Someone pls give me some advice regarding stone in kitchen**

Hi
I’m currently finishing my prestart with my builder. We are upgrading our stone in the kitchen and scullery to Calcatta gold which is $$$ but we are willing to do it as we will prob only build once.

I’m wanting the splashback and HP benchtop cut from the same slab vertically so the veining has a continuous from the bench and up the splashback. Iv spoken to multiple stone masons who have said this is easy/standard as it looks seamless ect

My builder has flat out said no they can not do this?!
They say they can not guarantee the veins to match but they don’t need to match anything if it’s cut from the same slab.
Any advice pls? As I being unreasonable? It’s a lot of money and I don’t want it looking choppy

Thanks

Builder is saying no due to him be liable to fix or change it if the stone mason he uses can not do this work. The stone masons builders tend to use are not always the best but mostly the cheapest.

If you want that kind of workmanship than do it after handover with a reliable stonemason whos work you have seen

Thank you for your reply. To do it after handover what do I do? It’s going to be a pain to remove the benchtops the builder puts in. Have you seen this done before? Does it damage any of the cupboards/cabinetry?

Thank you

Hi Courtney

Do you mind if I ask how much he is charging as the upgrade? I just had the same stone priced for a kitchen with a massive island, splash backs, 2 bathrooms, laundry and a desk for $8,000 so I thought that was a pretty reasonable price.

Not Sure where you are from, so I don't know what stonemasons are like in your area, but you could get a temporary bench done for interim OC ( thats for NSW).

We have even used old 2nd laminate tops temporarily when a client has been under pressure to move in before XMAS and the stone is running a bit behind. You could tack that onto your cupboards and then have your own stonemason measure and install to your specifications later.

I hope this helps. If not have a great day

Cheers

Simeon

Ensure your hotplate has the minimum setback requirements to the stone splashback.

Engineered stone splashbacks may require a larger frame setback to particular hotplates than tiles and glass.

Hi we are being quoted $18,000 for the Calcatta upgrade for the island, hotplate bench, scullery bench top and two splash backs (kitchen and scullery)

We are on WA, iv been quote maybe $11,000 by a stone mason so o thought it’s not too bad going through builder to save the hassle but I’m worried about it looking cheap with the veins not matching ect. I’m going through a builder so I don’t think they will tac on a benchtop. If I get the base stone which is included is that hard to remove and replace?
Thank you

Courtney

$11,000 sounds like a fair price. Installing stone is a pretty easy process for the experts so I would definitely not be handing over $18,000 to the builder, especially when he wont bother to commit to putting some effort into the installation whilst taking a $7,000 mark up!

Here's what I would do:

1. Ask the builder he can simply not do the stone and credit you back the standard range price.
2. If he refuses, then speak to your stonemason and ask them what they need to be done to be able to remove the benchtop without damaging the cabinets. It might be as simple as asking the builder to go easy on the glue.

Good luck

Simeon

The easiest way to remove benchtops is have the builder install a standard laminate benchtop and a single row of tile above to achieve compliance. The laminate benchtops are only screwed from the cabinet underneath so very easy to remove along with single row of tiles