Countertops - Yay or Nay?

last month

Hi! My husband and I have been shopping around for quartz countertops for our kitchen reno. Our favourite by far is a slab that has some directional veining. The problem is that due to the length of our counters, the long axis of the slab would have to be oriented up-down in the left half of the layout below and the right-left in the right half of the layout. This results in the opposite orientation of the veins on either side of the range.

We are first time homeowners/reno-ers. We don't have a very discerning eye for design and are not really in a financial position to redo it if turns out horrendous. Hoping your collective expertise and experience might guide us towards a more educated decision. Thanks in advance!

Yay - Nobody will notice/care :)

Nay - It's going to look awful!

Maybe - Do it if you really love the stone.

Featured Answer

Jennifer Hogan

last month

Okay, from what I see the original slab was cut to obtain the second piece for the sink.

The way the fabricator placed the sink you do have kind of a bookmatch look, but the angle of the grain is off by more than I would be happy with.

But if he flipped the sink piece the other direction I think it would look bookmatched The angle of the grain is still off, but just a tad.

I could easily live with the flipped version.

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Comments (11)

PRO
Patricia Colwell Consulting
last month
I will begin by asking why fake plastic quartz at all. Any counter top with obvious graining creates isses when turning corners or being added on to but quartz is worse often becuse each slab can be very different since they are man made . I would check out some white granites with as little actual grain s possible .
chicagoans
last month
Since you're posting to ask, I think you'll notice, so the question is, will you care?

Can you please give us the dimensions of your layout and of the slab you like? Someone here might be able to give you other ideas. The most important person in this process will be your fabricator, so you should ask them for their input as well.
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L Tee
Original Author
last month
last modified: last month
Patricia, fair question. We are looking at quartz > granite for practical reasons. If you are referring to a granite pattern/colour, I am actually a fan of that. You can't see the detail in the layout, but up close, the stone has more of a granite-y, speckled pattern, which our favourite part. We could go without the more macro grain/veining, but that's just part of the design unfortunately.
L Tee
Original Author
last month
chicagoans, the fabricator is the one that warned us of this issue. We could probably learn to live with it, but as I said, we are not very experienced and would like to get the community's perspective. We do love the details in the stone, but if this is just a bad idea all around, then we are happy to go with another option.
dan1888
last month
By volume quartz is 34% epoxy. That info is why it can scorch easily. The sales guys give you the weight percentage. Which is meaningless.
susan49417
last month
I wouldn't do it. To me, when I see that it looks like someone tried to slap on a counter to "update" without paying attention to what it actually looks like.
L Tee thanked susan49417
theotherjaye
last month
last modified: last month
Why cant the fabricator flip the piece to the right of the range 180º before cutting into it? That would get all of the veining running the same way, which would be a huge improvement. This just looks weird.
Connecticut Yankeeeee
last month
Yes, I think you care enough to ask the question, so it’d be best to get it right the first time. Personally, I don’t like definite directional patterns in kitchens with a turn like yours. I don’t like seams and I don’t like the pattern going in two directions. I’d choose a more homogenous slab, especially since you like small, speckled patterns. But that’s me.
L Tee thanked Connecticut Yankeeeee
palimpsest
last month
last modified: last month
To me this veining pattern going in two different directions on each side of the range is very little different from book matching a slab to do this very thing at a seam. It's just that the "center" of yours is buried under the cooktop.

I'd pick something less directional myself, in general, but like I said, people actually spend a lot of money to have their veining going in two different directions, under slightly (to me) different circumstances.
L Tee
Original Author
last month
Appreciate the input everyone! Jennifer, the minor adjustment in grain angle was not even on my radar. Thanks for pointing that out!