https://youtu.be/LnTjUDT5VIM

You have to pull back to actual viewing distance. At least a foot back from the counter, and showingbthevehole in a natural frame. Super close ups always look bad.

It is a poor seam, it has not been filled or finished correctly. Plus it has bleeding which has throw the grey shadow. Also needs to be color matched a lot better

PS do not allow them to buff or put a polishing machine anywhere near the surface.

My fabricator scratched my Caesarstone quartz by cleaning it with Barkeeper's Friend. Being a reputable company, they replaced my countertop.

Thank you all.

Sophie Wheeler, the second picture is exactly that. See the shadow from my hands and phone? I'm holding the phone about 1,5 feet above the countertop. Trust me, I'm trying to convince myself that it's ok... But unsuccessful so far

Mayflowers, thank you for that photo. I need to know what a quartz seam looks like so I can learn.

They used a seam setter to pull my slabs together. It's two pads that are placed on each slab and electronically tightens them. It's a much tighter seam than what two guys can accomplish on their own. My good seam is also attributable to a clean cut by using a sharp blade. Some fabricators chip the edges when they cut it but that shouldn't happen with a fine-grained quartz. It's literally sand held together with resin. Lastly, he had a good eye for color-matching the epoxy to the slab.

boxerpal:

In all fairness, Anna's seam isn't going to look like mayflower's does. She has a fine particulate in a color that's not white which is one of the easiest to seam beautifully. Anna has white with movement, probably the most difficult.

The sides of mayflower's seams were probably dressed with a CNC bit drenched in water and their razor sharpness was maintained until joining. Anna's seam was chewed by a beaver out back. Dry. Her's is on plane, Anna's is probably not.

Looking at the picture, it appears they have "orange peeled" Anna's top where they've tried to buff the seam. I've done that myself on marble, but got it out.

Anna, take another picture in the same light and distance in an untouched area and post it, please. Now, matching your factory finish is much more of a problem than your seam, I'll bet.

The area they've buffed doesn't feel the same as the untouched area, does it?

In all fairness, Anna's seam isn't going to look like mayflower's does.
She has a fine particulate in a color that's not white which is one of
the easiest to seam beautifully. Anna has white with movement, probably
the most difficult.

Are the marble-look quartzes not also a fine particulate?

Anna wasn't complaining about whether they matched the slabs to account for movement so I didn't address that, but now that you bring it up, they did a poor job there too. Both of the veins dead-end at a seam, screaming that this isn't one continuous piece of stone, which is the artistic side of countertop installation.

Yes, mine was dressed on a CNC.

mayflowers:

Your top is the Sierra series Corian of the quartz world; very easily seamed inconspicuously. When particulates get larger, your eye can detect where they've been sliced through, so no matter how tight the seam or perfect the color match of the adhesive, no one can do anything about these bisected particulates.

Let's give up on the idea of matching these movement slabs, especially the large contrasting engineered stone veins at seams. Some will be better than others, but it's not happening; I don't care how many sheets you go through.

Joseph, I understand particulates in quartz but I see no difference in the size of the particulates in a white marble-look quartz and mine, which is just a different type of marble-look.

Yes, Im not complaining about the veins mismatch at all, this I was ready for. But not the way the seam looks. And when I run my finger over I can feel the seam a lot, in some parts one side is raised about 1,5 mm..

Needs to be reset Anna, which means by someone who knows what they are doing and will a seam setter.

They will need to get rid of the existing polyester resin, clean then color match the new resin and set it correctly.

Ps it is aggregates or particles.

According to the International Surface Fabricators Association, engineered stone, aka "quartz", is a solid surface. Therefore it is appropriate to use solid surface terms (particulates) instead of unrecognized masonry terms like "aggregates" or "particles".

Anna, if you need someone to say it - it’s a bad job. Complain again

Could do with a refill, but not bad.

Thank You all for educating me, now I know enough to argue with them. Thanks for all the advice!