Replacing worktops in granite

wodgerdodger

We've been thinking about replacing our 10 yr old laminate worktops in Granite ( star galaxy) and been using the web to search out a good price.
Came across Granite Zone based in manchester who quoted around £1600 fully fitted for 3 X 2.7 m lengths including sink cut outs, grooves etc etc. Sounds too cheap compared to others who have responded so far.

Anyone used them? It's too far to go to see showroom, if they've got one, but tempted compared to local firm who at least double but advantage is I can visit slab upfront and plenty of local references can follow up on.

Any help would be appreciated.

keystone

Are you sure your base units can take it? No it IS a serious question.

Cheers

wodgerdodger

They're 18mm units , so hope so!!

robbie3864

15mm, 18mm or 22mm doesn't really matter. It's all about how well the units are fitted. So long as they are secured to the wall, level, have all the legs fitted and not falling apart they will be fine.

Regarding the granite blanks they will not be the same quality as granite worktops cut from slabs. The whole reason the quarried blocks are cut into blanks and not the more expensive slabs is because they are a lower quality and are sold off cheaply, hence 3 runs fitted for only £1600.

The old saying 'you get what you pay for' is pretty true when it comes to the stone industry.

applemonkey_2

Has anyone actually had any experience of granite zone? I came accross their website too and there prices seem to be very good, but then again are they too good to be true? Would be very interested to hear from anyone who has actually used them or tried to use them? How bad can granite look?

applemonkey_2

thought i'd update to say that we got granite worktops fitted on thurs from granite zone and are very pleased with them and the service we received. Cant see any difference for the being that bit cheaper and would recommend them.

Alan_M_2

robbie3864 wrote: »

Regarding the granite blanks they will not be the same quality as granite worktops cut from slabs. The whole reason the quarried blocks are cut into blanks and not the more expensive slabs is because they are a lower quality and are sold off cheaply, hence 3 runs fitted for only £1600.

The old saying 'you get what you pay for' is pretty true when it comes to the stone industry.

This is a good example of the nonsense spouted by many traditional granite fabricators to justify high prices. Many of whom have never visited a quarry or producer.

When discussing a block of material quarried, there are two things to take into consideration, the actual material itself and the size of the block quarried.

The two combined together determine the way the material is processed.

Blocks quarried for kitchen countertops are generally the highest quality material, however only the large block over certain dimensions (generally upwards of 2800mm x 1600mm) will be processed as gangsaw slab (this is then considered a "premium" slab). Blocks that are smaller than this are inefficient to be cut by gangsaw (which is charged as a depth of cut rather than a set price), so these are "Vertical cut" which traditionally supply the pre processed countertop market.

The actual quality and appearance of the material should be the same, but the block isn't considered "premium" because of it's dimensions only.

If they are well processed you should actually not be able to tell the difference between the two.

With high volume material such as Star Galaxy, we actually use the premium gangsaw material to then be processed into countertops, providing exactly the same material to the traditional method of fabrication. However, because we're having a lot more processing at source (in India) and substantially reducing material wastage, the end product can be substantially less expensive with no drop in quality.

So the material quality is no different if we're absolutely honest, what it comes down to more often than not is how it's processed in the UK and fitted.

robbie3864

Alan_M wrote: »

This is a good example of the nonsense spouted by many traditional granite fabricators to justify high prices. Many of whom have never visited a quarry or producer.
.

In the interest fairness I own and run my own successful granite & quartz worktop fabricating company, the reason I didn’t mention this earlier was I wanted to give an honest opinion from my own experience and not appear to be trying to poach a job.

When I started my business 8 years ago we were not a traditional fabricator because we couldn’t afford the machinery needed to be a traditional fabricator! We have grown substantially since then however we used granite blanks for many years and sold them cheaper but I can say hand on heart the quality of full size slabs is much better! For one, when you are cutting a kitchen worktop out of a large slab the whole kitchen will normally come out of one or two slabs which were cut from the same block next to each other meaning constancy in colour, shade and thickness. When using blanks although they may come from the same block there is a good chance the pieces used come from different parts of the block meaning you can have a problem with colour match, (this depends on the granite, to be fair Star Galaxy isn’t so bad but Nero Impala can be a nightmare). The other major problem we experienced was thickness variations. All granite worktops have tolorence in thickness of up to +/-2mm. This is not a problem if all the worktops are 28mm or 32mm as the difference isn’t noticeable but if one top is 28mm and the one joining it is 32mm then it looks bad. The other problems is that when the blanks are surface polished the stock removed on the edges of the blank tends to be more than the middle meaning you end up with a blank that is 30mm on the front 32mm in the middle and 30mm at the back. This isn’t obvious until you join the piece to another at 90 degrees and find you have a 2mm lip in the middle of the joint.

What I’m am saying comes from years of experience working with both types of material and is certainty not nonsense! I can see from a blank suppliers point of view that they would like to convince the market that the material is exactly the same but from my experience it is not. I’m very pleased for applemonkey that your job went well and that you’re happy with the quality supplied.

Alan_M_2

We actually supply both types of material in gangsaw, and vertical cut.

The biggest problem with vertical is the thickness issue when they try and cut the material too fast, this leaves to blade deflection and produced the different thicknesses you mention above (which aren't actually incurred during polishing - but during cutting)

It's also acceptable for scant material to have a tollerance of +/- 2mm.

8-10 years ago the vast majority of pre produced material was shocking quality, but it's gradually changed to a point where you'd now be hard pushed to tell the difference.

You're right about a material like Impala though, that's difficult enough to match using scants, I wouldn't want to entertain that product on a pre produced basis.

What you need to consider is the pre produced market has opened up granite to a market that would never have been able to afford the traditional bespoke installation.

Pre produced is never going to take the place of tops fitted to Mark Wilkinson or Smallbone kitchens. But for the other 95% of the population that buy from B&Q, Ikea, Howdens, Benchmarx etc etc that previously would have stretched to Solid wood, granite is now a genuine alternative.

Think of pre produced countertops as a tailored suit, it's produced at a cost, hung on a peg in the shop - then slightly altered to fit you personally, you can get a good one for a few hundred pounds these days.

Think of tradition scant/slab fabrication as a bespoke suit, made to measure from scratch, specifically for you, it's going to come in at £2000 plus for something decent.

Is one better than the other? Most people couldn't actually tell unless they opened the jacket and took a look at the label.

The inference with the "lower quality" label applied to pre produced countertops suggests that Bespoke traditional fitting is the Bentley/Rolls Royce of granite and Pre produced is some sort of Eastern Block (Trabant) type product, Where in reality it's more like Bespoke is Bently/Rolls Royce and pre produced is Audi/BMW/Mercedes........

There are of course some firms that still supply shocking quality material at very very cheap prices, but they come and go.

Alan_M_2

It's not unusual for many of the lower cost granite companies to operate in this manner, which us fine if that's how it's all explained from the outset.

The problem comes when a business advertises that is employs it's own fitters and doesn't, it's misleading.

What is also quite prevalent is the number of companies who seem to "own" their own quarries, or import the product themselves from all over the world. Many of these firms buy from UK based wholesale suppliers and in many cases have never been in the vicinity of a quarry.

samtheman1k

I used Cargo Granite for my kitchen worktop. I think it was was £2.2k fitted for about 6m worth in a U shape. Include all cutouts, groves etc., window sills and 75mm upstands. Highly recommended. They do online quotes too so you can play around with the options to price it suitably.