Your stone has a natural color difference that makes seaming more difficult. During the layout of the template at the fabricators, did you notice the difference? Were they trying t get as much material as possible from one slab? Would you have been willing to pay 2x for another slab so that the seam could be bookmatched?

I knew there would be a couple of seams in my kitchen but that's the extent of my knowledge. I needed 4 slabs for my kitchen - it's more than 100 sq ft of countertop surface. It was not mentioned to me that they would be short on material. ? I guess there's a lot I didn't/ don't know about what questions to ask. I'm on the fence about this seam but my neighbor came over to peek at the Reno progress and she thought I should ask for it to be re- done.

She thought this because of the seam or because of how the pieces match?

I personally couldn't live with that. It looks like two different pieces, even if it's not. :/

There is as much variation between the area to the far right of the slab and the area just to the right of the seam as there is between the area to the right of the seam and that to tbe left of the seam. With high variations between contiguous adjacent areas in the same slab I think it would be difficult to seam this unnoticably without a lot of waste/extra material.

The color match is less than ideal, but it may have been the best of the choices that didn't require more stone to be purchased. That should have been discussed during the layout of the template on the stone at which you were present. 100 square feet of counter space is a HUGE kitchen. 4 slabs might not be enough to get a good color match with that much space. Depends on the size and coloration of the slabs. Can you post a wider shot showing the relative size of the two pieces here? Have you seen the leftover pieces sizes? You can ask if it would be possible to replace one of the pieces, but if there isn't enough material left, would you buy another slab in order to get a better match? The seam itself is not bad.

I wouldn't like that seam in my kitchen. BUT when you said you have 4 slabs-worth of that stone for your countertops I'm guessing that you will end up with lots of natural variation in sections throughout the space. When the kitchen is complete I doubt that seam will stand out much.

Thanks so much for your responses! I was called to a template meeting. When I arrived there were different slabs than I had originally chosen. When I asked if they were the same I was told they could not get enough slabs of the lot I'd originally selected, but here are these 4 slabs and they are from the same lot. They asked me if the slabs had any places on them that i didn't like. I looked at the slabs and did not see any blemishes or areas I objected to. They told me there would be a few seams. I wasn't told where they would be specifically (other than one would be needed on my island). So that was the templating approval process as I experienced it.

I asked my original question poorly. The seam itself is well done, I think...it was the stone matching that I was curious about.

No one at the granite fabricator (nor my contractor nor my contractor's designer) told me that I may need to buy an additional stone in order to match seams well. I probably would have, had I known that was needed. It was never brought up.

The installers are working in the kitchen again. When they take a break I can try to get a better photo. Thank you!

If you decide to keep it and not pay for another slab, realize it will look different when you have accessorized your kitchen. The color match in the front part of the seam is not bad. The match in the back is poor, but that is where you might have something on the counter such as a tray, a mixer, a platter, a knife block, a blender. Things look worse when there is nothing else to look at. I have something like this also. It annoys me, but no one else sees it. I have a tray on the back half of the seam. In my case I was there at the templating but it was changed when I was not there.

That is a tough stone to match up, The color match is not great overall and poor in the back but the veining match is really good in the front. There is a color transition not too far away as well. The granite is so busy that you many not notice it much in the overall context of the kitchen. That may be the best you can get with your slabs. Would you really have wanted to pay for a whole another slab to get a better match? The seam itself is fine. Put something pretty there in the back and distract the eye instead. I have seen a lot worse on this forum.

Can you take a further back picture? Right now you're zeroing in on a specific spot that in reality, given the stone itself, may be fine.

And you're right - the seam is fine, it's the matching that may or may not be off.

Here is a photo where I stepped back a bit more.

My project manager ( contractor) says this falls in the grey area of whether it's acceptable or not. He's working on a solution.

For folks that have asked, the man who did the templating in my kitchen did not say a word to me about where seams might go or how the slabs would be pieced together. I was not offered the chance to buy more material to avoid this and never led anyone to believe we wete looking for a bargain. We wanted it done right.

Here's another seam in my kitchen - installed today.

i don't think the seam is bad, i feel like these slabs did not come from the same lot. from my personal experience., when i chose my granite, i had them move 5 slabs to be sure i like the first two best. they were all almost identical. just slight variations of the "movement", but the colors were the same, if u know what i mean.....

i know myself, and it would drive me crazy to see that much difference in color. hope u get it resolved to your liking. best of luck!!

I hope they find a solution for you, because the color matching of the slabs is off. I couldn't live with it. Sorry to say.

The whole lot is darker on one side of the slab than the other. The color shifts from light to dark. That makes any seams difficult to color match. Did you pick the slabs or did the fabricator?

Your fabricator should have had this covered for you. He is either inexperienced or not fussy enough. Nevertheless, it's his job to guide you thru the process and pitfalls. Hope you get it resolved.

I chose a slab and was given a piece from the corner of that slab to use to select backsplash, cabinet paint color, etc. I thought that slab (and the rest of its lot) were mine. I am working with a general contractor who sent me to this fabricator, by the way.

I was asked to go to the fabricator for templating and there were totally different slabs set up for me to see. When I asked why there were different slabs I was told they could not get enough material from the lot I'd originally selected. The "templating" meeting consisted of 'Hey, these are your slabs, are there any parts of them you don't like that we should avoid? ' There were not. That was the end of my involvement. Someone came to my house to measure. He did not speak to me other than saying hello when I let him in. Was THAT the templating? Anyway, I was not more involved because I thought I was following my fabricator though this process.

I was asked to sign a paper saying I was aware that there would be seams. I understood that going in.

I'm working with a general contractor. I hope the contractor can help me at this point. Thanks to everyone who has been kind enough to respond to this thread! I really appreciate it!

For what it's worth, I think the stone is really pretty! I'm just struggling to know what to ask for by way of help, or what my expectations should be.

It looks like not only the color matching is off on the different slabs but also the way they laid it out so now the movement of the pattern within the stone is different on either side of the seams. No I would not accept that.

I think in general if you want a really good match at seams between slabs or areas of slabs you need to

1) pick a granite with a very regular pattern and little movement.

2) buy a lot of extra material and expect a lot of waste

3) pay for slabs that are book matched or somehow otherwise sequentially matched for pattern

In the first photo, I cut a piece out to the right of the seam to try and get a better match. But then you need to pick up that same amount of granite width on the far right of the slab because everything shifts over that much: The green is the original seam.

Here I bookmatched the part of the slab inside the square: This could also get weird unless you intentionally wanted Rorschach patterns.

But I don't think you are going to get great matches in a granite like this without an awful lot of work and a fair amount of extra material, above and beyond a typical granite installation. If you look at old granite fabrications, I am talking about granite countertops at a time that they were rarities, very late 1970s and 1980s fabrications, the seams were quite obvious and people accepted it because it was a natural material. The bar has been raised awfully high and people expect the entire countertop to appear as if it was carved out of one gigantic monolithic slab. I don't think that this is easily achieved by the typical fabricator, or at a typical price point.

Great post Pal!

There comes a point in a job when you have to accept that the level of craftsmanship that you expect as "routine" isn't routine, and costs a whole other tier above standard, and usually involves significant design specification before hand. You are either OK with standard at half the cost, or you're willing to pay to get that top tier. Also, there is a communication issue in that if you have those expectations, you need to let your contractor know, so that those additional costs can be calculated.

If you care about the outcome, you have to be involved in the process enough to ensure that you receive the outcome that you desire. You can't leave some specific design decisions up to a contractor and expect designer quality results. Sure, not everyone can know which details will be the sticking points, but if you do find yourself not happy with standard work, you also have to be willing to pay for exceptional work.

I know this doesn't help you now, but maybe it will help others. Some fabricators offer a service called "Slabsmith". My fabricator does not charge extra for this but it does add an extra week to the lead time. They take photos of your slabs and show you a couple of options. For a busy granite with movement or a granite with lots of color variation, this tool is wonderful and worth the wait. Here are pics from a recent job.

Note: The seam on the left leg is NOT a seam. The free standing range went there.

1ST OPTION

2ND OPTION

I have a yard that offers that as well. But do you know how much that software costs? 10K. I was kinda floored, and I'm used to expensive design software costs! You have to have a pretty good volume business to be able to do that.

LWO, my fabricators use it on every job for their own engineering purposes. They will offer it to the client free of charge, but will add lead time as is slows down their production. I recommend the service to customers with busy granite!!

But yes....$10K....that is expensive. 20/20 is expensive as well and I don't do huge volume....but I can see where the smaller granite shops would not be able to afford the software. In replacement of the software, they'll just have to pay with extra time and customer service on granite layouts.

I really sympathize with the OP. When I had my much smaller counter templated for a more consistent quartz, they told me upfront where they wanted my seam to be (through the middle of the sink). I didn't like the idea of that at all at first, but they did a great job and it's barely visible.

However, it was my first counter and I didn't know what I didn't know. I think the OP asked the right questions and had faith that the process would turn out fine. While it's not a very good match, I agree with others that once you have things on the counter, it will not be as noticeable. I've seen far worse matches in person and the homeowner seems oblivious.

THANK YOU to everyone who helped me learn from this experience! There is so much knowledge (and willingness to spend time on graphics!) on this board! I'm very grateful. I didn't know what I didn't know...but I sure do now!

I did not even know what "templating" really meant before. Lesson learned! My contractor has gotten involved and the manager of the granite fabricator has apologized and offered to make things right.

They have one slab left from this lot. I'm going tomorrow to see if any part of it might provide a better match for the larger, L-shaped piece in question. Thanks to all of you I understand that it will not be a perfect match...but I'm grateful for the opportunity to see if there is the possibility of a better color blend. I'm so glad to have an idea of what my expectations should be.

The smaller piece that is poorly color-matched was installed with the wrong ends touching. They're going to attempt to pull it out, turn it around, and re-install. That would have been avoided if they'd involved me in any part of the planning as they said they would!

I was told that the small piece might break in their attempt to remove it, and the large remaining slab in this lot was rejected already by the fabricator as a poor match...but this is step one in their attempt to fix. I'm hopeful and going in with a positive attitude. It's only a countertop, right? That's what I keep telling myself...

I've moved on to dealing with the backsplash tile that I selected to match my initial granite sample (which wound up not being the slabs they gave me...it was creamier/browner) that doesn't work with these countertops. Thank goodness they hadn't started to install the tile yet! I'm hoping my contractor will help absorb the restock fee for that tile (25%..is that normal?) since it's not like I just randomly changed my mind. These counters definitely don't look as good with my floors as the original slabs I selected. I'm just trying to keep things in perspective....and hope that maybe someday we can put in hardwood floors so the (old) floor tile that doesn't match isn't one more thing for me to kick myself about. This process can definitely be discouraging.

Well, you certainly are trying to have a great outlook on all this. You get an A for effort! And I am so glad to hear things are trying to be made right. I don't think it's at all unreasonable to expect some financial help on the BS, since as you said, it's not like you just changed your mind. Here's hoping for the best, and do let us know how it goes. :)

In lieu of spending $10k for that software to digitally template a kitchen, could one do the same with good photos and a paint program. Or printing out several copies of photos and cutting/pasting with real scissors in different configurations? I can see where a dedicated program would make this process faster but I don't understand why these other methods wouldn't work as well for much cheaper. If I was the customer paying that kind of money for stone and wanted it matched up well, I would probably do all that myself without any help from fabricator and then communicate to them what I want at the fabrication meeting.

Am I off-base? Why wouldn't this work?