My NEW Quartzite Counters Are Installed

I am VERY excited to report that after patiently waiting, for over a year, my badly installed stone counters have finally been removed – and replaced!  Here’s a reminder of what went wrong with the install and below is a peek at the newly installed Portomare quartzite:

COUNTERS – AFTER

It was a frustrating and long experience.  Below is a condensed version of all events – plus a recap of what happened, in the last year, since I said the counters would be removed:

• Poured over dozens of photos; ordered slab of quartzite with soft aqua vein (Sept 2021)
• Waited months for the stone slab to arrive – but wrong slab was ordered (Dec 2021)
• Realized photos looked nothing like the slabs anyway, so started my search over again
• Found another slab I loved, from a supplier nobody locally used, but convinced my fabricator to bring it in (Jan 2022)
• Waited 6 months for the slab to arrive – it was stunning!
• Slab sold out / supplier unable to find more
• Counters BUTCHERED upon install (see details here) (June 2022)
• Company refused to replace but offered refund
• Cried and called cabinet company
• Cabinet company said they’d remove the counters and supply new ones (Aug 2022)
• Searched for new Portomare slabs
• Found other Portomare slabs, but the cabinet company’s stone supplier could not bring in

Ready to Give Up Searching for Teal Counters…

This is where I was ready to give up and just order a white quartz counter from my cabinet installer.  Manufactured quartz is beautiful and practical – don’t get me wrong! – and certainly not a lesser choice.  It’s just that personally, I LOVE stone – not just for counters.  I have always been fascinated by/collected rocks.  I travel many hours, every year, to an amethyst mine to dig through their tailings to collect more rocks … I have a rock tumbler going – right now – polishing my newest finds.  Since we bought this house, 10 years ago, I have been incredibly excited for the time when we could renovate the kitchen and get stone counters.  And I was absolutely ecstatic to find this Portomare Quartzite.  Photos will never do it justice, but the colors are simply gorgeous.  Plus there are so many pockets of glittery quartz – every inch of this stone has an amazing depth and luminosity.  For the last year I spent much of each day just staring at these counters, utterly entranced.  So I was really, really disappointed about the prospect of not being able to get this same stone again.  It was extra frustrating to have found other slabs of this stone in the world, but not be able to get them here.

This Slab Was Meant to Be Mine!

Then, by some miracle, a designer who had the last slab of this Portomare on hold no longer needed it.  So there was one last slab of sold out Portomare Quartzite available to me!  Unfortunately the cabinet company, try as they might, just could not arrange delivery for this slab.  But they put me in touch with another local stone yard/fabricator and that company agreed to bring it in for me. (Jan 2023).  Once again, it took around six months to actually be able to ship it here, but from there things went smoothly.  Want to know the hold up?  Apparently the location of the stone yard is difficult to access for truck drivers (they have to cross three lanes of busy traffic I’m told) and so trucking companies/drivers refused to pick up the slab.

The Old Counters Removed & Returned – Plus Stone Brackets Installed

The cabinet company removed the old slab, to ensure the cabinets were not damaged, and surprisingly – or maybe unsurprisingly – they hadn’t really been installed properly so the pieces came out very easily.  They were just sort of sitting on the cabinets, not affixed anywhere.  The new stone fabrication company was also shocked that they had not advised us to install any sort of brackets for the 12″ overhang.  Apparently if the stone slab cracks/breaks, this lack of support could seriously injure someone.  The cabinet company installed three sturdy brackets for us, so that will no longer be an issue.

A Partial Refund – Still Waiting…

The stone slabs were returned to the original company, who had offered a full refund on my deposit.  Unfortunately, getting my deposit back has proven difficult, and it’s been a month since they received the stone but I am still owed $1500.  The company has sold their building, and I think plan to dissolve the business, so I am stressed about getting the rest of my money back.  The new stone company also charged me $700 more so that $1500 would come in handy, lol…  But I’m trying to be patient because the company that messed up the original counters let me keep and use them for an entire year.  I would have been so inconvenienced if they had insisted on taking them back right away.

Installation Round 2!

I was a ball of nerves the second time around, but the installation went seamlessly.  The new stone is so perfectly installed.  It fits SO perfectly flush against the walls.  The sink area is cut out so expertly – plus the faucet hole is centered with NO crack.  The over hangs are the same too!  LUXURY!!!

COUNTERS – AFTER

A Different Layout and Seam Location for the Stone Counters:

When the new stone company came out to measure, they also convinced me to change some things – namely the placement of the seam.

NEW SLAB!

You might remember that I had wanted the big vein of color running the length of the peninsula.  But that meant that the rest of the kitchen counter veining ran the other direction.  I had made this choice because I wanted to maximize the amount of color we could use.  This slab is a lot of neutrals with an awkwardly placed vein of bright color.  Really, this slab probably looks best in a huge kitchen where this entire slab, uninterrupted, can be enjoyed as an island.  Here’s what that layout looked like before:

COUNTERS – BEFORE

COUNTERS – BEFORE

The new company encouraged me to just go with one seam, located at the faucet, so that the veining on the peninsula and adjacent counter flow without a seam or break in the color.  The trade off is that the seam is now where the water pools, which apparently breaks down that seam faster and it will need to be touched up sooner.  And also, if you look closely, you can see there that the color changes too because even in the neutral areas of this stone slab, the color varies a LOT.

COUNTERS – AFTER

But once the faucet is installed and I put back my soap, etc., I won’t really notice.  Everything is more noticeable when it’s at this empty stage.  Here’s the layout of the veining now:

COUNTERS – AFTER

I Made a Mistake – I’ll Admit It

And I will admit here that I was wrong with my previous placement.  This looks SO much better!  They were actually able to get even more of the color cutting it this way.  I am grateful to have received this advice from the new stone company, who really knew what they were doing.  When I chose the placement last time, the other company rushed me through it, but this company took their time and showed me tons of options.  I love the new layout so much better.

COUNTERS – AFTER

Whew! Such a Happy Conclusion

I am so grateful to our cabinet company, who removed the stone and found me a new supplier, and also to the new stone company who expertly created templates and delivered an absolutely perfect installation.  I’m also grateful to the supplier, who patiently held a Portomare Slab for me – not once, but twice – for a period of 6 months!  My kitchen renovation was definitely delayed by this stone – just about 20 months but who’s counting??? – but honestly, it was worth it.  This stone is STUNNING.  I know a lot of people prefer neutrals, but these gorgeous shades of teal, blue, aqua and green make me so happy.  I’m really thrilled my dream stone counter is now perfectly installed.

Kitchen Reno Back on Track!!!

I am so ready to finally finish this kitchen renovation!  All that’s left is to tile the backsplash (below is a reminder of the tile I chose – Mercury Mosaics medium fish scale in Sea Mist), install a faucet, replace three outlets, finish up some baseboard trim we have ignored this whole time, and then accessorize.  Yay!

It has been a little rainy and overcast – the sun only peeked out for a minute the other day – so I haven’t been able to take good photos but once the tile is installed I’ll take some better photos of the completed space – I just couldn’t wait to tell you my good news!

COUNTERS – AFTER