Hopefully you haven't paid in full. Your leverage to get this fixed is to postpone the rest of the installation and not pay the balance.

Unless the slabs you ordered were book-matched, you will rarely get two slabs that are identical in color. I would not be happy with that color difference in the middle of my island and kitchen.

Did you want the seam invisible?

I would be more concerned about the two different slabs. They should have informed you and they should give you credit towards two new matching seams. Sorry this happened.

here is an image of my seam.. These stones match

Can you see it.

close up. It's there but its almost invisible.

One slab is much lighter than the other as well as being different thicknesses. I'm sure you deserve better with what you must have paid for the slabs.

@chispa i dont think the color different will be as noticeable if it werent for the sealer. You can even see the streak marks on the left side. I’m hopeful they can fix that part of it. im more concerned about them not being level with my cabinets. I’m thinking about seeing if another countertop company can come out and shed some light on how to fix this.

@Boxerpal your seam looks perfect.

First off, don't pay them another dime until this is resolved to your satisfaction.

There are a few issues here. When you looked at the two original pieces and where they would meet up at the seams, were you ok with there being such a difference in veining between the two pieces and how obvious the difference would be? Yes, the difference is huge because of the sealing, but it is clearly two different slabs put next to each other. How did that sit with you before and did it look better with the original slab rather than with this broken one? If the difference is unacceptable because the broke one and subbed it without telling you, then you should be able to pick out a new slabs that go together better. This is horrible.

If the slabs are off by 1/8", why is there a 3/8" gap? I'm not understanding this.

I'm not sure what another contractor would be willing to come to your home to give you free advice on an issue that they are not responsible for fixing.

Have you show a pic of the current situation to your fabricator and asked what their remedy is?

The cabinets are out-of-plane to each other; the top pieces cannot be installed that way. The top installers are correct that the gap is a cabinet installation issue. It is normal to have natural stone vary in thickness up to 1/8", however, it is not normal to break slabs. Instead of replacing the entire top, they took a chance ar replacing half and lost.

When the tops are removed, have the cabinets properly installed please. When the new matching top pieces are installed, there will be no gaps or they'll be very minimal.

"i don't think the color different will be as noticeable if it weren't for the sealer. You can even see the streak marks on the left side."

That is more than sealer, it is two different slabs

"I’m hopeful they can fix that part of it.

Quite doubtful, unless this soapstone and not granite.

"I'm more concerned about them not being level with my cabinets"

Talk to your cabinet installer, who never checked the cabinets for level at install, and who did not shim from the bottom after checking for level.

"They were aware of the ( not level ) difference before install because they shaved down the thicker slab where they meet so it would be harder to tell...........

Why did no one, the contractor, the cabinet installer, remedy the level issue before the actual top installation. A template and install are not same day events.

Very very MINOR gaps are common at a counter top install, ( imperceptible difference in thickness of the material , extremely minor leveling) one reason installers always have shims in the tool box .

Joseph is spot on. Cabinets not installed properly will never allow proper top installation.

Bet me you can roll a marble on the floor one end of kitchen to past that 12' island......

Thanks everyone. These are actually our existing cabinets. I assume our contractor can still shim them? Our old countertops didn’t have any obvious issues with being uneven, do you think it was imperceptible but still there?

The mistake was in the fabricator not telling you to fix the cabinets before he would install the tops unfortunately.

Boxerpal's seam is not in the middle of the sink. I think most times they get it right when it's not right in your face.

: )

Your tops are not uneven , now

What is NOT even is the cabinet below the top. We have no clue what the old tops were, but yes......if you never "did" the original kitchen? Very possible you never noticed out of alignment cabinetry.

Came out today to try and fix it. the countertop supplier said they will replace the slabs if needed. i agree it does look better but am still deciding if it needs to be completely replaced.

The counters look so much better. What about it do you still not like that replacing would rectify?

There will be a seam no matter what. Is there something replacing the slab would do to make it less obvious? When you have stools, faucet, daily life stuff in your kitchen it will not be hitting you in the face as much as it does now.

Glad that they are being agreeable and you don't have to fight them. Did they also address the gap issue, or do you have any more of an idea of how to proceed with it?

It looks better, but it is still obvious that it is not from the same lot. That mismatch would irritate me on a daily basis. If they said they will replace, I would definitely go with a replacement. Good that you can now get the cabinets leveled before the new install.

If they will replace, why are you even asking? You don't want level cabinets and a match? I don't understand...........

Waiting a month to decide will commit you to keeping as is. Use the "Hot iron"

The top is completely acceptable now.

You're on your own with covering the exposed shims, as resetting cabinets wasn't in their scope of work. I'd suggest black silicone; it's no where near eye-level.

Thank you everyone for your input! I think the top looks much better. They never admitted they were from different lots but said they would replace it so i’ll assume they were. the different widths still bother me a bit but i don’t think i’ll notice it later on. i’m afraid to have them raise my cabinets because i dont want to damage them (not new but 8 years old). my contractors solution was to create a trim peice that goes all the way around.

It really does look much better, and no longer looks like different slabs. Just shows how photos can be deceiving, one way or the other. You'll need to decide if it's acceptable to you since you are there in real life and we're not!