Counter tops

[SumGy]

sorry DesertSun41, I've gotta disagree with you on the 50 dollar per square foot starting price for granite slab.
Not only are incomplete slabs (less than 6'x10' usable) selling for about 12 bucks a square foot at PlanetGranite (a local granite supply), but my local HDSupply (like home depot but cheaper) is selling pre-made granite countertops for less than 5 bucks per square foot, alllllll the way up to about 25 bucks a square foot for some pretty snazzy looking stone.

Oh and regarding the "perfectly level base cabinet" requirement. Not necessarily. An adhesive thinset with a large trowel should allow the installer to correct for imperfections. And if they don't think it's strong enough, they can use a trowelable epoxy.
Definitely best to get the substrate level before installation.

And granite countertops are NOT necessarily a professional job; it starts to get professional when having to join two slab sections together, perfectly level, and having to color the joining resin to match the granite and hide the joint line...and with undermount sinks, and with adding your own bullnose.
But with an overmount sink on a pre-bullnosed, generic-length slab, you can pay 75 bucks for the wet skillsaw, 8 bucks for a diamond hole saw, 5 bucks for putty to hold your water when drilling the hole, and some sort of money for clamps and a straight-edge with which to guide your wet skill saw. Assuming you've got carpentry tools to cut and install the plywood substrate, you'll be out about 120 bucks for tools in that scenario. (amazon.com is your friend)
Otherwise if you want to do more elaborate jobs you're looking at another 700 dollars or so in tooling....depending on what sorts of features you need.

Shop around and you'll find a good deal.

Oh and quartz counters are ~12.50 per square foot at the same HDSupply store...pre-made.
I'm gonna go quartz for my counters, despite free access to 300 square feet of [gorgeous] granite slab.

[Okey Dokie]

Original post is 5 years old......

[Pitt Chick]

Originally Posted by SumGy

sorry DesertSun41, I've gotta disagree with you on the 50 dollar per square foot starting price for granite slab.

I stopped reading after this.

You DO know that desertsun posted that SIX years ago, right?
And that the price has come down since then, right?

[SumGy]

Pitt Chick:
threads get read. people who actually use the forums for useful information use the "search" function. those are the people who deserve the most respect. casual conversation readers, IE frolicking daisies, needn't be catered to because their activities are unimportant.
It's a moral imperative to correct inaccurate and outdated information for the aforementioned More Important people.
your declaration of ignorance speaks for itself

Onlookers: I'll add that Medimer Marble and Granite has uba tuba black granite full slabs for about $3 per square foot, and $4.5 per square foot in 3cm thickness.

Also, I'll help clarify information provided by another commentor about quartz countertops...there exist both synthetic quartz and natural quartz countertops. synthetic quartz countertops are cheap, not as resistant to high temperature, but very fluid-impermeable. genuine quartz countertops are generally a good $100 per square foot and are translucent...because that's the nature of quartz crystals. "Quartzite" is the popular term for the material, but the description "quartz countertops" is more accurately describing "quartzite" because it contains a significantly higher percentage of quarts per unit volume as compared to what's popularly considered quartz, which is quartz combined with resin/epoxy. true quartz countertops are generally more porous than granite, and will require extra sealing if one desires to keep them pure. they're also often more laborious to cut and more prone to breaking due to lower flexibility. American quartzite differs from European quartzite due to the differing percentage of quartz needed to qualify. thus, a sedimentary high quartz rock like Verde Bambu is considered quartzite by U.S. popular standards, but not european standards. Intergranular breakage is a bit of a problem in the manufacture of large-crystal quartz countertops. said property is relevant to the type of tooling and methods of cutting that must be employed to successfully cut straight and clean lines. It and affects the machining price or headache significantly, depending on whether you intend to do the job yourself.

Dark granites are less porous (significantly so - .1-.15% water volume absorption vs .45%) but show scratches more. bear that in mind.

ciao!