First off, your marble countertop is completely over the top gorgeous!!! You have two seams...you are using every single itsy bit of your of marble...what is left for them to work with?? I think it looks fine! It looks "big" to you and only you. Soon you will move on to another of our kitchen "dramas"... LOL!! Look at the BIGGER picture...your amazing new kitchen!! Your Marble totally works!

"I know that the left slab is whiter than the right slab; I'm fine w/ that"

huango--can you just clarify this for me in case I ever buy any type of marble(I have soapstone which I would use again in a split second but I really like marble too). Is this normal that there is a color difference or is that because the area you are covering is so large ? In other words did you use more than one slab ? I'm just curious -thanks

Here's a thread about Imperial Danby Marble seams-it's an onging thread right now

Here is a link that might be useful: Danby seam thread

Eatrealfood--that's one of the threads Amanda listed in her OP as one of the few she could find. Its the one I immediately thought of when I saw her thread last night. There haven't been many Danby seam discussions here.

Amanda--in answer to your questions, I agree that the right seam color should match a little better. My seams feel very smooth. My installers used a little razor blade aross the seam and stone to make sure the seam material was scraped off level and flat.

Your kitchen is really coming together! You haven't posted many (or any?) pics along the way of your progress. I'm so glad for you! You've had a long road.

Amanda! Look at those windows! Gorgeous.

I am no help with stone counters, but agree the seam should be grayer. I just wanted to say how great your kitchen is coming along and I'm excited for you.

given you used all of your stone some compromising on the grain matching across the seams was likely unavoidable.

that said, the seams themselves suck. the irregular edges of the seam epoxy are due to poor fabrication work. properly done the ends to be seamed would have a flat and chipless edge. in a stone that yields a chippy edge from the saw the minimum the fabricator should do is put a small bevel on the top edge to take away the irregular edge.

Additionally, the best seam adhesive for a white marble is a special clear exoxy that doesn't yellow after it cures. this is much less conspicious in the finished product than the white epoxy used by your fabricator.

I have Danby and my seams are like yours. I had them come back and change the color. They just scrape out the old epoxy and put in new epoxy. I had a large vein going through the seam and they stippled the vein area with a grayer seam. I have similar chips though and it pisses me off. Danby does seem to have more chip-ability than the carrerra or calcatta. Now that I hear they should have beveled it, I might call my fabricator and have him come back again.

That being said, I don't notice my seams anymore. The kitchen gets busy and you forget about them - honestly.

sorry for the driveby (crunch time for my butcher block before the marble backsplash install this Thursday):

finestra - oh, could you please share some pictures? I searched for you online and couldn't find any.
I would LOVE to show my installers your seam where they stippled the vein w/ the grayer seam.

oldryder - "the fabricator should do is put a small bevel on the top edge to take away the irregular edge" - can you elaborate on that? how does this help the seams?

2littlefishes - If you see this, I posted in your other thread: can you please show pix of your Danby seam (cooktop to sink)?

Thank you so very much for your wonderful support.
I will post more very soon.
still have the hood backsplash and the marble window sills and molding.

now off to try to decide what color the bb should be stained (w/ Zar gel stain):
- moorish teak = too dark
- dark mahogany and rosewood = both a bit reddish

I think I'm going w/ Mocha (add a drop of the moorish teak I already have???):

thanks,
Amanda

I have the same issue with the color variation with my quartz. They did a good job on the seam. It has been in for a few weeks now and I'm getting better about walking into the kitchen and not cringing.

Vicki

"oldryder - "the fabricator should do is put a small bevel on the top edge to take away the irregular edge" - can you elaborate on that? how does this help the seams? "

the slight bevel is done by hand with an angle grinder. the bevel widens the joint slightly but also creates a straight, regular edge that looks better than the rough edge on your seams.

at this point its too late to use the bevel approach without removing the tops which creates a significant risk of breakage. probably the best advice you've received is to let it go as many people won't even notice the seams and the overall beauty of your tops will overshadow this less than perfect detail.

Do NOT use gel stain on a high quality piece of wood. Gel stain is semi-transparent/semi-opaque and will partially obscure the graining of wood. It's only used with woods that are extremely blotchy when stained, as the opacity of the stain covers that and minimizes that somewhat. Or it's used on low grade wood to mask some of it's defects. Or it's used on an opaque surface that someone is attempting to make look like wood, like one of those fiberglass doors that are "stained".

A high quality furniture type finish on good quality wood involves a penetrating stain or even an aniline dye. This highlights the grain rather than obscuring it. Highlighting the grain and then protecting the wood is the whole goal of finishing wood. Otherwise, people would just choose to paint it.

Did I miss the reveal of this kitchen? I owe Amanda a lot of thanks for explaining, more than once, why I needed a one level island and a larger clean-up sink, with trash underneath. As my kitchen comes together I realize how much better it is thanks to Buehl, Amanda and others for sharing their experiences.

The counters are totally gorgeous! I agree the seams could be smoother or more color matched but not sure how much leverage you have here. You want to make sure that they don't damage the edges further when they take out the old grout.

I have wood panels in my home stained in Mahogany with Zar gel stain. When I did a sample board, the colors were very different from the picture. I suggest that you get a piece of the butcherblock and do a test piece big enough to judge with both colors and test in the room. I thought I wanted rosewood but it read too red and I went with Mahogany which in the room with the light shows no red. Mind you, I stained redwood panels though. Also make sure that the person doing the staining follows the process described by Zar stain (apply and wipe off). If they thin it and stain it like they do decks, the stain penetrates deeper but the color got patchy. Ask me how I know !

Huango:
What did you end up doing with this seam? Very curious as I have marble slabs on hold and am on the fence.....