I'm renovating a house in New Orleans and my wife is determined to have granite counter tops in her new kitchen. I'm am not opposed to the idea but I am looking for any kind of good advice I can get on choosing and installing . Any insights?
It's all good. No marble. Google groups archive for a.h.r. is probably full of posts regarding this.
Most the suppliers hear sell the granite and then give you handful of installer's cards and you pick one. We found one Co. that did it all. They even have you go to their shop and layout the templates with the fabricators. So that might a question to ask, Do I get to layout the templates? Can I see your fabrication shop?( some guys cut this in their garages skill saw and diamond blade) Ask about tear out of old counter tops, Back splash's. Putting plywood down on cabinets. Some guys want it so perfectly level and flat it might be better to let them do it. On our I did the tear myself and put the plywood down . One thing I did do that's not the norm, we went with full back splash's so I tore all the tile and sheetrock out and put 1/2" ply on the studs. I heard when they do the tear most the rock gets destroyed anyway, the plywood gives a better gluing area. You also need to think about the sink under mount are $$$ but look great. allot are deeper so you might have to adjust your plumbing ( trap adaptor height ) If you put in a commercial cook top hood height have to change ( hear 30" min from counter to BOTTOM edge of hood) Only other thing nothing looks like granite
For $ savings I went with granite tiles (1 X 1) and like the results. The flat edges of the tiles make for almost a complete surface (very small cracks).
Everything is a little higher with granite so your sinks, cook tops etc. have to be adjusted.
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