Sorry about all of the typos ὢC. Just to be clear:

-It is pictured WITH my cabinet color. 

-I'm concerned about CHOPPING not coping.

-The salesman was pushing the mitred edge in a way that made me feel a bit pressured.

"I also noticed some cracks at the seams where the mitred edge is connected to the slab."

Cracked miteres in a showroom?

Yes indeed. A little chipping at the point where the two planes meet. I did not take a picture but can go back and do so if that would be helpful. 

Does it indicate poor craftsmanship, or is it inevitable with a mitred edge that gets heavy use?

Thanks!

Is this just a countertop remodel and cabinet painting or an all new kitchen?

A new kitchen could be customized to have whatever cabinet height and miter you want, to end up with a finished island height that is perfect for you, but all these dimensions should have been worked out in the design phase, to be able to give you that very specific end product.

A sharp mitered edge will always be prone to accidentally getting banged with a hard object and getting chipped. Basic laws of physics!

I’ll only speak to height - yours and countertops. I’m short too. When I moved to my present home I could not figure out why it felt off while I was cooking. Turns out the countertops are about an inch taller than my previous home. I have the nice cushy matts which do not help the height issue. My new tall Staub cocotte proved that height was the issue- I couldn’t easily peer into the top of the pot.

Chispa, thank you. This is a kitchen remodel with new cabinets. We are using Ikea cabinets, so I don't think that a custom height was/is possible.

Connecticut Yankee: Thank you. 

That is a great cautionary tale. I would hate to spend this much money and have something feel "off." 

Really helpful to know that the mats don't help with the height.

I think the mitred edge is definitely off the table. Now just to decide on whether I really need those $900 runnels by the sink. :)

Thanks again!

are you putting the cabinets on existing floor or a slab? (if on the slab you may gain another inch, or rather, it will be lowered an inch)

I've seen some of their cabs w/adjustable feet. could you make them lower?

What is the existing height you're doing? See if it can be lowered another inch or so.

Beth H:

That's a great idea!

The plan was to put it directly on the floor, but if we pulled up the wood and put it directly on the slab that would buy us an inch exactly (just measured). 

Is there a way to know what the optimal counter height is based on the height of the person using the counter? Like a table or formula? Or is it really just personal preference?

Thanks again!

60/70's were 32" I believe. I think now we're up to 36"?

mine is 36" including the 2" countertop. To me it looks fine.

I don't think the 3" edge would make a big diff. It just depends on your style.

here's a 3". I think the 2 would have looked perfectly fine here

If you're doing more of modern type of kitchen, the 3" would look better. otherwise, stick w/the 2

similar carrara w/the large edge. did you read this one?

https://bella-tucker.com/2018/03/tucker-kitchen-remodel-week-4/

If you plan on living there a long time, then make the kitchen comfortable for you.

Thanks, Beth.

Just wrote to my contractor to see about attaching it directly to the slab.

I think I'd be more comfortable at 35", which definitely rules out the mitred edge.

Your kitchen is more than fine. It's GORGEOUS. We are painting our cabinets BM Wrought Iron, which looks to be a close match to your island. Now you have me wondering if I should have gone light on the perimeter cabinets! Stunning.

Thanks for the advice.

lol. that's exactly the color I used! the island is Calacatta marble (as is the backsplash)

Walls are Simply white. the white cabs are just a touch whiter than simply white, but they look the same. The lighting will alter how the Wrought Iron looks at times

I love EVERYTHING about your kitchen! Holy cow. And the dining mcm credenza is very close to the one we have in our current dining room (that sadly will not fit in our new one). I love your style.

Those pendant lights are everything. Gorgeous. And the backsplash with the pieces of brass? Those tiles have been on my short list but I don't think we'll be able to swing it. 

Did you do honed calacatta?

no it's polished.

the backsplash w/the gold (how did you see that from the pic??!) is actually cut pieces of a gold Schluter Jolly that we put in the vertical grout spaces. tiles are 4x12 polished calacatta

I got the idea from this picture.

The walnut around the window and the vent hood were done by me. (I finished all of them). I also did the walnut shelving and the cement tile around it, ( used a scrap piece of the marble for this coffee bar ledge)

(the black tile inlay in the floor by the pantry is a zellige tile in a herringbone layout)

and we Did the open cubby in the island w/the walnut veneer on the inside

kind of hard to see the shelves here. this used to have a door covering it. removed it, made a spot for my cook books and wine

got that idea from this picture:

the other side of the island used to be open (c-below) but I had two large drawers made (see the other pic earlier comment for those drawers. i highly recommend doing those)

here was the before shot

lol. quite a diff. the cabs were refaced, everything else stayed in place.

I wouldn’t like it and I am 5’6”. I had a kitchen with a floor with a significant dip. The primary prep area was shimmed over 1”, making the countertop over 37” high. It was not as comfortable for chopping and mixing as my new kitchen with 36” high counters.

I love it! I especially love how the color of the door ties in with the black in the zellige tiles and coffee bar. And the walnut around the window and island is... Chef's kiss.

Did you guys do the schluter yourselves? If not, was your tile guy cool with it or did you have to pay extra?

In another parallel with your kitchen, we are hoping to put a bookcase in our island. We made a last minute decision to reconfigure our island (based on some excellent feedback from here on Houzz) and now have room for this. I'm thinking about doing it myself. Where do you get the walnut? Is it veneer that you put over plywood?

Thank you!

Thanks Maine Nell! That further confirms it. We're definitely not doing the mitre. It would look great, but I need it to be functional.

the walnut veneer the cab guys got. I just finished it.

the walnut for the window/shelves, etc, I got at a lumber yard.

The gold schluter, my tile guy said, 'no problem' and cut each 4" piece! lol.

he's a great tile guy and I've used him on lots of projects. no big deal for him.

I laid out all of the tiles, sealed them and decided which tile went where. I picked the really pretty ones for above the stove top. the uglier ones went under the cab, or got used for cuts.

Beth:

This is completely unrelated to my original post, but I feel like I've found my much more talented design twin, so I want to pick your brain.

Did you try to tie all of the lighting around the house together through similar finishes, styles, shapes, etc., Or did you just pick stuff you liked and because you have good taste it just looked good together?

I'm now returning my third chandelier. I'm having a hard time finding things that work well together and that work in the space.

My designer was going to charge $500 just to send me ideas for lighting and it just felt like a lot of money to spend and a big part of my lighting budget.

So, should I be stressing about telling a "consistent lighting story" and maybe just pay a designer to do it or should I just pick stuff I like and be done with it?

Clearly, I'm asking for permission to do the latter lol. :)

lol. I went through 800 pendant lights. I couldn't decide. some of the ladies I work w/here on the forum gave me some ideas and that's how I got these current island lights.

as for the other elements, I refinish vintage wood furniture so I had the Brasilia in my garage just waiting. ditto the art. I put together the furntiure from ARticle.

I'm a tile nut, so I waited about a year to pick my backsplash. But I did do the cement tile first (I have a similar tile in my bathroom. if you click on my name, master bath redo, you'll see it) so that wasn't an issue. I also knew I wanted to do the gold inlay, and the herringbone design w/the black zellige. (which I got w/the cement tile from Cle' on clearance)

So to answer you, I get a vision in my head of how I want things to look and just go from that. (I had the same vision w/my bathroom. I did that entire thing by myself. my husband built the room, vaulted the ceiling and we did the wood and skylight ourselves)

If you don't think you can do it, get ideas from photos that you like and pick and choose what you'd lke to have in your kitchen. Either hire someone to put those 'things' together for you, or do it yourself, starting w/a few key elements.

I don’t like a mitred edge. I prefer an “eased edge”, where the slab has no additional material added: the edge corners are simply sanded slightly so the edge corners are not sharp, just softened. If you don’t like the salesman, change to a different one….just because he helped you once doesn’t mean he owns you. I always suggest trying two or three counter stores: you can see different materials, find a salesperson you feel comfortable with, and compare prices for materials and labor (cutting, polishing and installation). Good luck.

Feliz Lady:

Agreed. I know I don't owe him anything, but I love the slab and we paid in full yesterday anyway so it's a moot point. He did say he would refund us the cost of the mitre if we changed our minds about it.

The reason we decided to go with this place was primarily because they were the only ones that just gave us a quote on a fabricated slab. Literally every other place we went to would only send the price to our fabricator or contractor. We went to three other places, but the fabricator my contractor likes to work with just never sent the quotes to my contractor, which we took as a bad sign. 

I found this maddening. Is this normal practice? I'm in the DC region.

Beth H:

I guess either you have great taste and a clear sense of style, like you clearly do, or you don't. Ugh, ok. I think I might need to go back to the designer and ask for help. 

Maybe I'll post a separate thread and ask for help first. 

This has been a really helpful thread for me. Thanks so much all!

heather, found another pic of a gold inlay with the marble.

Getting prices is maddening. We went crazy trying to compare prices of different slabs and the same slab from different stone yards. It was almost impossible to get a fixed price, or even a delta between grades. Seems to be standard practice. And maddening!

Went back to the marble place today and while I was there took a picture of the cracked mitred edge for Mr. Corlett. 

Wonder if this is common with mitered edges. Glad I decided not to do it.

And, contractor confirmed that he can in fact lower the height of the island a few inches for me, even with Ikea cabinets. Now just need to find some shortish stools.

Went back to the marble place today and while I was there took a picture of the cracked mitred edge for Mr. Corlett. 

Wonder if this is common with mitered edges. Glad I decided not to do it.

And, contractor confirmed that he can in fact lower the height of the island a few inches for me, even with Ikea cabinets. Now just need to find some shortish stools.

if this is in his shop, maybe it's getting banged up.

I showed you my island top. I don't have any dings in it. after install, but 4 years later and it still looks like this

(however, I did get two large chips in my quartz around the stove top from the iron skillet!)