Frequently Asked Questions

Of course! Please give us a call or write us an email; we love to be in touch with fellow stone lovers and would like to help you in any way we can.

There might be times when we are taking care of customers at the office or even at different job sites helping clients with design ideas. While an appointment is not necessary, we highly encourage them so that we can make sure to be ready at the office to help you.

Visit our estimate page for instructions on how to submit the information you need. You can always call us or send us an email with any inquiries you may have.

Our turnaround time between measurements and installation is about two weeks if we have the material in-house. If the slabs are not at the shop by the time we go to your job site to measure, the turnaround time for installation is two weeks from material delivery.

Most of the jobs we quote have a separate labor and material cost breakdown. To get started with a project and schedule measurements, we usually need 100% of the material cost and 50% of the labor cost. The remaining 50% of the labor to be paid upon installation.

If you are not changing anything in your cabinetry and are only replacing countertops, we can measure with the existing counters in place. Please make sure that you clear the area in advance so that our guys can get to work as soon as they get there.

We do. Please let us know you are considering doing your removal with us, and we’ll include the cost in your quote. In most cases, we can arrange for the removal to be done the same day as your new countertops installation so that you keep a working kitchen as long as possible.

We don’t have slabs for sale at our shop; we only have the slabs we’ve purchased for ongoing jobs. There’s so much variety in the stone world that we’ve decided to partner with stone suppliers that have the infrastructure to produce, import, and store numerous slabs so that you can see many options in a single visit during your selection process. 

If you are looking for natural stone, you can visit a stone supplier and select the slab(s) you like. We don’t have natural stone samples at our location because colors, veining, look, etc. can vary from lot to lot. Going to the stone yard to choose will ensure that the color, pattern, slab you choose is what you will actually get. After you visit a stone yard and make your selection, we get the information on your material so we can provide you with a job cost and then order the slabs after you approve us to start with the work. 

We have samples of all the engineered stones that we work with at the office. You can also visit the brands’ online galleries to see images of full slabs. Usually, slabs can be ordered based on samples because even though manufacturers have tolerances between lots, slab patterns and colors are consistent. If you feel like you want to see the material before ordering it, most lines have showrooms open to the public.

Definitely. We have a variety of pieces in different sizes and colors that we have available for sale. Please give us a call or email us so we can get the specifics of the job you have in mind. We’ll need to know the size of the pieces you’ll need so that we can get a list of available remnants ready for you. We’ll email you a list with links to online galleries or pictures so you can review the options. We can then schedule an appointment for you to review the ones that you like at the shop.

Engineered stone slabs are made following established formulas and processes. For the most part, every slab produced has the same color and look, so samples are usually a trustworthy representation of the material you’ll be getting. Keep in mind that samples only represent a small portion of the complete slab so you can see images of full slabs in online galleries, or you can go to manufacturers’ showrooms to look at them.

Companies have tolerances though, and the raw materials they use have inherent variations, so there might be slight differences between lot and lot manufactured. These differences are not usually significant, so we frequently order the slabs based on the samples we have at the shop. To avoid any color problems, we make sure that all the slabs needed for the same area come from the same lot. 

We mentioned only engineered stone samples because we do not carry natural stone samples. The differences between lots discussed above are more significant in natural stone. Slabs are formed in nature, so they’re susceptible to wide variations in color, pattern, veining, and even cracks and fractures. Because of this, we have our customers make their selections from available materials at stone yards so that we can be sure you can get exactly the stone you select.

We do not. We attach all undermounted sinks to the stone, do cooktop cut outs and drill all holes for plumbing and accessories, but we can’t install any appliances or connect/disconnect any plumbing.

Any overhang that has 12” or more of overhang will need brackets or some type of support.

We always plan layouts to have as few seams as possible, but sometimes we can’t avoid them. Joints might be needed depending on the size and pattern of the slabs you choose in conjunction with the size of your tops.

Our team is extremely attentive to detail, and we strive for our work to look as best as possible. Our craftsmen work on making our seams as tight as possible, and at matching the color of the epoxy as close to the stone as possible. Also, we plan slab layouts to match patterns as best as possible on pieces that will be seamed.

Many of our customers are surprised to see how little they notice our seams, this happens more commonly with light stone colors, but a seam is a seam, and there is no way for us to disappear them completely.

All the materials we work with offer some type of resistance to heat and damage. If you go through the properties of each natural and engineered stone, you’ll see that the information available says that most of the materials used for countertops can withstand some heat and cutting directly on the counters, but we do not recommend this. No matter how strong and durable a material is, it is susceptible to damage, so we suggest you always protect your tops and never put hot pots directly on them, and always use a cutting board.

Most materials are priced on a per slab basis, so the leftovers are yours. If you want them, please let us know; we can deliver them on the day of installation, or we can save them for another job for up to a month after the initial project is finished.

We recommend using soap and water for everyday cleaning. We seal natural stone counters, and cleaners can sometimes degrade that sealer over time. If you have engineered stone countertops, soapy water would also be our choice. If you want something with more strength, the different brands have recommended cleaners for their products.