How would you feel about this broken corner?

last year

Our Taj Mahal countertops have a mitered edge and they obviously broke a corner then filled it in. In it here's a black smudge which may be removeable and also some white scratches in it. Can you help us understand how we should view this break and whether or not we should have a problem with it?

To set the tone, this countertop install has been full of issues. We're still waiting on our wall run of countertops as they cut the sink in the wrong place and had to hunt down another slab from our bundle. They cut the overhang 1/4" short over the cabinet doors on our island, so we don't have the overhang we hoped for, instead it's flush with our cabinet doors. They could slide the countertop forward to increase the overhang but then either our stove will stick out further than we wanted or they'd have to cut the hole for our range deeper. There are spots of adhesive on the countertop that will have to be removed as well as a large splash of sealer that is visible as a rough looking splotch on the countertop. The mitered seams are pretty visible too from across the room, I'm not sure if they're acceptable or not.

Anyway, before we talk to them I was curious what you knowledgeable people feel about this corner. I'm also curious if all of these other issues are typical or a sign of sloppy work. I know I'd be embarrassed to do that kind of job but maybe it's normal.

Thank you!!

Featured Answer

PRO

Joseph Corlett, LLC

last year

The very best fix for that corner is to try to talk you into letting me round each outside corner, eliminating the chip completely.

An insert repair is possible, that takes some time and skill, but can be inconspicuous:

They should have at least done the adhesive repair with the base color they used, but they should have drug two more colors through for more realism.

Their biggest failure is their inability to gauge the sophistication and fussiness level of their customer. You never let your customers see your mistakes.

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Comments (18)

Mrs Pete
last year
I would never notice it if I were a guest in your kitchen, but -- if I were the owner -- I'd be afraid that most venerable little corner would one day be knocked and broken. Then it'd be your problem.
K R
last year
Did they point it out to you or just hoped you wouldn’t notice? I wouldn’t be happy, but it’s not horribly noticeable to the naked eye. They should have admitted to it and possibly offered you a discount or something at the very least.
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Fori
last year
I'd probably ask them to do a better job with blending.
eam44
last year
I would cry about it. i know thats not reasonable, but its probably true. your material is beautiful, and i understand that Taj is pretty hard, and may be harder to fix, but i’d definitely ask them to try again. joe will get on and tell you what is logical and true, but since you asked how we would FEEL, i thought id chime in. i hope they can make it less visible for you.
mxk3 z5b_MI
last year
I probably would not have noticed that unless you pointed it out in your post, and I don't think it's a bad color match. If it were mine and I knew about it, I would probably be upset; as a non-owner, it's not a big deal because it's just not that noticeable (on my screen, anyway) and would be even less so IRL when viewed from a distance.
elizabeth_eclectic
last year
It would completely bother me. You were understanding with the overhang error…this is too much to accept unless it is heavily discounted.
evegiven0 thanked elizabeth_eclectic
dizzy149
last year
I would get @Joseph Corlett, LLC to fix and make them pay for it.
evegiven0 thanked dizzy149
evegiven0
Original Author
last year
Thank you all for your input! We've been out of town, so when we return they'll be installing the wall run of the countertop that they had to recut because they'd cut the sink in the wrong spot. I'm pretty nervous about how that's going to go.

@Joseph Corlett, LLC Thank you so much for the time you take to help myself and so many others here. Someone above mentioned that this corner (which is in a high traffic spot) might be vulnerable to breaking off in the future. Is durability an issue here or only appearance? If this could break off in the future, I might have to focus on next steps for repair. If not, I'm inclined to leave it as is. They've not impressed me with their attention to detail and I hate to ask them to do a patch repair that might wind up worsening things.

If durability is not an issue then we'll live with the repair. I would love it if that one very white bit in the left side of the patch that almost looks like a squiggly surface scratch to me could be polished out, and the black smudge near the tip could be removed. Do you have any suggestions that I could bring to them for improving this filler at this point that minimizes their chances of making it worse?

Thank you again!
PRO
Joseph Corlett, LLC
last year
"Is durability an issue here or only appearance?"

Appearance only.

They could drill and fill some darker gray swirls in without screwing things up. That would really fool your eye.
Timi M
last year
It looks fine to me. We chipped our quartz countertop (dropped an iron skillet on the edge) and had a glass shop repair with a resin mix. Only we know the location of the repair and I rarely give it a thought.
evegiven0 thanked Timi M
Fori
last year
Repairs on these tend to be pretty durable. If the appearance is tolerable, I'd leave it and wait for it to break off again (which might be never) before taking any steps to whittle it down.

(I still might ask them if they can fix the color while they're there...)
evegiven0 thanked Fori
evegiven0
Original Author
last year
@Fori can they do that? Fix the color while it's in place?

Appearance wise I'm ok if they just get the white scratch and black smudge out of it.

But more importantly to me, do you think this will break off again? It's in a very high traffic/high risk spot, but I wonder how much the miters hugging it will protect it.
evegiven0
Original Author
last year
@elizabeth_eclectic What sort of discount would you hope for? I appreciate your empathy. We had a big discussion with the fabrication manager guy in the shop about 1 1/8" vs 1 1/4" overhang and he said go with 1 1/4" because it would look more balanced with our 4cm miter...then gave us 1" overhang and the had the audacity to tell us "it's only a 1/4" difference."

At this point I'm just so nervous about getting back home from our trip and them installing the wall run of cabinets that they had to remake. Hopefully that goes smoothly, although based on track record I'm a little on edge.
elizabeth_eclectic
last year
I think whatever discount will make you feel happier inside whenever you see the flaw. For me, it would be quite high since details like that drive me crazy. I would probably ask for 50% off or a brand new counter.
PRO
Joseph Corlett, LLC
last year
"@Fori can they do that? Fix the color while it's in place?"

Yes. It's unlikely to break off again.
evegiven0 thanked Joseph Corlett, LLC
evegiven0
Original Author
last year
@Joseph Corlett, LLC i'm sorry i'm having trouble tagging you in my other post. there's a splash of sealer on the countertop. i assume so at least as there's a visible difference in the sheen there in a big splotch with little splats around it, with it being very hydrophobic right over all of those spots. it's also slightly more rough when wiping over it. the installers said they'll add more sealer over it and buff it, which will remove the extra splash. is this the case? or should they instead remove the extra splash with acetone before adding another coat? thank you so much
PRO
Joseph Corlett, LLC
last year
I'd leave it up to their discretion. I can't get too technical over the interwebby.

How would you feel about this broken corner?

Joseph Corlett, LLC

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