Granite work tops

[Steph1]

Does anyone have a rough idea of the cost of granite work tops and where you can buy them. Thanks.

[Pierre ZFP]

Sorry, can't help with French prices but a friend in Kent had 2 large black granite tops done at a monumental masons.  Cost him over a grand but the 'specialist' kitchen worktop supplier wanted 3 times that.  He always said that he never had the courage to look at the underside of the worktop in case it said ' In Loving Momory'

[Val_2]

Visit your local Marbrerie and get a quote for the sizes you require, the thickness,finish and colour of granite. I saved over £2000 by going there instead of a kitchen shop for the same stuff. The only downside is that you will probably have to collect and they weigh a ton but well worth all the aggro.

[Deimos]

One thing to consider (and I don't have an answer about it) is the moral issues about these granite work tops. I saw some documentary on UK television recently where it was reporting that many are sourced in India (I think) and that the labour is well below anything reasonable, often by children, etc. without adequate tools or safety.

I'm sure the program did say that there were decent sources that of such worktops that were not exploiting the developing world but cannot remember how one finds then (if there was some label/approval/etc. and what this would be in France).

Sorry, only questions

Ian

[Val_2]

Well I chose locally hewn granite from here in Finistère which is black,grey and white flecks and was told where the quarry was and shown the huge block it was coming out of. They did also have large blocks of beautiful colours from the Amazon region but it was far too expensive for the like of us. I don't think therefore I have done anything to feel guilty about except keep an artisan in work.

[PossumGirl]

We got ours from the local Pompe Funebre.  We have a small kitchen, so our price is probably way less than for most people, but we paid 700€ which included installation and backsplash.  The granite is from Norway, apparently.  It's white with black flecks, very pretty.  The installer recommended that for a small kitchen both because a light color makes things look bigger, but also because he said the different types are more or less hard and resistant.  This is apparently VERY hard and difficult to damage. Plus, he said it is always available, so easy to match if we ever want to add anything else.

PG

[Racerbear02]

I bought  two 2.6m x 86cm pieces with rounded front edge from a guy in Kent off Ebay for £50 each, they had VERY small chips out of the back edge and sides, the wall tiling would cover the back edge and I got a local marbrier to cut them to size and shape for 100 Euro, not bad consideing we had been quoted over 400 Euro per linear metre !! This is black granite with a very slight silver fleck, and yes they were indeed VERY heavy. I used some of the cut off pieces as kickplates under the units, very practical.

Regarding colour, the black is excellent as it acts as a mirror and so does not diminish the size of the room, the only down side is that the piece which is near the window shows all the smears because it is so reflective, but I guess that makes me clean properly :)

[blackduff]

Our kitchen shop told us where to find the granite tops. They said the granite will be very close to the price of a good quality traditional surface.

We visited the shop which cuts the granite and we chose the type (and price) that we wanted. We decided we wanted to have two holes for sinks and there was only one cut for the two angles. One other side had a hole for the hob.

The holes around the sinks were rounded, which looked quite nice. We chose to have 3 cm thickness. There are 2 cm thickness and use a under border under the top, giving an impression it's 4 cms.

We're used this since 1994 and it's great. No downside using this granite.

Our granite is from a quarry on the border of Spain and France.

If we build again, another granite top will be installed.

Blackduff