Costa Esmeralda fairly inexpensively. The 2 slabs together (not including fabrication) came to $860. I'm guessing they were around 6 feet by 5 feet each, so 60 square feet total. They were in a remnant pile but weren't really remnants, just small slabs that the granite yard had had for a long time. They had about a dozen of them, all the same size, and I looked at every one.

Ann

Wow. wow, wow! For that price, it would have payed to have them sent by truck across the country! Lucky, lucky you! You know there was what looked like a small partial piece or slab, but definitely not enough to to do my kitchen. I need about 37-38 sq feet which is about one complete slab most of the time. If I were to omit the slide in range and use the filler that came with it behind the range, that would decrease it by about 5 sq feet. Then if I really HAD to, I could eliminate a small piece to one side of the range by making it a butcher block for cutting or a white marble piece for rolling out dough, like a baking station. Don't think the marble would look right, though. The butcher block would look more like it was done on purpose and not that I ran out of granite. :) It is only 20" wide so would only cut out another 3 or 4 square feet. I could get it down to about 30 sq feet minimum that way, though.

i forgot to mention that all costa is not priced the same. what i posted is called, at one place "costa esmerelda oro" and it is a little higher than the slabs that are more monotone without the yellow veining. i did not get price for the lower. that could account for some of the price differences we give you here.

I did not see any yellow veining in the slabs I looked at but the color looked lighter green and with more cream color mixed in. I was told it came from Iran and was sent to Italy and then here. I don't know if all the varieties of Costa Esmeralda come from Iran or not. I will being going there again soon, I guess to see what they have in, and I will look at it closer if they still have the same slabs.

Sue

Although it may be a little out of your way, try the Boston Granite Exchange in Haverill MA. They're wholesalers and have an unbelievable selection at great prices. You need to get to them through an independent fabricator. I used Hai Ho at Stone Pros in Haverill. My granite is sapphire blue and the quality of the slabs and prices were better than 7 or 8 other granite yards in the greater Boston area.

so, have you called for an estimate yet??? :)
i'm pretty sure it all comes from iran via italy btw. i guess the weakening dollar v. euroisn't helping us any on pricing, either....

I have not called for an estimate yet. I will not get to the granite place again to look at slabs until Thursday, and if I don't have time then it will have to wait until after christmass. I want to get prices on any I am interested in at the same time, instead of asking them to make multiple calls to the fabricator. I will post back, and maybe with a photo of the slabs if they are still there, after that. Thanks for the help. If anyone else has looked into this please feel free to post. It is good to know where an estimate falls in the range. If it comes out a little higher than I can stretch it, I might see about the Boston Granite Exchange.

Sue

sue, they gave me estimates for both type costas today at the $140/sf place. based on the difference in total price for the two, i think the "regular" (without the yellow veining)is about $125/sf. i ended up going with yellow river...so now you need to get this. ;)

Thank you so much for your help and encouragement! I will let you know what price I get after Christmas.

Sue

I love Costa also! They told me $100/sq ft and I'm assuming that's without fabrication which is another $40 per. The prices in my town do tend to run high as we have very limited options for stores, and I've only seen it in one place. Fortunately the color didn't work so I was not too tempted. But I really wanted *some* in my house, so after much finagling (sp?) I ended up getting one of their remnants for a 3x5 buffet in the dining room for $500, cash and carry (DH installed). This way I still get to ogle it, which I do frequently, without having broken the bank. It is also easier to appreciate the beauty since it's not 'broken up' by cutouts and counter clutter.

Sue, I've been lurking here until I could post finished kitchen photos, but had to register when I saw your question. We just had Costa Esmerelda installed in our kitchen in SE Connecticut last week, and we paid $125 sq ft. We chose the slab at Marble & Granite Inc. of Milford. Our installer works with 6 other yards in CT and Mass (including IGM) and they did call at least several of the other yards to see if there was a better price - no go.

Regarding the yellow veined slab, the yard did have some Esmerelda (which they call Smerelda) with a more yellow undertone to the whole slab for the same price. I don't know that the veins were especially yellow, though.

We just had our floor installed yesterday, after the heroic installer worked nearly nonstop for two days to get it in before Christmas. I'm hoping we get the stove back in the kitchen today so I can see how cookie dough rolls out on granite!

With CE you MUST pick your slabs, don't let the fabricator pick them under any circumstances. It varies widely. Sometimes it is a green/green other times it has large slashes or dots of white and/or black.

Esmerelda, thank you for taking the time to register and respond to my question! I really hope you can post photos soon! I am not encouraged that IGM was more. I know there is a granite supplier in New Haven the fabricator can also use but I don't know the name. It seems that it might still be too expensive, but I really have to get a price. Now I can't wait to see what my kitchen installers get for a price from the fabricator. It will tell me a lot about weather I have been getting as good a deal as I thought on my granite prices. Since I have heard CS can be more difficult to fabricate, I wonder if the fabrication charge will be higher than other granites , also.

Thanks Sue36, I will try to make sure I do that.

Sue

I searched for instructions on how to post photos, and found sue_ct as one of the advisors. So I'll try it. My photos don't show CE's lovely soft green color - they are more grey. Also, they were taken immediately after the install so there are white caulk lines showing, which have since turned clear:

I just checked the preview and it looks like the pictures are there, although I forgot to resize them. Sorry if they're too big. Enjoy your shopping!

Last spring I had Lowes do my counters with Costa Esmerelda. I searched through a number of granite suppliers until I found two slabs that I was satisfied with at Boston Granite Exchange in Haverhill, MA.

You may want to consider having your back splash cut down to a 3/4" thickness as the standard 1 1/4" granite looks very heavy .

Thank you, I was not planning to do a back splash since I want to do tile eventually. Do you recall or mind sharing what Lowes charged? Are you happy with the quality of the installation? Happy with the stone, or have you found it to be high maintenance?

Sue

Your photos of your counters are lovely. I hope I am able to get them. Congratulations on learning how to post the photos. Thanks for taking the time. It is just what I want.

Sue

I think that I paid Group 4 pricing which was $90.00 / SQ FT. I had something like 57 SQ FT plus 16' of 4" back splash (cut down to 3/4") all w/ pencil edge. The total cost installed was $5384.00. I bought a Lowe's 10% off coupon (max $500 off) on ebay and ended up @ $4884.00 on a Lowes credit card @ no interest for 12 months. I've heard that other people have had problems with Lowes, but I did not and would recommend them. As other posters have recommended, I would be careful to preview the granite slabs as I noticed a wide variation in color of items with the same name. I would do that before I signed a contract.

esmerelda23, your counters look great. The granite looks just like what I was looking at, although I can tell the color is not coming through true. The pattern is the same.

I recieved a 10% off lowes coupon and LOST it. I am still upset about that. I don't know if I can get a coupon on Ebay and be sure it hasn't already been scanned and used at Lowes. It would be usable at HD either way, but I think Lowes would know. I guess you take your chances with those coupons.

I got a price for the Costa from my kitchen installer. It is an additional 1795.00, I think he said. The price for my kitchen included granite in a choice of ten colors in the "A" group. If I go with someone else for my granite I get a credit of 2100.00 on the price of the kitchen. Add the 1795, and that means the granite will cost me 3895.00 for the Costa, I guess. I can't really be sure about that, because I don't know if that 2100.00 is the total cost of the entry level granite or if I just get a credit on what the material and fabricator cost would be and he keeps his profit either way. Anyway, there have been some problems and tugging and pulling about what goes into my kitchen. He didn't want to install any filler pullout because he didn't want to warantee the job with them, and I didn't want fillers without them. It is a family business and his mother designed my kitchen. I didn't know I had the option of a more functional cabinet over the fridge, but she put a shorter one so she could put a carved embellishment over it. There is an issue with a window molding that I was supposed to put back myself that I can't now because there isn't enough room and they tried to tell me to hire someone to it, the molding isn't their responsibility, and I disagreed since the problem was a result of the cabinet installation and plan, and I offered to pay for the new molding materials if they didn't charge me for labor. They agreed but I could tell they felt they were being made to do something they shouldn't have to. There is also a problem with the finish on the cabinets that is a manufacturer issue, and we had to wait 2 weeks while nothing was done on the cabinets for a apt. with the manufacturer rep. Then the kitchen installer forgot about the apt and missed it and we had to wait a 3rd week with no work being done until the rep could fit us in again with a new apt. At that point I lost it, it was right after going through Christmas in this mess, and I got teary and mad and even yelled at him a bit "HOW could you forget?" I regret that, but I have lived in this mess since Oct. and plead temporary insanity. Now we are waiting for several new cabinets and doors and things are strained. He made a point of telling me that the granite was his cost, it was a one time thing because he "can't seem to please me" and it would not be good if I went and priced a bunch of different granites.

I am over budget and If I could get the granite somewhere else for a similar price, where I could get good financing terms, also, it would help. I have to pay by cash or check with him, he doesn't take credit cards at all, nor do most local contractors around here.

The granite is 37-38 sq feet, so "His" price is about 100.00 square foot, I guess. He says he should be getting 140.00 sq foot for this. I mentioned that some people had found better deals when the fabricator called other granite yards, but he immediately said his use IGM exclusively. ( although his mother told me that the NVG that IGM was out of was available from a yard in New Haven, a month ago). I think he said that without even checking, since he doesn't want to spend any more time on this job and he is mad at me over all the other issues. I am not pushing the filler pullouts and may see if they can be installed by a different contractor at a later date. One already said he thought he could do it for me without too much difficulty. I hate this.

I think he would actually be fine with my getting my granite elsewhere so he doesn't have to worry about "pleasing me" with the granite install, or deal with any more problems that might come up. I can not pay any more than this for the granite, though, and am really stretching the budget to even do this, since I bought appliances that were not in the original budget already, also. I don't know the names of the fabricators they use, but they are small local shops. I found that out at the granite place (IGM) when they mentioned that these two guys were two of their favorite fabricators. Nice people and do a lot of granite, should have a lot of experience. So I suspect they would do a good job.

Sue

How frustrating! You might want to talk to one or two fabricators if you have the time. The fabricators we spoke to were able to quickly give us a very close estimate just based on our drawings.

It does sound like the price your kitchen contractor is offering is pretty good, based on what we paid. I'm sure you've thought of this, but make sure you get this price in writing before going forward, and make sure it includes everything. My experience with remodeling has been that misunderstandings often occur when there are changes to the original plan.

Don't worry about the nasty little remarks from the contractor. Squeaky wheels unite!

I had left a message for the kitchen salesperson in Lowes asking for an estimate for the Costa Esmeralda and she finally got back to me: 190.00 sq ft! Did we or anyone else drop a bomb on the quarry that this granite mined from or something? I know it is coming through italy, but WOW, the price seems to be jumping!

Sue

Sue, Sorry about all the troubles. Did you look at other granite places.I have been searching in california for my granite and saw costa Esmeralda at three places. The price was so diffrent with all the three one was 27 dollors per sqft, one was 38 dollars and one was 40 dollars. This is only the price of granite. Here the cost of fabrication and installation is running about 40 to 50 dollars per sqft dpending on the fabricator and edge you choose. So may be shopping around will give you a better price.