To Keep or Not To Keep... that IS the question.

Have you ever entered a space and thought, "nope, it's all gotta go."  No?  Happened to me.

Upon entering my new kitchen and seeing pale green cabinets (I've talked about those already) and tile that everyone has insisted looks dirty and will always look dirty no matter how much I mop them (not that I mop), to the (we assume) energy sucking 10 ton commercial refrigerator, and the very worn, not well maintained, limestone counter tops, I thought that it was all getting ripped out and or sold on eBay (my husband was ALL for that).  That was until, I found out that those "dirty" tiles were 400 years old... imported from an old abbey in France (I kid you not).  Well YEAH, they're gonna look dirty...  they're 400 years old!!!!  The fridge?  A Traulsen.  What's that?  Oh, only one of the most sought after refrigerators in the restaurant business that retails for over $4000.  We're still debating over selling THAT on eBay (local pick up only).


That leaves us with the counter tops and they are definitely gone.

Did you know that shopping for stone slabs is a lot like shopping for a new car?  Yes indeed... there is a sales person and a manager (somewhere behind a glass partition who looks you up and down from afar trying to gauge how much he can take you for and how much you LOVE that piece of rock).  I learned today that the price on the price tag isn't really the price.  That if you say your contractor is out of town and couldn't come with you, they give you the discount they woulda given him that he then would NOT have passed onto you and that if you say "well that's ridiculous... it's a big piece of rock" they discount it even MORE.  Look for remnants.  Look for the slabs that are in the back that were sold back to the dealer because too much was bought and are now on consignment.

I needed 60 sq ft total for my counters and island and of course they only sell the slabs in 47 sq ft or
58 sq ft... gotta love it.  I ended up getting a sandy colored Quartz slab called Jerusalem Sand (I don't like the veining in granite) that was on consignment for under $1000 and a I haggled until I was even annoyed with myself for a killer deal on a slab of granite (yes, I know what I said) that was "leathered."  Leathering is when they take the stone and hone it to the point where it's matte, you don't see the veining anymore and it's bulletproof (not literally).  You can't tell if it's wood, stone, or actual leather.  It's very cool.  I got it in a dark brown that resembled a mahogany wood for the island.

Moral of this post, HAGGLE.  Not all rocks are created equal and there is no apparent MSRP on counter top material.

http://www.allnaturalstone.com/