Template Fugit

Time flies. It was two years ago when I first began researching and planning my kitchen. I became enamored with the idea of soapstone counters.  But soon I realized that every kitchen showroom I went to had a soapstone counter that was chipped, scratched, banged and beat up.  My crew is pretty hard on things, so I started looking for something else.

Then I thought about slate countertops.  That would have the soft, matte, grey/black of the soapstone.  I took another look at the slate walk and entry in our current house.  I decided that was a flaky idea.

Browsing around and hanging out on some forums, I learned of a granite called Virginia Mist.  It seemed like it would have all the appeal of soapstone without all the fuss.  Early on, I found a slab in Atlanta that was great, but it was much too early to buy granite.  When it came time to buy a slab, I couldn’t find Virginia Mist anywhere.  Finally, an internet search turned up one slab out in Winston, GA. I moved quickly and nabbed it.

Several weeks ago, it was time to template the granite.  Builder Gary and I went to have a look.  First we looked at the Virginia Mist:

With the template applied, it was just right.

I actually got our granite guy to flip it, because I wanted these swirls and veins to be a part of the seating are instead of being cut out for the sink.

Then on the Crystal Pearl Quartzite, David the Granite Guy was laying out the templates for the perimeter counters and the bathroom vanities.

We were trying to avoid the amber steaks on the slabs that are where fissures in the rock got filled with epoxy resin to make it stronger.

This slab, though, was giving him fits. It had quite a bit of the amber veining.

So, I decided that if you can’t fix it, feature it.

This is the counter for the coffee maker, so we may as well pre-stain it!

While I was at the granite fab shop, I got to see the CNC granite saw at work.  If you’ve been reading this blog very long, you know I like big machines.  I used to program a CNC router, so I enjoyed watching this water-spraying granite-chewing beast at work.  I think they would have let me cut my own slab, but I decided to leave it up to the professionals.

See what a great job they did?  A stress free coffee maker spot. No need to fuss when someone slops their coffee.  It will just blend right in. 

I had more fun watching the installers drill the hole for the faucet on the island.

 

It reminded me of the time I had the bright idea to have a dinosaur birthday party with about 10 of those blocks of grit that you scratch into to “excavate” the dinosaur bones.  This was a lot tidier.

The clean up sink had a few more holes to drill and I forgot one faucet.  Oops!  Hope they don’t mind drilling one more hole for the water filter!  I wouldn’t want them to think I was taking them for granite.

 

And here you have the whole shebang.