There is no better opening line for this post than the one I used for the last post:
Back last summer, we were lucky – very lucky. We found … the counter top for our kitchen cabinets. Two large, salvaged limestone slabs. And again, it was a ReStore that delighted us with this find.
Although we were now the proud owners of these two stone slabs, they were not yet counter tops per se. We needed a stone cutter / counter top fabricator that would mill the slabs into the right dimensions with the right finish.
Who is fit for the job?
Cathy had done the research and asked me to drop the slabs off at GeoKat, which is only a couple of miles from us. I also left a plan with the counter top layout and dimensions.
I soon knew that the this job was in the right hands. I got phone calls from the staff at GeoKat asking for clarification. Those guys knew that they only had one shot at this, and wanted to make absolutely sure that there was no misinterpretation. No matter how small the doubt – I got a phone call. That gave me a lot of confidence.
I continued to be impressed. The two slabs were just about large enough to accommodate the counter tops. The guys at GeoKat arranged the cuts in such ingenious way that there was enough material left for four inch tall backsplash pieces.
At the end, I even ended up with a sizable spare section. Not sure what I should or could do with it. But I think for now I will hang on to it.
The sink issues
We will have a corner sink in the 1st floor kitchen. That brought up the question about the sink cut out. Transporting a stone counter top with a large sink cut out is not a good idea, particularly if the stone slab is only a 3/4 inch thick. The narrow bridges around the cut out would most certainly break.
The staff at GeoKat recommended to deal with the cut out once the counter top is installed. Sure! I have the small angle grinder with a masonry diamond blade. I could do that!
The problem was the corners. I would not get a clean cut at the corners with the angle grinder. The solution: Geokat cut out small triangles at the corners for me with their computer controlled water jet.
All I had to do, once the counter top was installed, is cut from one corner to the other with the grinder. That gave us the the corner sink cut out we needed.
Looking at the red lines I see that there will not be a lot of stone around the sink. I admire the really pretty good move to do the cutting first when everything is installed and well supported, even to carry the load from the sink – which might get quite heavy when filled with water and dishes.