If you were told that the slab discoloration was due to the water cutting process, then one would assume both slabs would have similar discoloration. I also agree: they did not sufficiently bookmatch the larger veined areas of the 2 slabs.

And your discussion at the POINT OF INSTALL was what and with whom? Who took the photo ? You as it was being installed? Because that's quite a little mess atop that . Who was present when it was installed? I am sorry to say: A seam in the middle of an island /even well executed, perfectly book matched ?

Avoid it altogether. In this case? Call the fabricator back to the site.

The slabs needed to be chosen for book matching and so start there if you chose the slabs for perfect bookmatching and have the layout in a drawing showing that perfect book match then you need a do over but I need to see the layout you signed off on as for the staining IMO not something that will go away this is real stone and as such has inperfections that will happen Did you choose the slabs and take pics of the choices . What size is the island what is there as eam there ? I need more info.

The top photo attempts to show the discoloration.
On the bottom row of photos, left is our approved layout, zoomed in to show where the central veins are in relation to the seam. The photo on the right is the actual work. The red arrow I drew on the photo indicates where it should’ve been cut according to the layout. Hope my explanation is clear.

Wow! That's really sad. I hope they don't give you a hard time about fixing it.

It’s a 120 x 52 inch island

At that size? I don't understand WHY there is a seam? Or book match ANYTHING, Average slab? Basically like granite. If you fell in love? You could have loved as a single top.................Or you happened upon two left over slabs and then the put together?

Sizes can range between 115-138″ wide by 55-80″ tall.May 9, 2020

Why did you have to center cut on a 10 foot island?

I agree with @H202. The agreed-upon layout shows perfect bookmatching. The fault is with the fabricator entirely. But I have to admit to a curiosity about why one slab was not the choice for this island?

Yes, it shows perfect match. ( H2O2 ) That's not the point.......as the question is why the need to do it at ALL? Unless it was two left over slabs in the stone yard......?

That's the question, give the island size.

As with anesthesia? Every time you go under the knife? You spin the wheel of good fortune? So it is with counter top seams, no matter how good the fabricator. You avoid them when you CAN.

We wanted to include waterfall feature, they told us that for this size, this is the way to do it.

Ok, never heard that. I would have skipped the waterfall. The dramatic stone bookmatched island countertop - or better the single-slab island countertop - would have been enough for me. This forum sees endless numbers of posts about problems with waterfall counters. Did the veining continue down the waterfall in a matched flow?

So to get a better match on the edge of the waterfall they recommended creating a seam in the center of the solid horizontal island surface. SMH

Too much drama will buy you a problem every single time.

Good Lord. That bookmatch was done wrong! End of discussion!!! The OP was advised that this was the best way to go. She trusted the experts. Do the pros here profess to go into surgery questioning every single thing their surgeon recommends??? I don't care how much research one does. At the end of the day, you put your trust in the experts. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. The counter seam doesn't match the photo. They messed it up. There's nothing else to say here except "I feel your pain and hope you get a satisfactory resolution". SMH for sure!

Having said all that, OP, learn from this experience and use one slab for the island top when you redo it.

Thank you all for taking the time to write back. I appreciate your empathic comments and suggestions. We have not heard back from the renovation team yet… if we could redo with single slab for the island top, what are your thoughts on keeping the existing waterfall sides which have been installed, or removing them? If we keep them, they will likely not have a contiguous pattern with the top.

So sad to see yet another dissatisfied homeowner after attempting to bookmatch stone. I hope you are able to resolve the issue to your satisfaction.

To answer your most recent question, I would have them replace the entire top and waterfall sides. No bookmatching-use one slab for the entire top. Keep it simple.

"That's not the point.......as the question is why the need to do it at ALL?"

"No bookmatching-use one slab for the entire top."

Jan and Diana: Your answer is here:

"if we could redo with single slab for the island top, what are your thoughts on keeping the existing waterfall sides which have been installed, or removing them?"

The material required for a conntinuous waterfall dictates a seam, as there are no sixteen foot slabs. (36"+120"+36" = 192"= 16').

And let's knock off all this talk about a "perfect bookmatch" please. It's just like the incredibly rare "invisible" seam; you get one once in a great while and only in Corian. The fabricator has an obligation to properly set customer expectations ("inconspicuous", not "invisible"), but they are not magicians. That is not to say that this particular seam could not have been better.

As to a do-over to save the existing material, It may be possible to rip the seam apart, recut and reprofile the ofsetting edges to match again, and install an apron sink. This will probably only work if you've got a little cantilevered overhang to lose. I wouldn't do anything until the slabs matched in color.

So to get a better match on the edge of the waterfall they recommended creating a seam in the center of the solid horizontal island surface. SMH

A bookmatched seam in the center of the island is what is required when the island is a sizeable length AND has waterfall ends. I did the same thing with this island:

Naturally-occurring bookmatched slabs are not perfect and there will still be some areas that do not line up between the two slabs. If you zoom in on this photo, you would see that the two slabs are not perfectly identical on both sides. HOWEVER, you did receive a rendering and the expectation is that your installation would be consistent with what you approved.

I'd ask a client........at the point of the initial design:

If you are in love with the stone, could you love it without the waterfall?

Could you love the sink elsewhere?

Sorry, I just think you have to pick the path fraught with the least potential PERIL.

The photo just above? No sink, no seam on the top......and a whole different thing.

There was no designer here......just a dream from the internet : )

Joe, we both know WELL there are no 16 foot slabs. That's why I'd pick a more optimal "poison" : ).......

Personally I dislike the look of book matched slabs and don’t understand the fascination with it. I certainly wouldn’t spend an extra dime to get that look.
And Joe I did answer the OP’s question and said I would remove the waterfall sides.

Ditto that Diana, and ditto not a dime. .....dimes, drama, lol......which leaves me at disrupted! veining

The photo just above? No sink, no seam on the top......and a whole different thing.

There is a seam in the middle of the top. It's bookmatched. And as I mentioned, not perfect. You can see better here. If you look at the "triangle" in the center, it doesn't quite line up. Natural stone will have some variation between slabs and it's up to a qualified fabricator to determine the best place to seam it so it feels natural, if not exactly "perfect."

I am a fabricator. I would never recommend a seam in an island that was small enough to fit on a slab. IMHO the fabricator tried too hard to meet the customers expectations for the waterfall grain match and thereby compromised the whole job. That said the customer does have the right to expect what she was shown prior to sawing. If something changed during fabrication (which does happen!) the customer should have been advised of it promptly instead of leaving the surprise for install time. Most customers understand a natural material like stone can present unforseen difficulties and are understanding when told of problems promptly. Very few are understanding at install time.

"I would never recommend a seam in an island that was small enough to fit on a slab"

Thank you for that statement. Placing a seam in the center of the island would never be okay with me. I would much rather see a slight mismatch at the edge of a waterfall than in the center of my counter.

If I had this mismatch on a waterfall I would be okay, but I would not be okay with the same mismatch in the center of the island.

Any weigh-ins on the color mismatch? Is that just a product of where on the slab they made the cut? That doesn't make sense to me...

We just experienced this similar issue. The salesman led us to believe for months that the quartzite slab we wanted was long enough (over 126") and even taped it off and marked it with masking tape, and labled it sink. The unmatched colors and lines are disappointing, just to the right of the sink, and whoever is cooking sees it immediately. We signed off on the 'last minute seam job' as we were told the unmatched piece was used for a different counter, but the photo they showed us did not represent how bad it would look. I think they may have broken the full piece in fabricating and last minute substituted the other piece. Problem is we're on a tight schedule to tile and stone the walls and they do not have any more of the same quartzite material. We have another issue with another counter (see below photo) where the backsplash was to run left to right at eye level and then make a 90 deg turn to the right. Unfortunately, someone made the decision to instead, extend the counter up the wall and it doesn't flow with the backsplash! Thirdly we have a 3 tiered Dekton center island and the single plane photo they had us approve looked nothing like the final product! When over 75% of the job is flawed we don't want these folks back in our home and the time to replace eveything is not possible with paid contractors lined up to finish the job. We have all documentation of the faulty job. They offered to pay us a consolement fee of $1,000 and two granite 'cutting boards' (which will destroy our fine knives) to hide one of the seams! How do we fairly compute the damages on a $24,000 job to discount the job respectfully?

Why is that overhang so shallow? When the draw fronts are installed they will be proud of the stone which should never be as anything spilled will run off on the drawer faces or inside the drawer.

You have one picture, where are the rest of the pics that go with all the faults you have mentioned?

Actually, you really should start your own thread, this one is over a year old- you will get better and more with your own NEW thread and more pictures

" Problem is we're on a tight schedule to tile and stone the walls and they do not have any more of the same quartzite material....and the time to replace everything is not possible with paid contractors lined up to finish the job."

And that's what they are betting on.

"How do we fairly compute the damages on a $24,000 job to discount the job respectfully?"

"Fairly" depends upon how much money you owe them. The more you owe, the stronger your bargaining position.