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Grow With The Flow (March 2007) |
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Wednesday, 21 March 2007 |
By Jason Nottestad
Creating beautiful kitchen and bath countertops out of stone that has a definite grain, or flow, is both simple and difficult at the same time.
The simple part is the fact that most granite and marbles with flow characteristics are stunning when in place. They can be the final touch to a well-designed new kitchen or bath, as well as transforming the look and feel of an existing kitchen through a countertop replacement.
The difficult part of working with these stones is that the flow adds to the challenge of making the countertops look and feel perfect to the end user. Flowing stone brings flavor to any space it is in – the challenge for everyone involved is to make sure that the end user is happy with the taste and quality of the product.
This process begins with the number one ingredient: the stone itself. My company demands that all our customers pick out their own slabs, even on a simple Brazil Black or Uba Tuba kitchen. We do this for two reasons.
First, when the client picks out their own slab, there is no way they can say “it doesn’t look like the sample” if they are unhappy with their selection. One of my fabricator friends has a gorgeous island made from a white-striped Verde Esmerelda sitting outside his shop; it was rejected by the homeowner who picked the stone from a sample that was almost entirely green. I don’t even think there was any profit left on that job.
Second, by taking our clients to several slab distributors, they are able to see what’s currently available. Many will begin their search with one stone in mind, but end up tagging different slabs. That’s fine with me; as long as the slabs they pick fit for their project, and they okay any stone price changes, everyone is happy.
This slab-selection process is especially important when your stone has a flow to it. Most of these stones are combinations of colors and patterns, and even a 12” X 12” tile sample can’t show the true character of a slab.
Stones with grain can show very different color characteristics, even from bundle to bundle. A stone like Juperana Yellow can look very pink in one bundle, orange in the next and brown in the one after that.
The different color combinations within the slab can also affect how light or dark the stone looks. In a kitchen with a lot of counters, one of the main concerns my customers have is that their stone doesn’t make the space feel too dark. By comparing different granites, and then the slabs between bundles, the client is able to select the “lightest” of the bunch if they so choose.
Another key component in the slab-selection process is determining the direction of the stone flow within the space itself. The largest or longest piece in the project often decides the direction – usually an island, peninsula, or sink run.
Consult with your client about the direction they’d like to see the grain flowing, and then show them what that will mean for the location of their seams. This may limit their selection choices and, if they want a uniform grain throughout, it may also add more stone and cost to counters.
If cost becomes an issue at this point, a discussion of cross-graining: seaming pieces together that flow in different directions may be in order. I’m not a fan of cross-graining, but I’m also a realist and accept the fact that it may be required when going around a corner. In many of my kitchens, adding a cross-grained seam is the difference between ordering two or three slabs.
I won’t, however, cross-grain on a straight run, even if it means I get underbid. I think it looks ugly; and, by changing the direction of the grain, you can also change the base color tone of the pieces, making it appear they come from two different slabs. Even if you convince your client the stone is from the same slab, it still looks bad.
The easiest thing to do is lay out the cost of having a unified grain versus a crossed grain, and then let your client decide. I try to mention that they are making an investment in their house and it ought to be done right, just so they know where I stand on the matter.
Encourage your clients to bring along cabinet doors, flooring/backsplash samples and sink color chips with them when looking at stone. In a flowing or heavily-patterned granite or marble, the dominant colors are not always easy to identify. By holding up components of the kitchen against the slab, one is better able to see if the colors are going to work or clash.
Personally, I look at my role in the slab-selection process as someone who gets a client to the warehouse and then gives advice on the quality of stone slabs available – and how well they will work within the kitchen or bath design. I’m not getting paid to pick colors, but I can certainly be blamed if someone runs with my opinion and turns out unhappy.
Let the client select their stone on the basis of what they feel works, even if you think they should select something different. If a customer is really stumped, give them some names of consulting interior designers and back away. Even if this seems a little impersonal, it’s better than being labeled as the guy with bad taste and having a client who doesn’t want to pay.
Once the slabs have been selected and the templates made, the next step in the process is to lay the pieces out within the slabs. If the client or a designer has very specific ideas about where certain countertop pieces should be cut out of the slabs, I don’t mind involving them in the process. I’ve taped the templates for entire kitchens onto slabs before.
Before inviting people into the stone shop though, it’s best to warn them that the process is like a puzzle. They may have ideas about arranging the templates on the slabs, but in the end all the pieces have to fit and work with the grain. This may limit what choices they actually have.
Once the piece arrangement on the slab is finalized, this information needs to be communicated to the sawyer or the guy programming the CNC or waterjet. With this in mind, I always make a complete CAD drawing of where I’d like each piece to be on the slab. The sawyer or programmer can then tweak my drawing to work with the reality of cutting out the pieces. And by tweak, I mean only making very small changes.
A good sawyer can make a world of difference when laying out countertop pieces on stone with flow, especially in matching up seams from slab to slab. The best sawyers will save the exact off-cut from a seam piece and use it to determine where the matching seam will be on the next piece. Done well, this process can make seams nearly invisible, even in busy stone.
Even the installer’s job can be a little more difficult with flowing granite or marble. With multiple colors coming out of the stone at a seam, I often find it necessary to mix more than one color of adhesive as well.
It can be tricky to get the hardener mixed in, butter the seam sections with the right color, pull the seam together, and level the seam the first time you try with two colors. I suggest doing a practice seam first, maybe even with three colors. That will make a two-color seam look easy.
Stones with flow seem more popular than ever. Having a comprehensive system to deal with this type of stone from selection to installation, and sticking to it, can help your company produce some amazing, and profitable, countertops.
Jason Nottestad, a 12-year stone industry veteran, is co-owner of Wisconsin-based Midwest Template Services.
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The Installer 
