Southeast Michigan Woodworkers

We got a quote on granite for our planned kitchen remodel from a place in Toledo that did my parents' counters. They did a great job but I want to get another to make sure pricing is in line. Anyone know of a place in the Ann Arbor area that you'd recommend? I'm not looking for cheap but rather a reputable place (i.e. we aren't considering Lowes/Home Depot at this point.) Detroit suburbs are probably too far.

BTW, the current quote is about $61/sqft installed, including the undermount sink. No idea if that's high/low/average? I know that some places advertise much lower prices, but I'm guessing those are "starting at" prices that don't include a number of mandatory things. We've gone to look and have a few options we like that would be the quoted price. Anyone have them done recently that can compare?

Actually I made a mistake, its about $55/sqft. About $3600+tax for the whole job which is kind of what guessed the job might cost. Still...

My formica looks just fine to me right now....

Chris,

We did a remodel recently and spent quite a bit of time on research. You might want to touch base with my wife so she can do a "core dump". The fabricators we used we're great (name escapes me, I just remember the owner, Shawn). They did two other jobs in the neighborhood based on our recommendation and the neighbors are still talking to us so I'm guessing they're happy

Our current laminate is shot. Well, actually its the particleboard underlayment that's shot. Its swollen in front of the sink and coming loose near the dishwasher were I've already re-glued once. I think its peeling a thin layer of particle board away each time. Chipped, stained, well, you get the picture. They didn't look great when we moved here 6 years ago. I hate the idea of putting the same on top of what will essentially be high-end cabinets (not bragging about my work--have you seen the particle board and cheap hardware crap they sell as mid-grade cabinets?)

Believe it or not, after laminate, granite is one of the less expensive options based on a conversation I had with someone at Lowes a year or so ago. The man-made quartz my parents did is around $80/sqft installed. I like the natural stone a lot better than the too-uniform man-made products.

...wait for it.....







Hey Matt - I'm not trying to threadkill here. Really. It's just that in the back of my mind I've always thought that some day we'd replace our formica tops with something nicer - but I've never investigated pricing. The #'s you're quoting are a shock to me, and they likely will put a countertop replacement even further down on our priority list.

We also need to replace our kitchen counter top at some point as it is both outdated and starting to expand around the sink. Just curious, did you look into concrete counter tops at all? I have not done any research but would think they are as expensive as granite counter tops. I just know my wife really likes them and it is something we will probably look into eventually.

Matt,

Just spouting a little bit here with my own experience, but it seems that a good bit of laminate installers don't known what they are doing anymore. My dad did the cabinets and countertops of pretty much every family member and friend of theirs growing up, and 30 years later they still look pretty much new. On the other hand, my laminate countertops started looking a little less than great about 2 years after we bought the house (new). Some of it had to do with the house settling, but most of all it had to do with those that installed it. I have already had to re-attach a base cabinet to the wall, not to mention do some caulking around the backsplashes. I am so fed up that I have just accepted the fact that in a few years I will have to replace the whole shabiggle.

As for the $55/sq. ft. granite, there is no way that I would ever pay that for anything. Especially something that is next to impossible to clean correctly such as granite. It looks great but collects germs like noneother.

Justin

Hey Matt and Damon

Check out http://www.pmpmarble.com/ They did our kitchen, kids bath and another bathroom top for us. Great quality fabrication, including a custom edges, and a selection that is enormous. We worked with Tony. I don't know if they would go down to Ida but it's worth a phone call. It may or may not help if you drop our name.

If you you haven't picked the stone and don't want to go up to Troy, your best bet is to head up to Farmington hills. There are two natural stone "distributors" within a couple of miles. We've used Dwyer, http://dwyermarble.com and Mont Granite http://www.royalgranitemi.com. They should also be able recommend a fabricator to ya. They may ask for a company name, perhaps, if it's ok with Just George, you could drop his.

We looked into concrete tops. It appears that the construction of these things is more art than science. I couldn't find anyone that i thought was competent, capable, affordable and reliable to make them. YMMV.

Happy Hunting,
dan

Chris, I think you'd be surprised when you price laminate too. I want to say Lowes said in the $25/sqft range installed. I'm not saying that's a good place to go but was a convenient place to get some information on a variety of surfaces. Of course you could fabricate and install those yourself and save a considerable amount. I priced out the materials and could do ours in the $4-500 range a year ago, assuming no "oops" moments. There's quite a bit of labor that goes into any custom-made solution.

I didn't even consider concrete. The ones I've seen are to modern/industrial for our tastes. Plus I believe they are typically fabricated and ground in place. That's not happening in my house.

I'd bet part of the reason newer laminates don't hold up is what goes into both the laminate and the glue--I bet they banned all the good stuff.

Ceramic tile??

Matt,

Definitely do some more shopping around on the granite. Two years ago, I had granite installed in our kitchen after a remodel. I was down to a couple of companies and settled on one that was newer in the market. I watched closely when he took measurements and did the same when he installed to ensure he was doing it to my satisfaction.

I paid about $35/sf installed for a level "A" granite color (Tan Brown). The fabricator sent me to his warehouse to choose the color... there were more than enough level A colors we liked that we didn't feel the need to move up in selection (and price).

For comparison, the other company I was considering had been around a while and also had a couple good references. He charged roughly $40/sf for the same color.

A few things I learned:

1. Choose a fabricator that templates your counter instead of just taking measurements. My guy took careful measurements, but nothing replaces a template. I was happy with the job in the end, but I'd say he was fortunate that my walls were fairly square to begin with and the minimal gaps were to be covered by the thickness of the tile backsplash.

2. Pay attention to the cutout template that comes with your sink and make sure your guy uses it. I wanted a 1/4" reveal all the way around my sink rather than a full overhang and that was a precision cut. He did a great job with it.

3. There is such a thing as Chinese granite and -- believe it or not -- it has a reputation similar to that of other Chinese goods. It's all obviously natural stone, but I'm guessing it's just lower grade stuff. Make sure your fabricator uses a warehouse that imports the good stuff.

4. A lot of granite colors are actually very dense and are virtually impervious to stain and, therefore, sealer. I chose just such a color to reduce maintenance and keep unncessary chemicals away from where we prepare food.

Good luck with it.

Matt, we're building the new house right now so I've been obsessing about things like counter tops for awhile. My choice is beech from IKEA. No way anyone else can beat the price, the look and feel are, well, wood, you know, easily repairable and safe with Rubio Monocote finish. The whole cabinet countertop, bath and kitchen thing is really outrageous so we decided that using wood and slate for everything we could with the oil finish will give us the look and feel we want, very much lower cost, lifetime ease of infrequent maintenance and green to boot. I think we knocked off about 20K of cost for a better result for us. ken

That is a ridiculous price. Are you having 2cm or 3cm quoted? I just had my entire kitchen done with new granite, full height backsplashes, all in 3cm for well under what you are quoting. I even paid extra for mitered outside corners on the splashes, cutouts for all the electrical outlets, drop in sinks and cooktops, removal and disposal of the old laminate tops, etc....

my total cost worked out to $28.60/SF. There is a huge markup in this trade, so you need to shop around.

Dennis, its solid granite, not the veneer, which I didn't even know existed before yesterday.

Mine is solid as well. 3cm is aproximately 1-1/4" in thickness. With 2cm, you would likely do a built up edge for profiles. I have used the laminated veneer for hotel shower walls that was bonded to aluminum, but not sure i would want this for a horizontal surface.

Ok, then its 3cm. I guess cm is not centimeters?

3 centimeters = 1.181102 inches

My rule-of-thumb is 1 cm = 1/2", but that's for a very rough estimate.

Duh...I was thinking 25.4cm/in but its 25.4mm/in.