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Help me choose Cambria countertop!

Elizabeth Langenfeld

2 years ago

Hi!! i would love some help narrowing down cambria countertop for the kitchen!! we have to go with cambria because of our contractor. I prefer marble- looking quartz but ella seems too cool. I love the creamy/ warm tones in delgatie and ironsbridge but there is a lot of movement..... im not too big of a fan of britannica for my kitchen, but we do have it in our basement bar and love it down there. for the kitchen, i want something more classic looking...... For the cabinets, we want a mushroom color/ or super light, light greige! thank you SO much!! we need to decide asap.

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Comments (4)

boltssharon
2 years ago
I am going through the same stress right now losing my mind! I think we are leaning towards the Delgatie which to me is less busy than the Ironsbridge. I love the Britannica as well but not sure it is quite right for our kitchen as it is a Mediterranean style townhome. I thought I wanted the statement of the big bold veins initially, but now thinking of going with more subtle. The Smithfield looks beautiful as well in photos, very subtle but classic modern. We went to the Cambria showroom in Orlando and I can say the full slab Delgatie is absolutely gorgeous in person!
PRO
Granite City Services
2 years ago
I am a fabricator. You absolutely do not have to "go with cambria because of our contractor". Cambria is only one of many options and as the customer you make the call on what you get. Go shopping at fabricators (not Big Box stores) on your own with your cabinet drawings and I suspect you will find multiple acceptable options that are far less than the price charged for Cambria. I used to do Cambria but ended the relationship when I could no longer tolerate their poor service. (they also didn't like that I did natural stone). All that said it is fair to note that as a repeat customer of the fabricator you contractor has some additional influence in the event there is an issue with your countertops. Google "resin pools" which Cambria doesn't think are defects.
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Cevemal; An appreciable fraction of natural stones have matting and resin on the backside of the stone to reduce the risk of cracks during shipment. Additionally, there are a number of natural stones that, when polished, have miniscule surface depressions too small to feel with a fingertip but visible when the lighting and viewing angle are correct. To make the stones more attractive to the market a process was developed where a VERY thin layer (.060") of resin is impregnated into the top surface of the unpolished slab using heat and vacuum. When the slab is then polished the surface irregularities are filled by the resin so the stone has the preferred glassy smooth finish. This process has the additional advantage of making typical sealing of natural stone unnecessary since the pores in the stone are filled by the resin. Regarding solid surface vs. natural vs. engineered stone all are good looking and durable countertop materials. Make sure you understand the different material properties and then pick the look you want with material properties appropriate for your application.
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Every choice has pluses and minuses, in the end you have to choose which plus and which minus matters the most to you and/or which have an easy fix (like using a cutting board under the crockpot; at work we have an extra piece under the big coffeemaker). budget mattered a lot to me (and I hated formica) so, I ended up with a lesser expensive granite and am very happy, no sealing or extra work for the stone I chose. I had formica previously which looked like h#*! from the day I moved in and didn't get better (except that I could use bleach to remove stains) so those of you whose formica looks like new after 30 years must be taking appropriate care -- using cutting boards (mine had little cuts all over) and so forth -- where my previous owners did not. But, I read that formica now is much better quality than what was installed 30 or 40 years ago. I looked at Burled Beach and liked it. It looked a warm sand-ish color on my samples in my house, but I saw a demo kitchen of it at a big box store and it was a warm greenish tone (I still liked it) under their fluorescent lights. You always have to ability to STOP and make changes unless the cabinets are all already made. If he is just now starting it might not be too late -- call him now! PS do you have an IKEA near to you? Most counter materials are less expensive there.
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Cambria is definitely my wish list and NeoLith is my dream list. Unfortunately Cambria is about 34% higher in price and I didn't even try to price Neolith. LG is $200 more than MSI or Compac on a 35 sq ft, but I think the final sq ft is about 42-45. I chose LG because it is using Breton equipment to make quartz and has a manufacturing facility in Georgia (Made in USA). NoSoccerMom bought out a good point regarding seam width, lippage, and the uniformity of slabs which I am going to follow up with the fabricator. The fabricator is not the biggest or most advertised in town but it has been around since 1936. It is not the cheapest but my guts and research tell me to with the them. Thank you all for all comments. Will keep you posted.
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Elizabeth Langenfeld
Original Author
2 years ago
Thank you so much ”oldryder”!!! i completely agree!!! i will look up resin pools! eek! and there are so many other beautiful types of quartz- i agree!! thank you!’
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Joseph Corlett, LLC
2 years ago
"Google "resin pools" which Cambria doesn't think are defects."

What engineered stone manufacturer does? Gotta admire a company with the balls to turn a bug into a featue.

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