Grow With The Flow
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.
Jason NottestadThe 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.
Click photo to enlargeFirst, 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.