I don’t know precisely how many square feet I have but my total cost was 9500. I did all my counters by using two full slabs with little waste. My island is 52”x120”. My two L pieces are about 12 feet or so long each. There is a 36” cooktop in one run and a 36” farm sink in the other. I have three very well-done seams which is probably how I was able to use just two slabs.

Are you being quoted for two slabs or three slabs? That will make a very big difference.

Your best bet is to go to another stoneyard and fabricator and see if their price is different. There are too many variables that we on this forum do not know about your project to be able to judge the pricing. Anyone can say ”well I only paid $125/sf for Taj Mahal counters”, or ”I paid $250/sf”. Who know what their jobs were, where they are located, what extras they got or not, and of course the experience and quality work (or not) of the fabricator - which also affect the price.

Get other quotes.

True, Shannon…..we do not live in Manhattan, San Francisco, LA or other super expensive area. The first fabricator quoted us as such: the cost of slab (ca $4 K each), plus $55/sf for cutting, edge etc. (We’re doing a simple, clean and “free” edge.) The slab is ca 71 sf, we need just under 70, so I thought 1 large slab might do it. We’re not doing the island in Taj, but wood. The quote from fabricator #2 was for 2 slabs…..they said we need both. The odd thing is we allegedly don’t pay for 2, just for what we need, so I think this is where the high cost per sf comes in. They get to keep the leftovers, of which there should be quite a bit, so they can sell that to someone else at “remnant cost”. We went to fabricator #2 because #1 has not responded to several (nice and polite!) texts and phone messages/ we had used #2 before. It’s difficult to compare the 2 because they way #2 does their pricing is super confusing. #1 doesn’t use the same distributor, so if we want those 2 specific slabs we have on hold (will go to see in person soon) we have to go with the 2nd fabricator.

Getting other quotes doesn't always serve customers well if you base your decision on price predominantly. You want to base your decision on reputation, belive me, particularly with such an expensive and difficult-to-work-with material.

You don't want your fabricator finding out how quickly quartizite destroys bits on your job.

Thanks, Joseph….no, I’m definitely looking for someone to do it “on the cheap”; friends had recommended fabricator #1. I just think it’s a huge jump from around $9000 to almost $15000, is all. Thanks for weighing in.

I used Taj Mahal in Los Angeles about 4 years ago. Good size u-shaped kitchen with 2 corners (one standard and one angled & deeper with a sink), large open peninsula and good size island. I had 3 slabs (2cm) with built up edge and cost $9k. Fabrication cost $9k, so total project $18k.

Thanks, Chispa….we’re using 3 cm, 2 slabs. Add Covid transportation costs and i guess we’re at $15 K….

Coray, I also just put TM into the house we are building in FL. Had to go get my build file out of the car! Again a large u-shaped kitchen with island. Eased edge profile and 2 sink cut outs. This time three 3 cm slabs were $8800. Fabrication was $5500. So total of $14,300.

CA was much more expensive!

I think you are in the range with this material. Hope that helps.

Stone is commodity priced. The prettier stuff that people want, costs more as a base cost. The muddier less attractive stone, costs less. Then add in the variable of skilled labor and machinery investment cost differences. Skill always costs more than unskilled *on the front end*. But unskilled can cost you twice what skilled costs you, when you add up doing the job twice because of that lack of skill.

Unless you have a reference from a designer or GC, or past relationship, it involves a whole lot of shoe leather to do a deep dive into skill and machinery.

Only the worlds smallest condo kitchens use 1 slab of stone. All standard kitchens use 2-3 slabs, as a base start, in order to get good seams, and the graining lines in the same way. Even stine tat youbfint think has ”movement”, has movement. And cutting 1 slab for yield, instead of good seam results, will soon show you why 1 slab guy is totally wrong about usng 1 slab. And would be the expensive regret do over.

Thanks, y’all! Chispa, you’re definitely getting more TM than we are for similar (but less) $$. Our 5’x7’+ island will get a walnut top, so we’re paying at least 30% more. I did speak to a third person yesterday, but they told me they’re doing it digitally and will be on the high side…..I’m very curious to see their estimate.

Thanks, Verbo, that makes sense.

Well, thanks to all who weighed in…we just saw the slabs in person, they’re very pretty, so we went for it. I never thought our countertops (incl the walnut island top) would cost $20 k+, but I think we’ll love these forever, so it’s worth it.

Coray, my old TM was pretty much bulletproof, so I think you will be very happy with your choice.

Today I spent even more on TM! We have an outdoor kitchen with a 14 ft counter run, minus a 36" grill. We had left over from the kitchen, but only enough for half the outdoor counter, so I went looking for a remnant. Found one yesterday that was the perfect size for the other half of the counter and then they also had a piece I could use as a full backsplash between the grill and the outdoor hood, so another $2600 to complete the outdoor kitchen. I would have needed tile behind the grill and the full slab will be much easier to clean than grout. Less cleaning = priceless 😀

We had 2 slabs TM installed in our kitchen, with installation it was under 8000$. We are located in NJ

Wow, JSK, that’s so pretty! I’m moving to NJ, if it’s so reasonable there….we’re in NC.

@J SK

Care to share the name of your counter place?

Thanks, Granite City…..that all makes sense. I think our confusion was caused by 2 things: I still had in mind an older price, given to me by fabricator #2, as $135/slab, and fabricator #1 practically gave us no info, was very vague. They also price differently; fab #1 basically told us that we purchase however many slabs we need, and they’re 100% ours. Fabrication is then charged per sf, according to how much we use. All remnants are ours to keep, use elsewhere or resell. With fab#2 we have no claim to any remnants. If fab #1 had told us what many others here have (thank you, Houzzers!), e.g. that only really small kitchens take 1 slab, most “normal” kitchens require 2-3, we would not have been too flabbergasted. (Our kitchen is roughly 260 sf, with island top in walnut, so that’s probably not considered “a very small kitchen” that would only need one slab….surely they could have given us that bit of info.) Fab #1 therefore is not getting our business…..I was told to call or text with questions etc, but both have not been responded to since before the new year. Anyway, it’s done, we found our 2 slabs, no idea what they actually cost, but we have a rough total.

@birdie234, I will try to find out from my husband

Forget 2021 prices. Taj is a container ship imported commodity.

Demand increasing, supply dimishing.

Highest bidder for material gets it.

I just got a quote for my kitchen Taj in Houston. $7200 for 2 slabs 1 2CM 1 3CM . 2CM is single slab for island 3” mitered edge. No leftover. Looking at all these prices I think it’s a good price.

My biggest concern now is to do my fireplace I’m looking at 11k for another slab :( ….

We just picked out 2 slabs at $42/ sq. ft., but we don't have the fabricator's cost yet.

Good luck, clt3……ours came out to be $200/sf, incl. fabrication and install. We’re doing a walnut slab on the island (roughly same cost as TM), so altogether we’re paying just under $20000 for kitchen counters. I’m sure for some that’s nothing, but we were slightly shocked, to say the least. Of course I didn’t have to choose TM, but I really wanted it. We were also told that it depends on what the slab looks like….they’re getting to the “end of the ham” of TM, so a lot of it now is darker, with a lot of heavy gray and/or green, long, “quartzy” lines that split easily….In fact, we saw many of those, filled in with filler etc, esp among the honed or leathered slabs, which is what I wanted. We found lighter slabs we liked, albeit polished, so we got those. Now I just hope they look the way I imagined them….they’re at the fabricator now and I’m dying to see them again in person and in natural light!🤞🤞(The lighting inside the slab yard building was horrible….dark and purple!)

Yes, we were happy to find them without the gray tones.

Wow, Kim…..$11 K for just one more slab for the fireplace?? That sounds super high, esp when you paid $7200 for the kitchen!

Coray, I'm surprised the slab yard wouldn't take one slab and move it outside for you to see in natural light. That was offered to me at different slab yards every time I purchased natural stone in CA and FL.

@coray agreed here is my island slab

Pretty, Kim! We were specifically looking for lighter slabs with less gray…..this proved very difficult. Good luck with your project! Ours will kick off in May, in earnest….as long as everything goes smoothly, which has me really worried.🤞🤞

Chispa: Yeah, they didn’t….maybe I should have asked, but they were moving the slabs with these big, internal gantries….everything was inside, and it was really cold out. Maybe we should’ve asked for it, but they lighting inside seemed good and bright…..until I saw on my photos later that the lights projected purple spots onto my images and turned the top half pink. We’ll get to see them soon, I hope, once we test Covid negative….fingers crossed!

Here is a photo I took of one of the slabs (the second one we did not see but were told would be identical): the slab looks more like the online photo, not the one I took.

It’s nice and less grey! Good luck on the project mine started spring break cabinets built , next counters.

So my final price came in at $57 sf installed includes material a 4.5 by 10.5 island with 3” mitered edging, for those price shopping. Houston TX

OMG…..and we’re paying $200/sf! 😖😡

Coray do you think they calculate the sf the same ??

I was just going off my contract I got today

My total price with fireplace is 9k so .. I’m not sure how they figure this stuff

One fabricator quoted $55/sf just for labor, with a “free” edge, nothing fancy, no mitered edges etc. We would have gone with them, but their office person seemed too busy and eventually became unresponsive, so we went back to the “#1 place in town”, a fabricator we used 5 years ago. (I had also contacted a third fabricator, ca 1 h away, who told me they would certainly not be one of the “cheaper” fabricators because they are fully digital. I was asked to send in my kitchen layout, measurements etc, and was told I’d receive an estimate, but I never, ever heard back from them….that’s how it is around here. Some might think that we were rude, or difficult to work with, but nothing could be further from the truth.)

I’m honestly not entirely sure how they calculate their sf or prices….all I know is that for roughly 63 sf we are paying a bit under $13000, perimeter counters only (we have an L-shaped kitchen, plus another small piece next to the fridge, which will be our breakfast station); the 63”x90” island top will be walnut (the cost per sf is about the same). We at first wanted to do a 4” backsplash between the countertop and the windows, but just that alone would have added another $2600, so we dropped that idea. This fabricator “doesn’t charge for unused pieces” of the slabs, you “only pay for what you actually use”, but you know that there’s no way we don’t get charged for unused pieces, even though we don’t own them once we’re done….this is why the cost/sf is so high. We’ve made peace with the cost, and if all comes out well we’ll be happy. Obviously, we’d rather pay your prices, but it is what it is….I do wish I knew how much MSI is actually charging for the slab, if we were to buy it directly from them, but that’s not how they do it, and we won’t ever know. ☹️

@J Sk have you decided on backsplash yet?

@Heather P, yes, we installed back painted glass. Sorry for the mess in the picture

@J Sk thank you so much for sharing!! It turned out amazing!!

@Heather P, thank you so much. How is your project going?