Get another quote... You've mapped it out and it would be wise to get a second opinion. Maybe you're right, maybe you're wrong, maybe you're being taken for a ride.. But 11k???? I would get another bid...

$11K for less than 50sf of counter? wowsaaaa

Not sure she's at but here the quartzite are $8500-11k per slab.

If your feeling is that he does not want to work with the type of stone that you have selected, then you need to find someone else.

You need to get more estimates.

Who keeps the extra?

Don't go with a fabricator you are already having conflict with. Find someone who is willing to work with you and explain it all.

It's almost as if he wants extra in case of error. I agree to find someone else.

Stone has a directionality, like nap in fabric. If you have inclusions that you are trying to cut around, it very well could take 4 slabs in order to get it to look right. You also have to account for blade thickness, cutting it to square, etc. A Pro with Slabsmith ought to be able to show you. Amateur attempts at backseat templating ain't gonna cut it. Literally.

Thank you so much for the comments. Looks like I definitely need to get a second price. It's awkward since this fabricator is the one our kitchen company always uses and recommends, but I cannot fathom paying for so much extra sq ft that we do not need! I asked our kitchen company what happens to the rest, since the leftover will be MORE than we will end up using, but no direct answer. Thanks for making me realize that my gut instinct is not just sticker shock. I know princess white quartzite is very pricey and as crazy as it sounds I was prepared for $8k, but $11 is just insane. I am in the Boston area and these slabs were extremely rare and hard to find. I am ok with paying for 2 slabs, just not three! And if there is a great reason we need this much extra, no one has been able to communicate that to me. Thank you for the input, greatly appreciated!

Post your layout. Post your pics of the slabs.

Trying to post pics now. Not to scale but the measurements are correct.

sorry for posting one picture twice, we only need four finished pieces total. I left three options for the small 19x25" piece, thus the circles.

Listen to your gut. And you've already answered your own question. $11,000 is insane, layout related or not.

What are the actual slab dimensions? And do you not want the L shaped piece to have the grain going the same way on both pieces rather than have a VERY obvious in your face seam with different directional grains? I see three pieces needed, with that factored in, and the island width. The island takes a 1 slab all by itself.

insane. That is a gorgeous slab. Even the dark areas are pretty!

the slabs are 97" wide by 63.5" high approx.

We cannot get one solid piece long enough into the corner so that is the only place I can see the seam going. Open to suggestions though! I am ok with the pattern running down into the corner and turning, vs flowing towards you if you stood facing the corner, if that makes sense. The fridge is at the end of the shorter L on the bottom or left and the stove as at the end of the longer 90" piece. The sink will also be cut out of the 90" piece. These slabs were not as linear as as some others, like the striping in white macaubas. While a seam is not ideal, the slabs are only 97" long. The slabs are only 63.5" high so I don't think the island could be cut in the opposite, top to bottom, way. Thanks for the input!

Sorry I did not mean island, I meant the 64" part of the L is too tall to be cut the other top to bottom way.

You shouldn't have to experiment with your own layouts. Do they not have templating software? They should be showing you (one way or another).

You are correct. The problem is the slabs are still at the wholesaler and the fabricator wants me to buy three slabs, which he will then template at his own location. Based on my calculations we can get away with two slabs, so I am trying to save a lot of money and only buy two slabs, which will give us 84 sq ft, when I only need 47. Thus the reason I made my own photocopy templates:) So this is all before we get to the template software step. But yes I agree, they need to show me WHY we need three slabs, if that is the case. They just keep saying three, without explanation.

You are cutting out a lot of dark areas (and there is good reason for that). I think you need to find slabs that you like more overall.

That's nuts!! I just had white princess quartzite done with about 68ft of countertop and was able to only use 2 slabs. I live in Long Island and white princess slabs are in the $4000-$5000 per slab.

My fabricator -Savvy Stone in Islip- even advised me *not* to buy another slab for a piece he thought he could seam together out of the remnants. It turned out he couldn't, so we went looking in his extra piles and found a marble that was a dead ringer.

So out of 2 slabs he got 60ft and we worked out a great solution for the extra 8 feet. I liked the darker parts so was able to use much of the slabs. He had to make two seams on the island and was careful to pick really white bits for that so the seams are "seamless", so to speak. Your slabs have a lot of white on it. There should be no reason why he can't make it out of two.

Some fabricators will also meet you at the stone yard to discuss how to template. At the very least, I think they are privy to pictures of the actual stone online and can eyeball the actual slab without even going to the stone yard.

Get at least two more quotes. My quotes vary widely,and what some fabricators are willing to cut out of the slabs also varied widely. I was able to get recommendations for fabricators from gardenweb, which is how I found Savvy.

On a side note, if you really only want to use the white part, why pick princess white? There are a lot of other true white quartzites that are almost completely white. Here they go by names like African white or winter. Some of the slabs are huge. I'm pretty sure I saw some that were 125" wide and 77" high. Wouldn't it be crazy if after all this, you fit the whole thing in *one* slab? It would be hard to find a piece that big - like 128" wide that you'd need, but they crop up now and then.

Countertops *just* got put in two days ago. Not all of them are done yet, but here's a picture of my white princess.

good luck with your countertop search!

Thank you so much. I see what you are saying about the direction Sophie Wheeler. I figured since it was just that one seam I could live with it to save $3000+ but I do agree that proper design should always come first. I just have been to sooo many huge wholesalers in MA and this is the only stone I like, other than marble. I had been searching for months and I finally found it which was so exciting, but then I was so devastating when I found out I needed to buy 120 sqft to use only 47 sq ft. I have been told that the Princess white Quartzite always has some dark areas. They had 20 slabs at one place and these were the best. I'm looking for something white/light grey, not beige and the only other stone that achieves that is marble. Even the wholesalers talked me out of marble though so I am out of options! Thank you so much for your input. I really appreciate everyone's help.

BTW, counters are typically cut at 25.5", not 25". That also factors into the yield ratio of those small slabs.

budiningsih thank you so much. Your countertops look great. So the problem in my area is there are literally no white quartzites. I have been to so many enormous warehouses. The luce di luna/white macaubas here is beige. I was told all of the actual white quartzite is bought by fabricators before it hits the warehouse floor and is shipped to Nantucket etc. Princess White is the only one I have found with a white background with grey parts and not beige/tan. We like the grey but just want there to be enough of it to repeat and establish a pattern, so it does not look like a random blob. The first time I saw Princess White was at a place with a remnant and a cracked slab and ever since then I have been searching for real slabs. I knew it was what I had been searching for. After that I only found one place in all of MA that has it. Overall we want a white/grey kitchen so we are trying to avoid brown/tan/sand which is every other quartzite I have seen. I even told my fabricator I would drive anywhere in New England to look at other slabs but they had zero recommendations. Thank you so much for your help. I agree that a second quote would really help clarify whether I am getting ripped off or whether I will be making princess white cutting boards out of the leftovers for all of my family members for Christmas:)

11K for 47 sqft of installed Princess White isn't out of the reality; this is a very exclusive and limited stone, comes all the way from Namibia, processed in Italy... super limited and expensive,

And yes, sometimes we pay little bit more to have a better design and avoid seams

Good luck, your slabs are very beautiful, and I would not try to avoid the dark areas; they add character to the final project,

Once I ran a test on Princess White, with a 90 minutes exposure it did not stain neither to wine nor lemon, it stained with olive oil.

I called friends and suppliers in Italy, there is no clear understanding about the composition of Princess White, it is not as hard as White Macaubas, Taj Mahal or others;

Thank you Daniel. I appreciate your input!

I was going to say that I love love love the dark chunks and would not omit them. They ARE the intrinsic beauty of this stone. I am glad a Pro, Daniel Konrad, beat me to it with the same sentiment. Please either keep them, or choose something else and let someone else have these slabs who won't throw those dark parts away.

If you don't like those dark chunks and love marble, I'm wondering if you'd be better off with either a quartz or Neolith?

I feel your pain looking endlessly for the right slab to come across. I'm sorry to hear that white quartzite is so hard to find in Boston.

Dearth of white quartzite aside, I still think you can get what you want from those two slabs. I don't think the grain of the slabs will be an issue. The bottom part of your 64" piece looks white and non-directional enough to join to your 90" piece. I disagree that the grain will cause that much wastage. More importantly, if the fabricator is not being helpful -they've rebuffed you twice- it's time to find a different fabricator. If they're this bad now, how helpful will they be if you encounter a problem once you're done and once they have your money?

Good luck!

If you truly believe the fabricator doesn't want to work with quartzite because it is difficult to fabricate, you should find a different fabricator. Since your kitchen company only recommends this company, I'd check with them about the fabricator's expertise with quartzite.

No offense to budiningsih (lovely countertops), but I wouldn't depend on finding remnants that can be seamed together, in the event that you buy 2 slabs and it is not enough.

I don't understand the idea of the retail sale of slabs. M of the sea needs to tell her fabricator that she wants 47SF of quartzite in this particular layout and get an installed price. How many slabs he needs to buy to satisfy her, and the remnants left over, is his problem.