Articles
Notes from the job site
What we have learned measuring, fabricating and installing countertops: materials, care, cost and the details that decide how the job runs.
Countertops for a two-tone kitchen
The hard part of a two-tone kitchen is not choosing two colors. It is deciding which surface leads. A dramatic dark island against a two-tone cabinet layout ca…
Read the article →Hard water spots on dark polished stone
Faint pale spots near the faucet on a new black granite island often look like etching. Within weeks of install, Houston's moderately hard tap water can leave…
Read the article →Choosing a countertop for a rental you will not live in
What belongs on a kitchen counter you will never cook on? When the house is a rental and the kitchen belongs to whoever signs the next lease, the answer is dif…
Read the article →Tear-out and haul-away: what it costs and why it is on the estimate
A laminate top glued straight to a particle board subtop takes far longer to pull than one screwed down from below, and there is often no way to tell which kin…
Read the article →Countertops after a flood remodel
Stone countertops rarely fail when a Houston kitchen takes on water. When a bayou backs up into a house and water sits in the kitchen for a day or two, a lamin…
Read the article →What a free in-home estimate includes
What should you prepare before a countertop estimate? Less than most people expect. The visit is not a sales pitch with a clipboard and a rushed walk-through…
Read the article →Replacing countertops without replacing cabinets
In Houston's 1970s and 1980s ranch houses, the cabinet boxes have often outlasted two or three countertops already. Sound boxes, refinished or freshly painted…
Read the article →Veining direction on an L-shaped kitchen
On an L-shaped kitchen, a veined quartzite forces a choice: run the pattern along the long wall or turn it down the shorter leg. The answer depends on where th…
Read the article →Seam care and when to re-caulk the backsplash
The thin dark line where a granite counter meets the tile backsplash behind the sink is usually not a failed seam. It is the caulk joint between the stone and…
Read the article →Prefab countertops vs a custom slab
A prefab granite counter from a big-box store is sold by standard length, and the piece that shows up is one you never saw in person. The pattern will be close…
Read the article →Restaurant bar tops that survive a Friday night
A Friday night at a busy Houston bar puts a countertop through more than most home kitchens see in a month: ice buckets dragged across the surface, a citrus we…
Read the article →Countertops in new construction vs a remodel
The earliest template date on a new build and on a remodel is set by two completely different things. A new house waits on cabinets to arrive and be set, while…
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