To be honest, I didn't even realize the sample was on top of your counter in the first picture.

This happened to me. The sample had more green and what was installed had more brown. I even went to see the slab. I will admit when I saw the slab I didn't have my sample with me. I thought it looked off after they were all done installing. Went and got my sample and sure enough. I went back to the store and took my sample and a sample of the installed counter top. Their excuse was it was an old sample and the shades can change. I hadn't picked out any other items so I just worked around the new color but I was disappointed for sure. I'm sure that is what happened to you.

All of this shows why it is important to view and select your slabs, and be present at templating so you know exactly what you are getting. No one likes surprises. If the fabricator you are using won't let you select your slab, and be present at the templating, walk away, plain and simple. Hindsight is 20/20 but this has been broached for the exact reasons you list as well as seam placement.

On my monitor, there is minimal variation...just appears that the "beigey" spots in the sample piece are larger and appear in greater quantity on the installed counter, therefore lending a more beige than gray appearance to the counter...not that the colors appearing are actually different in tone. Just my look at my monitor.

It’s perfectly acceptable. If you want a new counter, you will need to pay for it.

This is why you need to see your slab in person, AND ask for a sample from your selected slab to bring home and make other decisions off of. The good news is that it doesn't look bad or that off.

When you buy a replacement alternator for your truck, it's the identical alternator no matter which part of the country you live in. Ford doesn't make slightly different alternators on different days. Not so with engineered stone manufacturers. This is normal variation.

It is NORMAL and it is NOT Mont's fault. There is situations where the slab will be a little bit darker or lighter, even though is man made, it still is around 90% natural stone.

Is hard to tell from looking at a small piece of quartz, this is why is so important to go in person to take a look on the full slab, you would have seen the color difference, because the sample never matches perfectly. It does look really good on your cabinets, but you are unhappy with the color that YOU chose, so unfortunately, YOU are the one that needs to pay for the replacement.

To answer your question, yes, you are crazy for demanding new counters. The variation normal and acceptable.

These quartz companies have to work harder at consistency of color and pattern and make sure their clients have updated samples. I don't find that acceptable when you have to pair other materials with it, some of which have already been purchased or installed.

The sample does seem to have a warm tone and may not have read gray and
white even if the slab was a perfect match to the sample. Try changing your lighting. I just replaced my 2700K can lights with 4100K and it took a lot of the yellow out of my counter. Even my cherry cabinets lost some of their redness. I could only find the 4100Ks at a bulb store. They are Duracell.

It's "acceptable variation" and it's also very much browner than your sample. :(

Hope you can work with it--it's not ugly, just different.

Counter tops need to come from a fabricator source near you, 99% of the time. To avoid this ? You go TO the fabricator and look at the slab before a cut and polish. The variation is normal. But if you found it distasteful BEFORE the cut/polish/install? You would have had options. Pay up is what you now have. Sorry. You HAVE to see the slab at the fabricator. Pardon me for repeating myself : ) but this is a common occurrence, there must be a zillion threads here that are similar.

It's common and yet many fabricators still don't point it out before they start cutting.

The burden is on customers who perhaps buy one countertop their entire life and are expected to know all the ins and outs. It kind of sucks.

Quartz is man-made anyone who thinks it is perfect 10000% of the time is unreasonable and could never be satisfied with a choice. Natural variations happen WITH EVERYTHING.

The colors of the sample you showed and the picture are nearly identical. UNLESS you can produce a picture that shows a real difference you will not have a case.

I agree....This is normal variation. In fact, it just looks like the pattern is slightly different which makes some colors stand out more.

I'm going to print out a new disclaimer/educational sign for my showroom.

For sure I can see a color difference on my monitor, but from reading all of the above comments, i think its yours now. Yes, suppliers should point this fact out to customers and advise them what to do - to avoid this situation.

yours does match, perfectly. but the real slab goes on and does slightly other things, too. in your case goes on to have some larger brown spots. your sample is just too small to show all the things it might do.

which in general isnt a bad thing.... a slab that does nothing other than what a 6x6 sample shows would be pretty boring. but yeah, you have to look at *your* slab, and see what parts are going to be cut out and what parts are going to be in effect 'featured'.

right now every item is huge in your mind.... every thing is success beyond words or epic fail.... in the end this will blend in beautifully because the colors you wanted are all there. other things are there, too, but you wont be highlighting them.

"Yes, suppliers should point this fact out to customers and advise them what to do"

Thats why you demand to see the slab, and are present at the templating. So you see what you are getting. As I stated nobody likes surprises, and this one is really avoidable. Samples are samples, they can be different batchs, sun bleached (sometimes in days), etc, etc.

To be honest I have it written that there are variances in quartz written in my contract about 4 different times. One even requiring a signature. AND I STILL GET UPSET CUSTOMERS who claim they had no idea.

Following......

I feel the same as the posters who said that on their monitors they couldn't see or could barely see a difference. I do see a small difference, but only cause I was looking for it. And you know what, I like how your counters look better than the sample. I would leave this go, and move on. Not worth your stress.

Have you ever left a batch of cookies in the oven for a minute too long? Do you suck it up and keep them anyway or throw them away? Now multiple that batch by $1000 or so. Now what do you do?

If QC in their shop says it passed than it should pass. This is 100% acceptable and not because of corporate America. Its called human error and we all posses it.

If the OP wants 100% perfection and was not willing to compromise even the slightest bit than they should of saw their slab in person before their installers cut it.

Not to be B*tchy

Yes, I think we have all learnt a lesson from this exchange.

To me, they look very different. The top one looks white and gray. The bottom one looks cream and beige with a little gray. i would not be happy.

Kim, That's why the customer needs to go see the full slab before letting the fabricator cut it. Choosing a material to go on your house only by looking at a 5"x5" piece is not the most wise thing to do.

Yeah, not seeing much of a difference, but I thought the dress was gold and that guy was saying yanni, so what do I know.

Gray vs. Brown? Not seeing that.

this happened to me in our master bath remodel the counter was shaped half looked pink and half was the brownish color I expected.

it turned out changing out the light bulbs fixed the problem. natural stones are sensitive to the light in so you may be able to fix it by changing the lighting.

The middle of your sample (around where the light spot is) looks more like your counters in color distribution. The edges of your sample, less so. But it appears to me that parts of your sample look like the counter.

I can see the beige/brown in the sample as well. It's simply not a gray/white quartz. This is yet another reason why simple is better.

I do see a difference here, the top sample is cooler against your installed quarts. I happen think your installed is beautiful but if you're going for a cooler tone based on the splash is there anyway of re-directing your new backsplash to accommodate a slightly warmer countertop? :)

Two bits of additional info i will add to the original post...first, i asked the fabricator on two different occasions (long time salesperson and factory/cutting facility coordinator) about needing to see slabs of this color/Lago since i had seen another manufacturer had a label stating should "see slabs for color verification" on ONE of their samples i considered before choosing Lago (one color had this warning, not the other 3 i looked at from other manufacturer). Both my fabrication persons told me there was no need to view slabs on this particular color since it doesn't have issues with color variation. Also, Mont samples do not have 'expiration dates' like some manufacturers have. I should mention that I had another quartz (Chocolate brown/White -Oliveto) from Mont installed a month or so prior and it was dead-on color to the sample with no browning out of base white to a creamy color.

Second, the grey tile for backsplash is sitting in the tile installers warehouse already purchased for this job. This is a 10k job for Lago counters alone! I can't adjust the backsplash (and other elements I already purchased like rug, chairs, etc) to go with brown counters without considerable cost. The pictures may not show well on some screens, but I promise you that the moment the fabricator sales person saw the counters w sample present, he said, 'yeah, that doesn't match' and was very concerned for his other clients that chose same color. Dove White, which is a Grey tone, Cabinets (which may not show well on some screens well), do not go well with the creamy brown counters. The look was to be 'clean' and fresh, not muddy warm. The base color of the installed is creamy and warm, where as the sample is definitely more cool white. I'll try and get a decent picture of the whole sample and more installed.

re comments--I appreciate all the comments. Unfortunately, Lighting makes no difference in this kitchen--unless I'm expected to live in a dusky-light kitchen? I have all types of different lighting for this updated space which has lots of natural light, and still looking in one direction or another with various lights on you see the mismatch of color. BTW, this was also installed in my powder room and has messed up that color design with the brown. The blue of those freshly painted walls looks weirdly "off" with the brown counters.

To the cookie reference...Yes, if my cookies are burnt/over-cooked, I would ask for my money back. If people in the manufacturing plant are responsible for over-cooking the slab, I shouldn't be responsible for having to accept them. Simple QA should prevent such issues. What if you ordered a car and it came to you powder blue instead of your sample/expected grey? What has happened to meeting customer expectations and pride in workmanship?

https://www.facebook.com/montgranite/posts/1099755536752428  here's a post from their own website with a sample of Lago. Does this look Creamy, Tan/Brown to you? I don't think this one was over cooked. Only a few blotches of any brown tones. I would of been ok w/ this 'color variation' since still basic white base w/ mostly dark grey/light grey streaks and blotches.

here's another link for lago from another fabricator....doesn't look anything like my sample, but base still White, blotches on grey side for most part. https://clarkstonstone.com/mont-surfaces/lago-quartz/

"Two bits of additional info i will add to the original post...first, i asked the fabricator on two different occasions (long time salesperson and factory/cutting facility coordinator) about needing to see slabs of this color/Lago since i had seen another manufacturer had a label stating should "see slabs for color verification" on ONE of their samples i considered before choosing Lago (one color had this warning, not the other 3 i looked at from other manufacturer). Both my fabrication persons told me there was no need to view slabs on this particular color since it doesn't have issues with color variation. "

well, I'd be very mad, as he misinformed you, maybe not meaning to do so, but he did.

even uniform colors can differ a bit in different batches. If put together, two slabs used-one would see the difference.

He should know better, your coordinator, and advise you still on seeing slabs in person. Picking them from same batch too if possible.

I know different salespeople tell different things..that's why we preferred one distributor over the other, couple years ago when we chose our Quarzt. Same material, different level of transparency and service.

It looks quite good on your second pic btw, but then i'm not inside your house. And haven't seen your other chosen materials

I don't know how much recourse you have here, honestly.

I understand your frustration, but as I customer, I would want to see the full slab before putting it in my house, even though the sales person told me that I don't need to.

And I'm sorry, but is even more clear on their facebook post, that the material IS NOT white and gray. Unless i'm very blind.

So you knew there was variation and now you are mad that there was variation? I am so confused.

I see the difference between the sample and the installed product, but it's not so much one of color tone (at least not on my monitor), as it is the amount of pools of the warmer taupe color. Your tops seems to have more of those pools than the sample. That's a variation I would expect as a possibility.

All this conversation said, it doesn't matter what we think... what conversation have you had with your vendors and what do they have to say?

Can you please post a better pic of what was installed? It's a blurry blob on my screen. Thanks.

Well, if your fabricator says that you don’t need to see the tops, then you just put your foot down and insist. Bring in business for years doesn’t guarantee that they are fabricators that match your level of perskicketyness. Neither does having great reviews mean that their standards are your standards.

And, part of this comes down to you have to pay attention to all of these details when you are doing a big job like this without a Kitchen Designer on board to do it for you. You are the de facto Kitchen Designer and Project Manager. And you bet that the job designer is there inspecting the cabinets when delivered, and the tile to be sure it matches, and the pattern of the fabric for the seat cushions, and the exact slabs to be fabricated into counters. That’s part of the job when you hire complete design work. And all of that falls on you if you don’t have a KD involved to help with the Project Management portion. You can’t expect a GC or other contractor to do that. That’s all a subjective judgement call made by the customer or designer.

If everything in the design is based off of one sample, then you had better get multiple samples of that product in order to see the inherent variation.

My computer is calibrated since we do photography and the samples you have shown are definitely different color tones. Not sure what that matters at this point other than you have to adjust your decorating ideas. I know what you are going through.

It's not a matter of product color variation, it's a matter of how a product is perceived when it is far larger than the sample and in a place where the lighting is different. The countertops may have 100% reliability, but there is a big difference in how one perceives a color in small sample vs fully installed or as a slab. Think about using those tiny color samples from paint stores - it's why they now sell sample pots - far too many people painted their walls and were shocked at how a color magnified in a large space or otherwise changed in different lighting.

You have made two very expensive mistakes. You have two choices; live with them and not be happy until the day you die or move, or eat the expense of the materials and labor and start over. There is no way for them to magically "change", and it's really not the fault of the fabricator or the manufacturer.

Here's my attempt at a larger shot of counter and sample. Thank you for those posters with calibrated machines and can see the difference. I worked for years in advertising in print/web advertising and took great care with color expectations. When expectations are met, customers are happy, share with friends their good experience, and come back to you with more business. My 'salesperson' is a kitchen designer and as stated before was shocked at the difference in color between sample and actual. I'm a little insulted by Anglophilia comments. This situation isn't a matter of lighting or perception. I have painted 12 rooms in this house alone with various colors from 8x8 sample sheets and didn't have any problems with my paint looking different on the walls. I've had granite installed twice in different houses, and quartz three times without this issue. My 'choices' are not defined yet. Cambria replaced counters with less variance than this situation. Posts by customers on Houzz show that. At least it seems one manufacturer stands by their products. So, why shouldn't I ask for the same? Variation in color I would expect within the same color (ie greys stay in the light to dark grey family). Not from grey to brown. As another person stated, it looks like the actual is 'over cooked'...a manufacturing issue. I'm still in conversation with fabricator/design company and Mont who manufactured the slabs. I hope more people learn from this situation and avoid it.

perfectly acceptable, as Sophie said, the fact that is quartz does not mean every slab is identical, this variation is within range

I would say keep pushing for replacement. If I were doing my kitchen in greys/black/white and got brown, it wouldn't be acceptable. Perhaps go visit some other fabricators and see what their slabs look like.

I'd say replace them. pay for it and move on.

you need to like your counters and look at them/use them daily and you aren't happy with this one.

Sorry this happened. It can be frustrating to expect this and wind up with that. I agree with MagE Eric replace them as you need to like your counters..

Years ago I was having our soon to be new home painted. We were not living in the house so had work done prior to our relocation. I thought I had chosen a warm beige cream paint but when I went to check on the job site it turned out to be a glowy warm peach pink color. I was horrified! My DH told me to think long and hard about spending more money to re-paint all of it. I had chosen the color this was not the mistake of the GC or the painter. The paint choice was all mine. I was on a budget and decided to accept my walls. I cried on the way home but accepted I had to live with the choice I made. Maybe down the road I would repaint them.

Months later I started to like that color. And little by little I fell in love with the color. It went perfectly in my home. My furniture, rugs, window coverings etc.. all went really great with this warm peachy beige. When I went to sell the house the new owners wanted to know the name and color of the paint as they loved the color.

It doesn't matter if this is Mont Granite's fault or anyone's fault what matters is are you going to be happy? Are you going to be happy spending the money to replace or happy accepting the situation you are in? You need to make your kitchen and your space wonderful for yourself. HOnestly, if I had the money years ago I would have repainted the entire house.

~boxer

On my monitor the color on the FB page looks to be a warm taupey/brown, not a cool grey. But I have to agree with so many who have said you need to see the actual slabs. Samples of anything (fabric, stone, window treatments, etc.) can oxidize and change over time. They also do not reflect the entirety of the pattern, which you can either love or hate when you see the large version.

That being said, shame on your fabricator who led you astray. At this point, I'd have further discussions with him. He has a responsibility to disclose everything that you might consider when choosing the product.

I will guaranteeeeeee!!!! you one thing! This fabricator never cuts into another slab of anything without a signature. I guarantee you will never again not see a full slab before a cut if you replace yours. End of story.

Result? Win win for all involved