When you picture granite countertops, you’re probably not thinking of quarter-inch sheets of it, installed, in one day, directly over your existing tile or laminate countertop.
| Go granite
Granite Transformations 11524 Mukilteo Speedway, Suite 101, Mukilteo 425-349-9655 E-mail: northseattle@ granitetransformations.com Web site: www.granite transformations.com Priceless Granite 10515 Mountain Loop Highway Granite Falls 800-261-7735 Web site: www.pricelessgranite.com |
But that’s exactly what the people at Granite Transformations of Mukilteo, appearing this weekend at the Everett Home and Garden Show, are installing in kitchens and baths every day in Snohomish County.
Though they don’t offer thick gorgeous slabs of solid rock like Priceless Granite of Arlington, another vendor at the three-day show, owners Bob and Deb Varner are hoping homeowners will give their product a look too.
It’s called Rock Solid Granit and it’s 95 percent crushed Italian granite mixed with 5 percent resin.
It is similar to other engineered stones such as Caesarstone or Silestone that are typically made the same way but with quartz instead of granite.
Rock Solid Granit, like other engineered surfaces, is stain, heat and scratch resistant and does not need the periodic sealing most slab granite requires.
It comes in fashionable colors such as dark black (Nero Galaxy), bright white (Perla Bianca) and other natural colors such as Rose Tuscan.
“You get granite that’s permanently sealed,” said Deb Varner. “The product was actually created 40 years ago in Italy as a flooring material.”
Though Rock Solid Granit, available at many franchises worldwide, doesn’t have quite the same look as traditional slab granite, it also doesn’t cost as much.
The Varners offer a flat rate of $46 a square foot installed, plus $23 a linear foot of edging, plus $12 a linear foot for fancier edges. Those prices, Varner said, tend to be 20 percent to 50 percent below the cost of midgrade slab granite.
At the other end of the spectrum is Priceless Granite.
Sales associate Drew Peters said the company offers 150 colors, all in 11/4-inch thick slab.
“We have some incredible, unique stones,” Peters said. “We have a lot of stuff that nobody else has.”
Prices for the 60 most basic colors range from $75 to $95 a square foot, which includes materials, labor and installation. Demolition and removal adds an extra $10 a square foot while finished edging adds about $15 a linear foot.
Rock Solid Granit prices are lower because the materials are cheaper and installation projects are more resurfacing than remodeling.
“Our labor costs are lower,” Deb Varner said, adding that their prices don’t include demolition or disposal because it usually isn’t necessary. Instead of chiseling off tile or peeling off laminate, installers simply glue prefabricated granite forms to old countertops with epoxy.
Installers typically make three visits, one for an estimate, one to take exact dimensions of the countertops and one to do the installation.
Deb Varner said the product has its limitations.
Because it comes in 4-foot-by-10-foot slabs, it is not like Corian, a completely seamless counter product from Dupont.
Fabricators do their best to make the seams subtle, but some are noticeable.
“You can feel them,” Deb Varner said. “They aren’t melted together. It is going to be a visible seam.”
Bob Varner said most customers can’t believe that a quarter-inch surface can be strong. They need only remember, however, that the stone is engineered to be strong, not merely cut from the Earth, Varner said, adding, “Every product has its advantage.”
Reporter Sarah Jackson: 425-339-3037 or sjackson@heraldnet.com.
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