Granite Worktops - Truth, Lies and misinformation

Alan_M_2

ukmaggie45 wrote: »

Hello Alan, we are thinking of having Kashmir Gold in our kitchen. Now am curious to find out about the grain of it compared to the Baltic Brown you mention above. We hope to have drainage grooves and a double underslung (sorry can't remember proper tech word) sink. Is that likely to cause us any problems?

While I'm here I'd also like to thank you for all the information you've taken the time to share with us all. Thank You Alan! :beer:

Kashmir Gold differs temendously from batch to batch, you absolutely must go and view this product in person rather than pick from generic samples.

We currently have three batches of this in stock and they could be entirely different stone's in their own right.

It can be a little delicate during production and transport but not quite to the same degree as Baltic Brown.

The size and shape of the undermounted sinks may determine how and where joints need to be placed.

Other than that it's a nice stone, goes very well with white or painted units particularly, can be a bit much with a wood kitchen though (too much grain with the wood and Kashmir gold together).

Alan_M_2

Bazman wrote: »

Hi Alan,

Actually I would appeciate advice on which precise type of granite to get.

I want something dark ideally black, but not matt black it should have some pattern/shimer.

The kitchen will be used daily so it must also be practical.

I'd also like a material that gives maximum resistance to ageing, wither though wear/tear and or fading from sun exposure anyhing like that.

Ok, first thing you need to do is forget absolute black, nero assoluto, nero zimbabwe..etc etc. All like owning a black car, look beautiful for the 15 minutes after you've washed and waxed it, filthy the first time you use it again.

You need a little bit of grain/background colour, this helps disguise the day to day wear and tear and keeps things looking nicer a little bit longer.

Black Pearl - Predominantly Black with a Brown/green hue to it, nice stone actually and quite timeless.

Star Galaxy - The biggest selling granite in the UK, for a reason, it looks good, is very hard wearing and the gold fleck gives it interest.

Steel Grey - (sometimes called Silver Grey) this is an interesting product that has only been introduced to the UK market in recent years but it looks really nice, particualrly with wood kitchen units. It's quite neutral, is dark without being black and the material is usually 30% or so less than Star Galaxy.

There's also any of the African off blacks - Angola Black, Impala, Bon Accord (another name for Impala)...these are all blacks with a white/grey grain
to them that makes them look more graphite than black - These stones can vary a bit, so if you go this route don't buy off samples.

In fact whatever you buy, make the effort to go and actually see the product itself rather than samples or show units. Stone changes from batch to batch, less so with blacks though.

Generally going for Blacks you're going to get a better hardwearing product with Granite rather than quartz (the manmade stuff) - the opposite is tue with lighter colours though - I do rate some of the white Quartz materials.

ukmaggie45

Alan_M wrote: »

Kashmir Gold differs temendously from batch to batch, you absolutely must go and view this product in person rather than pick from generic samples.

We currently have three batches of this in stock and they could be entirely different stone's in their own right.

Thanks to your previous posts we'd already checked with our kitchen bod that we can view the stone before fitting. I've looked at pictures online, and the ones I've seen certainly show very different character from piece to piece. Guess we'll just have to see what's available when the time comes. We're going to need quite a length altogether (U shaped kitchen with one side of it being a peninsular unit, plus a run of cupboards along another wall), but some differences might enhance the look, depending on how much the actual colours vary.

Alan_M wrote: »

It can be a little delicate during production and transport but not quite to the same degree as Baltic Brown.

The size and shape of the undermounted sinks may determine how and where joints need to be placed.

I'd better take another look at the sink we chose if I can find the paperwork to check it - can't remember exactly which sink it was now. Thanks for the heads up, will have a think about it all. Still at least a couple of weeks before kitchen install I think. Will know better by the end of the week maybe.

Alan_M wrote: »

Other than that it's a nice stone, goes very well with white or painted units particularly, can be a bit much with a wood kitchen though (too much grain with the wood and Kashmir gold together).

LOL we're using it with "wood" bottom cupboards, but very dark charcoal colour "wood", wall cupboards high gloss ivory. I hope it will work out, if not my OH won't be very pleased! I think the contrast between the deep greyish "wood" and the paler yellow/grey stone will be interesting. But we'll definitely be going to look before we buy. One of the first things I learned from your posts, and one of the things we made sure to ask kitchen fitter about.

Thank you again for sharing your expertise. :T

traceowe18

Hi Alan and everyone
I am installing a cream gloss kitchen and are looking for black granite worktops.
I have had quotes from:
Anything Stone Swindon
Diapol
Mister Marble
There is a large variation in prices and after doing my homework I am so confused who is ripping me off and who isn't, as well as which colour would be the best. Whilst I would like to use my local supplier, they are so much more expensive even though I am 5 mins from their shop!
Does anyone have any advice on the colour that is best (in the black range) and any good and bad experiences of the above?
We are running out of time and I am getting worried I wont find anyone.
Thanks

Alan_M_2

If you're on a budget then take a look at Black Pearl.

If you want sparkle then it's Star Galaxy, which with a gold fleck goes particularly nicely with cream cupboards.

Due to the unique way in which MSE works I cannot comment on companies that I'm technically in competition with.

However the easiest way to get an impartial opinion on any firm is go to Google and type in:-

<company name> reviews.

You'll get a reasonable cross section of feedback mixed in with the companies own employees posting how wonderful they are, it's easy to seperate the two.

garry1978

this thread has been extremely helpful. I appreciate that Alan M cannot give views on fitters, but can anyone else advise? We're in SW London and have a small baby, so every trip out of the house needs military precision so we can't really get to 20 places to check them out. Anyone have a good news story to tell (we will need an on-site template service done).

To Alan M - a specific query, if you don't mind. We want to get an undermount sink with drainage grooves cut, but would like this to be right into the corner of an L-shaped section. I understand that (to maintain integrity) you cannot cut groove to the very end of a piece of stone - how far away from the end is "safe" (generally speaking).

Innys

garry1978 wrote: »

this thread has been extremely helpful. I appreciate that Alan M cannot give views on fitters, but can anyone else advise? We're in SW London and have a small baby, so every trip out of the house needs military precision so we can't really get to 20 places to check them out. Anyone have a good news story to tell (we will need an on-site template service done).

To Alan M - a specific query, if you don't mind. We want to get an undermount sink with drainage grooves cut, but would like this to be right into the corner of an L-shaped section. I understand that (to maintain integrity) you cannot cut groove to the very end of a piece of stone - how far away from the end is "safe" (generally speaking).

I am looking to spend around £4k on my worktops and asked for quotes from two places in Mitcham. In both cases I gave them a scale drawing of the kitchen plan together with details of the exact stone I wanted. The two suppliers were:

Kitchen Worktops London; and
Capital Stone

The first got back to me a month later with a very expensive quote which they then instantly knocked 20% off the price. Hmmm.......

The second hasn't bothered to get back to me.

I think I'll try somewhere else.

Alan_M_2

garry1978 wrote: »

this thread has been extremely helpful. I appreciate that Alan M cannot give views on fitters, but can anyone else advise? We're in SW London and have a small baby, so every trip out of the house needs military precision so we can't really get to 20 places to check them out. Anyone have a good news story to tell (we will need an on-site template service done).

To Alan M - a specific query, if you don't mind. We want to get an undermount sink with drainage grooves cut, but would like this to be right into the corner of an L-shaped section. I understand that (to maintain integrity) you cannot cut groove to the very end of a piece of stone - how far away from the end is "safe" (generally speaking).

What is more important is the proximity of the sink to a join in the stone, you don't want a sink too close to a join.

Not only does this introduce weakness, it also creates a possible waterproofing issue.

It's difficult to say what#s viable without a simple drawing.

Alan_M_2

Innys wrote: »

I am looking to spend around £4k on my worktops and asked for quotes from two places in Mitcham. In both cases I gave them a scale drawing of the kitchen plan together with details of the exact stone I wanted. The two suppliers were:

Kitchen Worktops London; and
Capital Stone

The first got back to me a month later with a very expensive quote which they then instantly knocked 20% off the price. Hmmm.......

The second hasn't bothered to get back to me.

I think I'll try somewhere else.

Try any of the following - (I am continually being asked by PM so may as well just post in open forum) All three of these firms ocassionally buy from me, most companies will buy from multiple wholesalers depending on the exact material chosen.

http://www.molevalleymasonry.co.uk/

http://www.amrgranite.co.uk/ (currently undergoing a website redesign - they are still operating).

http://www.uk-kitchen-worktops.co.uk/

Bazman

Hi there,

we used these guys:

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/place?...87825414111097

were very happy and they did the work for circa £1800 to put it in perspective Wickes wanted £5k for a lower spec granite! (we have a pretty large kitchen).

The bad news is though that depending on the granite you want different suppliers will have different prices. We narrowed is down to 3 and the best prices came from 3 different suppliers. Moreover the differences can be quite large. For the granite we wanted the difference between cheapest and most expensive was about £1.2k.

If defintely pays to shop around and to haggle (there is clearly plenty of margin in this business!).

Also be warned sometimes different suppliers give the same granite different names to make comparisons harder so if you think it looks the same it probably is.

Hope this helps.