If you're in the Austin Area I would reach out to Exotic Stone works:

https://www.facebook.com/atxstones/

No. No. No. Don't pay them.

Contacting Silestone is a waste of time. They sell slabs and don't care to whom they sell them, how they're fabricated, or consumer satisfaction.

It's either super glue tinted with nail polish, accelerated and scraped to flush or a do over with a Seam Phantom.

Thanks everyone.

I contacted Silestone before writing this post yesterday. Asked them if they could send a rep to consult solution and was told no. That if the fabricator wanted to contact them if they believed the slabs were flawed, a warranty claim could be filed, and then they would send someone. But even then it would be a few months before someone would be at the house.

Silestone did request photos and the fabricator's name. I hadn't met with the owner yet, and wanted to give him an opportunity to make it right before I started referencing them. His response to this opportunity was "we're allowed a tolerance" with seams, and there is no method known to him to smooth that seam, and blend it better with the counter surface.

Told him I'd need to get a second opinion.

Silestone blew you off? No, I can't believe it.

Have your fabricator Google the Seam Phantom, please.

As a stone fabricating facility this is one of the worst jobs i have seen and i am very sorry for that.

The fact that they seamed the top that way means that they are very inexperienced. Fixing just the seam as it is isn't too hard for someone that knows what they are doing. I think the easy road here is to live with the wrong type seam and to just get the seam itself fixed and to get some kind of discount beyond what it costs for someone good to fix the seam as is. Having the wrong type seam will probably be fine over time and only obvious to professionals.

That was the optimal solution I thought. Accept and rehabilitate jagged seam. As long as it won't fail prematurely -- it's sitting on solid wood cabinets -- the seam looks cleanly located, just as perpendicular pieces of wood join on many doors.

If it can be smoothed out and blended better all would be good.

Anyone in Northern California with experience in this area, and confident they can re-seam in place, I'm interested to get in contact. Will pay competitive bid plus travel expenses.

Call Jim Heaphy at Top Repair, please.

j723 - would you be willing to share what city in Northern California you're in? i.e., are you in the Bay Area? I'm about to do a kitchen reno and your post just scared the daylights out of me! I wouldn't want to un-wittingly use the same fabricator.

Lizzie, apologies for the slow reply. Out of town recently. We're in the Central Valley so if you're in the Bay Area it's not likely you'd use the same. If you private message me I can tell you the exact city they're from.

We're still calling on fabricators to get repair estimates, but I'll share the biggest realization made so far:

Be explicit about who actually will be fabricating the materials. The fabrication company we used came highly recommended from contacts who had already completed kitchen remodels.

The proprietor initially inspired a lot of confidence. Highly professional, easy to work with, and arrived at the house after great reviews. He was there twice before installation day -- first to go over options, second to lay the template.

So it was surprising when the truck arrived with the fabricated quartz that the gentleman who we had all previous contact with, and who had personally taken the measurements, wasn't there. Later we found out he had delegated the fabrication to a team of two others.

Know who will actually be fabricating, and get their credentials. Do not rely on just the overall reputation of the company.

@j723 -- omg, will do!! That's exactly my situation now - I've only interacted with the owner, who has been great!! I will absolutely ask who will be the actual fabricators and get credentials. We're at least a month out, so I still have time to learn from others' experience -- THANK YOU!!

j723 This damage to the seam edge is just from someone that has no idea or should not be using stone at all.

The chipping is from cheap cutting blades used during fabrication, the diamond/ tungsten matrix is incorrect for the stone type and will chip the finished edge

We do know what how you have used, but the last photo is from the use of super glue... which has voided your warranty. Super glue must not be used on Quartz as it does not bond correctly and also is NOT A SEAM ADHESIVE!

The residue to the left of the join on your photo is due to the seam being lippy, being that the seam is slightly higher on the right hand side. This will cause them not to be able to finish the seam correctly, leaving the residue.

Solution: the pieces would have to be lifted and replaced as to redress the seam edges would leave the pieces short as you would need a min of 1/2" to redress them on a bridge saw and a rail system on site would leave a slight wave let alone the dust.

Your comment of ... "Know who will actually be fabricating, and get their credentials. Do not rely on just the overall reputation of the company." is so true, as there are people on here that have none either and chose to comment on thing they THINK THEY KNOW......

Can you elaborate what about that last photo suggests the use of superglue? I was on site during installation and saw them mix Silestone Unsui tint into an epoxy like substance that didn't appear to come from a superglue bottle.

Have you taken a razor blade to it to scrape off the excess?

There isn't really excess. The whiteness of the seam appears to be from the rough, uneven, jagged cut of the quartz.

so you are saying all of this is the material? because it looks like epoxy

I'll double check tonight. Really appreciate everyone's input.

Great eye. Thought for sure those two areas looked like chips inward, but indeed there was some dried substance that the razor cleared. Underneath was revealed the most jagged area of the whole seam. Fascinating. Thanks for calling my attention to it.

Is this another twist to what's already been discussed, or just more of the same? The seam was no doubt cut poorly -- dull blade, wrong blade, wrong technique, whatever, it clearly could have been crafted better.

After removing the dried substance the vivid white seam line is still there and uninterrupted from the front edge to the back splash. The white dot's also still there since it's a divot in the quartz. Love it!

It looks so much better!

You know, that substance the razor removed was only on the last five inches by the back splash.

What makes the seam so visible I believe is the jagged unclean cut, which runs the whole length of the seam and is still visible.

This photo was taken after the blade treatment:

Do not have the answers to questions but I worked at a retail warehouse and usually the only thing that creates these lines and chips is the contractor or whoever did the cuts is a dull or old or not proper blade being used when cutting these. As this is usually the cause, maybe you could discuss with who cut it on replacing this due to faulty job or maybe ask them to see if they can do anything to even it out, re grout etc at no cost . Sorry if this does not help

Sounds like you had some direct experience. Thanks for sharing the information!

If you've not yet paid, don't -- demand it be fixed to your satisfaction. Put your complaint in writing to the person billing you for this, send it via tracked certified mail, return receipt requested -- and do keep a copy of it.

If it is not resolved to your satisfaction in a timely way, you could contact the BBB, sending them copies of that correspondence with pictures and any information about the reply. Contacting the BBB might not get you any resolution to your issues, but forewarning someone else could give you some satisfaction.

If the contractor is especially obnoxious and unprofessional and unconcerned, you might find out if some local radio and/or tv stations do stories on how bad a local consumer has been treated. Well deserved bad publicity has the potential to lose them more money than it would have cost them to resolve your issues.

All great ideas. Thank you!

We're trying to keep this as civilized as possible and discreet. Everyone involved is connected on some level to everyone else in local circles, and we're still confident the owner of the fabrication company can be persuaded to do the right thing.

Fortunately the fabricator has received no payment from us, and will not until we're all in some agreement about a solution.

Do let us know how it all turns out.