Coral homes waterfall island bench top gap

Hi guys!
I’m new on here and I was just hoping to get your opinion on this.

We’re almost finished four practical completion stage (apparently) even though we don’t yet have Our driveway. However, I’m not too concerned with this at the moment. The island bench top is what has got me worried.

When we went in on practical completion we noticed there were these massive vertical gaps in the Coral Benchtop and the laminate on the front. The left being the most noticeable one and the middle being a concern as well because it is right in the centre of the laminate.



When we consulted our supervisor at the walk through, he didn’t seem very interested in getting this fixed however I was adamant I wasn’t happy with it. I firstly don’t understand how they think that those gaps are acceptable and second have no interest in fixing it. After finally getting him to agree to do something, his idea was to silicone the gaps. We asked to have the two pieces replaced as the gap in the middle should not be there regardless, the right one may be okay with silicon but the left one is massive and would require a lot of silicon to not be noticeable.

I asked to have this adequately rectified (e.g. replace the pieces) and he came back with the response he received from the kitchen supervisor. See below
“ As per our previous conversation, it is standard industry practice for there to be gaps either side of the cabinetry to stone waterfall ends. The reason for this is because the stone expands and contracts with the change in temperatures if we made them tight the joins in the waterfall would crack. To fill the gap between cabinetry and the stone the standard practice is to caulk the gap with an appropriate colour silicone.”

I understand what he’s saying but surely there shouldn’t be a gap in the middle regardless, and the left sided gap is unreasonably large in my opinion.
So I guess I’m wondering, am I being unreasonable to ask for the laminate to be replaced for more a piece that has been cut better? I’ve never seen any house have silicon up the middle cut in an island bench and whilst the gap on the right may be covered nicely by the silicon, the left would not be nice and neat given the size of the gap.

Does anyone have silicon in their waterfall benches down the sides of their laminate and or in the middle of their 2 front pieces?

Thanks in advance!

To me the gap on the top and right side are ok and with the correct silicon applied correctly you wouldn't notice the gap but the gap on the left is excessive and needs the sheet fitted better. Saying that it appears that the end isn't plumb.

I have to agree with the SS on this one, you're stressing about nothing. Once the finishing touches of the silicone goes on, it'll look nice and uniform.

This happens everywhere around the house.

Thanks guys! I appreciate it. I think we were mainly worried cause there was a lot of push back around Getting them to even come back to silicon it (even though they say it is part of the standard practice)

But I you’re right, I’m probably just being super nit picky about it (it’s my first home so didn’t really know what to expect)