Browse Forums Kitchen Corner 1 Oct 11, 2011 11:22 am We’re close to contract-signing for our new build and have a question about benchtop pricing. When we couldn’t make up our minds between our last two shortlisted builders, one offered to throw in two free upgrades taking them up to almost equal spec of the other builder. It was the final clincher and we signed with them. One of the upgrades took the kitchen benches from Freestyle (acrylic surface made by Laminex) up to Essastone. Now that we have the contracts we see that the original handwritten note of “upgrade kitchen benchtops from Freestyle to engineered stone (such as essastone)” on the PPA form that we signed, has translated into a smaller benchtop all typed up. The 30mm Freestyle benchtop is now listed as a 20mm essastone benchtop. I queried it and our sales guy told us it was because 20mm is the standard thickness of essastone. However the essastone website (http://www.essastone.com.au) lists both 20mm and 30mm as standard slab thickness (albeit with an asterisk against the 30mm being dependent on local availability). My question is, are we within our rights to insist on a 30mm benchtop within quoted costs? If not, approximately how much more per sq metre is 30mm than 20mm? Are there any handy indicative price comparisons on the web for laminate to freestyle to essastone? Thanks in advance Build thread: /viewtopic.php?f=31&t=49109 Blog: http://thelofthouse.wordpress.com/ Re: Essastone benchtop pricing - 30mm Vs 20mm 2Oct 11, 2011 1:30 pm We were told by the laminex/essastone showroom that essastone don't do 30mm, you either had to do 20mm or 40mm (2 slabs together). I don't think you can really compare prices for one product against the other. 20mm stone is still an upgrade compared to 30mm laminate. Re: Essastone benchtop pricing - 30mm Vs 20mm 3Oct 11, 2011 2:12 pm Rizzo We were told by the laminex/essastone showroom that essastone don't do 30mm, you either had to do 20mm or 40mm (2 slabs together). I don't think you can really compare prices for one product against the other. 20mm stone is still an upgrade compared to 30mm laminate. Thanks Rizzo Weird - this is from the Essastone website stating the standard thicknesses as 20mm and 30mm (but like I mentioned before, I found another product information sheet that has an asterisk next to 30mm saying it depends on local stockist availability - perhaps I should check our local stockist): Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ We're upgrading from Freestyle not laminate , we've already done that one with a cost hike of over $6,000 in our budget for going 30mm Freestyle from 30mm laminate. This one is in addition to that. The builder's standard benchtop surface is laminate so we originally took their display upgrade option which was Freestyle (costing in our case $6k for an island bench and counter PLUS another later cost adjustment of $1k+ when we specified a deeper counter so over $7k to date.... noting curiously that the cost increase to widen the counter benchtop was vastly bigger per sq mm than the cost credit for shrinking the island benchtop). We acknowledge that going from Freestyle to Stone is still an upgrade, and would normally have a cost associated with it. I also know nothing in life is really free, we'd had no other special offers or builders upgrades in our costings and they obviously had a little wriggle room in their budget in order to be able to give this to us in the first place. Just wanted to find out what kind of money we're talking about before pushing the issue with the builder. Build thread: /viewtopic.php?f=31&t=49109 Blog: http://thelofthouse.wordpress.com/ Re: Essastone benchtop pricing - 30mm Vs 20mm 4Oct 11, 2011 2:24 pm Its like CeasarStone, only a few of the colours are available in 30mm. Not many. Personally if your origional quote said 30mm freestyle and they upgraded you to EssaStone then it should be of equal thickness! Normally kitchens are done in 20 or 40mm. I havent done a 20mm thick top in about 4 years though. If they cant do 30mm then I would ask that they do a doubled up 40mm EssaStone top at no extra charge! If the origional paper work didnt state 20mm then you should expect it be atleast the same thickness as what it replaces! Cutting Edge Kitchens and Cabinet Making http://cuttingedgekitchens.net.au http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cutting-Edge-Kitchens/290484196676 Mobile : 0419 430 575 PH: 9452 4772 Fax :9452 4772 cuttingedgekitchens@outlook.com Re: Essastone benchtop pricing - 30mm Vs 20mm 5Oct 11, 2011 2:35 pm Thanks so much CEK - that's exactly what we thought We'll definitely go back and ask further. Build thread: /viewtopic.php?f=31&t=49109 Blog: http://thelofthouse.wordpress.com/ Re: Essastone benchtop pricing - 30mm Vs 20mm 6Oct 11, 2011 3:32 pm PLus, if you've already spent $7k upgrading, you should be more than covered for 40mm essa, tho, I haven't seen your plans my new build thread- Ben Trager https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=89826 my switch build thread (2011) https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=36569 Re: Essastone benchtop pricing - 30mm Vs 20mm 7Oct 11, 2011 6:38 pm Oh geez, that's a lot for an upgrade. We paid less than that and upgraded to 40mm essastone. (then again I don't know your kitchen size!) Sorry, I didn't realize what freestyle was, I thought it was some shiny laminate or something, but from what I can gather it's like corian?? I still don't know if you can insist on a 30mm top if they don't make them. No idea why some places can't do them as I wanted 30mm as well and like I said, it was the actual showroom in Perth that told me it doesn't come in 30mm, so the website shouldn't have it as standard. As CEK said though, ask if they can do a 40mm instead, I doubt they'll do it for no extra to what 30mm would cost though. Good luck Re: Essastone benchtop pricing - 30mm Vs 20mm 8Oct 11, 2011 6:50 pm Rizzo . As CEK said though, ask if they can do a 40mm instead, I doubt they'll do it for no extra to what 30mm would cost though. Good luck 40mm is usually cheaper than 30mm. 40mm is just doubled up at the front to look like 40mm. Cutting Edge Kitchens and Cabinet Making http://cuttingedgekitchens.net.au http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cutting-Edge-Kitchens/290484196676 Mobile : 0419 430 575 PH: 9452 4772 Fax :9452 4772 cuttingedgekitchens@outlook.com Re: Essastone benchtop pricing - 30mm Vs 20mm 10Oct 12, 2011 5:43 pm Thanks all - great info Based on this we're going to follow up and ask that the material upgrade doesn't reduce the thickness below the existing 30mm and leave it up to them to come back with whether that means they do a 30mm slab or 40mm (2x20mm). Also I checked my docco and realised the upgrade price I quoted includes the addition of waterfall ends, so that $7k isn't *all* upgrade, albeit a large part still is. ta muchly Anise Build thread: /viewtopic.php?f=31&t=49109 Blog: http://thelofthouse.wordpress.com/ Re: Essastone benchtop pricing - 30mm Vs 20mm 11Oct 12, 2011 5:46 pm Rizzo I don't think you can really compare prices for one product against the other. 20mm stone is still an upgrade compared to 30mm laminate. Essastone is not cheap by any means. I'd take 20mm stone over 30mm laminex any day. I'm building a new house. First time using stone The stone I've picked is Essastone Chalkstone. I've since read reviews on a general google search and most of them are… 0 2871 i think we've got essastone, could even be the Chalkstone (or it's equivalent 10 years ago). by now has couple of chips on the edge where we have accidentally banged some… 2 2662 Caesarstone, quantum zero, Q Stone zero, porcelain. All the manufacturers are pivoting into zero silica materials. Google any of those and have a look. Some are still… 1 1065 |