I do not have granite, but I would NEVER accept that!. Search Fantasy Brown in Garden web and you will see several nice counters.

The buffet is COMPLETELY unacceptable. The sink island looks like a nice match of materials, but it's hard to say about the seam. Looks a little off on color, but photos aren't too clear.

You are dealing with a granite that has a rather definitive variation in colour. When I'm selling a product such as this, I make sure my client understands how difficult it is to match up seams with granite such as yours and that the fabricator does try to match as best as possible. In some cases I will be more expensive because 1 more slab may be needed to achieve the best match.

Consider that in order to make your countertop, you would need so many slabs. When pricing, the fabricator will look at the number of slabs needed. Some order in exact number of slabs, some carry a 'lift' of stock. Chances are that the buffet was taken out of a full slab by cutting it in half to produce the 2 pieces that were then joined. In order to 'Book-Match' a countertop (match the variation almost perfectly), they may have needed to use one extra slab which would mirror the other. Which, in turn, would raise the price.

Not to say that what has been done on yours is correct, and that I don't feel your pain, I certainly do, but did any one bring this to your attention before ordering?

We had ordered "book-matched" pieces.

So, is that seam on the island what I should've expected for a stone with this coloring? I think my expectations were just higher for that seam.

Thank you for the comments! Makes me feel a little bit better that I'm not just being overly critical.

I would Never accept that. We're you there when they templates the stones

If you ordered book-matched, they need to replace the buffet section because that isn't book-matched. The island looks great...it's difficult deciding what color to use on a seam like that because there are both light and dark colors in the stone so when one part looks perfect the other part looks more visible.

The island IS book matched. That took two slabs right there. I don't know how long the buffet is, but it looks to have needed either a full length from a 108" slab, or two more book matched pieces. That would be either 1 or 2 whole other slabs being purchase. Of what looks like a pretty expensive stone. Would you have purchased 2 more slabs in order to get a better match on the buffet? Are you willing to purchase 2 more slabs to get the look on the buffet similar to the island? If the answer is no, then you received the best match possible using the island's leftovers.

We weren't there, our contractor was. I'm starting to feel like I placed too much trust in our contractor knowing what we wanted. We had said we would get 2 more slabs if they couldn't fit both the buffet and the island on the two book matched slabs we had, but they instead did the two areas using 3 slabs.

Oh no I would not accept that. I have a big kitchen with all fantasy brown quartzite. It's extremely well matched. That second picture is what the granite people need to see and ask if they would have it in their kitchen. And remind them their name is associated with this.

channer127:

Please take a picture of each end of the buffet. The idea is to see if either end matches the middle. If so, someone in the shop put the finished edge on the wrong side. This could be as easy as pulling half, re-profiling the edge, and re-installing it.

That's what I was thinking about the buffet seam--maybe they switched the pieces. For the island seam, I'd get some markers that match the colors in the stone, and try to camouflage the epoxy.

I agree with everyone - the island looks really good (although the seam COLOR could be a shade darker), but the buffet - NO WAY!!

Photos of both ends of the buffet

Just another voice chiming in-- re last picture, no you are not too picky. That is too obvious a transition from one piece to the next. Doesn't look right.

I was thinking the exact same thing as Joe. However that small section just doesn't seem to match the overall color of the slabs it looks much lighter.

Looks like they've used an off-cut from another slab. Possibly even left over from another job and used here so they didn't have to order another slab

channer127:

I hate to be so picky, but the pictures of the end of your buffet have to be right up close, similar to your first and second pictures.

We had a similar mismatch when our Fantasy Brown was installed. Not only was there a mismatch, but I wasn't expecting a seam in that spot. We'd discussed a seam at the sink. The installers tried to fix it by finding a better matching transition piece, but they had to put two pieces together, so then were two seams about a foot apart, right at the last three feet of the counter run. The seams were very good and the transition was ok, but TWO seams a foot apart? I wasn't happy. The owner/fabricator was called in and she completely agreed with me, that it was unacceptable. She bought another slab (the next one in line to ours, so the match was perfect) and redid that whole section, with the seam in the originally agreed upon place at the sink (but not at the exact center of the sink) and made me one happy customer.