Granite Kitchens

Exodus Granite: Perfect for a Showcase Kitchen Island

Austin Granite Girls, Granite Kitchens, Granite Spotlight

Ripping Kitchen Idea Pages out of Magazines?

If you’re like most of our clients, you’ve probably been collecting pages from magazines that have styles you like for your new granite kitchen counters.

If you haven’t discovered Pinterest, now is the time. Check out Alison’s Kitchen Islands pinboard.

The magazines have been showing a lot of high-end kitchen with two different colors of granite: something with a tighter pattern and minimal color variation on the surrounding counters, and something bold and glorious on the kitchen island.

Exodus Granite for a Kitchen Island

We like to troll the local granite yards in Austin, looking for interesting stone. Last week we found this beautiful granite at Shenoy (SGM) located on the 183 southbound access road just past Burnet Road.

This granite can go with either warm or cool color schemes. It has blue/grey veins across a cream and gold background.

In case you didn’t follow that Pinterest link above

. . . here is a snippet of what you’re missing . . .

Neptune Bordeaux Granite Countertops

Granite for Bathrooms, Granite Kitchens, Recent Client Projects

Got Big House?

We’ve got big granite for it.

In the case of this big ranch house, all of the bathrooms, the kitchen, a bar area, laundry room and some built-in cabinets in the hallway all got new granite counters made out of Neptune Bordeaux.

That’s a LOT of granite, if we do say so ourselves.

Here are some photos of Neptune Bordeaux granite for your granite-shopping enjoyment:

Baltic Brown Granite Remnant for a Small Kitchen

Exciting Offers, Granite Kitchens, Inexpensive Granite Remnants

Update: February 7th, 2012: SOLD!!!

Need Granite in a Small Kitchen in Austin or Round Rock?

Got a rental property you own or manage?

Tenants messing up the cheap laminated counters?

We have a nice-sized remnant of 3cm Baltic Brown granite (the thick stuff) that would make some nice, durable counters, and for pretty cheap.

How cheap, you say?

The remnant is about 30 square feet (35-inches by 124-inches). We can cut it up into one, two or three counters for $850 and that includes a polished-edge sink cutout for an undermount sink, delivery and installation (in Austin or Round Rock – we can deliver a little out of town, too – ask what that’ll cost!). Oh, and that also includes any of our standard granite edges (bevel, flat-polish, bull-nose, pencil).

Just imagine the time and money you’ll save by not having to deal with replacing the counters every few years.

Getting the Right Granite Remnant

Here is how this works:

You call and say “WOW! I think I want that Baltic Brown Granite Remnant I saw on the website!”
We say, “Awesome! Can you send us a basic diagram of your counters, so we can see if it might fit?”
You send us a little drawing – doesn’t have to be exact, but you should put a measuring tape on the counters (because “about 6 feet” is not at all the same as 90-inches, or 42-inches, and yes, we’ve had that happen)
We’ll see if it might work.
If it looks like a decent fit, we’ll come out and measure ourselves so we know exactly what sized counters you need.
Then we need a 50% deposit, and can have your new Baltic Brown granite counters installed in about a week.

Things You Need To Know About Getting Granite Counters

You should read our Getting Ready for Granite Series. (You can skip the articles about touring the granite yards.)

This piece of Baltic Brown is a remnant, meaning it’s one-of-a-kind, and if it gets sold or broken before you call, then we won’t still have this particular one for your job. Although we always have other remnants for sale, this one is bigger than most of the other remnants we have available.

You can provide your own sink, or buy one from us. We have several 18 gauge stainless steel undermount sinks we almost always have in stock. That saves you a lot of running around shopping for sinks.

We don’t normally do demo for the older counters. Meaning, we will put in the new ones, but you will need someone else to take out the old ones. If you’re really careful, you can take out your old ones yourself and save some $$$$. If you really don’t want to take them out, we can give you a quote for taking them out and hauling them away on the same day we put in your new granite counters.

Corner Sinks and Granite Countertops

Austin Granite Girls, Granite Kitchens

Do We Cut Corners?

Well, how nice of you to ask!

We come across a lot of kitchens with sinks in the corners, usually on an angled cabinet.

The granite countertops for these kitchens is trickier than those where the sink is along a straight run of countertop.

Sometimes we can cut the entire corner in one piece, which is extra fabulous when that happens. We try to avoid seams in the counter, especially near the sink holes, whenever possible.

Whether or not your sink corner is going to arrive in one piece, or two usually depends on two things:

The size of the corner vs. the size of the slab (i.e. does it even fit on the material?).
The access to the kitchen – meaning, is there room to even carry in a really big piece, and is it safe to do so?

Granite for Kitchens with Corner Sinks

If you have a sink in the corner and need new granite counters, give us a call. We can go over your plans and can tell you straight up what your options are.

Neptune Bordeaux Granite: Awash with Movement and Color

Granite Kitchens, Granite Spotlight

Ahhhh, Neptune Bordeaux.

Some granite slabs are evenly colored, some have tight little speckles. Others are dark and stormy.

And then there is Neptune Bordeaux.

This gorgeous granite goes KABOOM! With colors ranging from cream to brown, to graphite to salmon, this granite has got it goin’ on. The face of each slab has large, complex patterns and movement, and one end of each slab is markedly different from the other.

We had 7 slabs arrive at the shop last week, destined for a kitchen, a bunch of bathrooms and a vacation home – all for the same client.

Now, those slabs have been cut to pieces, and are all over the place – on the dollys, the fab tables, the a-frames in the front. And walking by without snapping a few pictures was futile.

Images of Neptune Bordeaux Granite

So here they are – photos of Neptune Bordeaux Granite – showing the glorious coloration and movement of this natural stone:

Vintage Austin Kitchen Makeover: The One That Got Away

Austin Granite Girls, Exciting Offers, Granite Kitchens

Want to See a Vintage Kitchen Makeover?

So did we.

This vintage kitchen is from a house built in the late 1950s in the Wooten area of Austin, Texas. We tried unsuccessfully to buy it, dashing our fantasies of remodeling this dated house.

It’s the one that got away. And yes, we’re still talking about it.

And, apparently, sharing it with you.

The Costs of Updating a Small Kitchen in Austin

This house is small, like about 1,100 square feet of small, with only one bathroom and three tiny bedrooms. And, of course, the kitchen is small, too.

If you are considering buying one of these little old homes in the Austin area (or already own one), you may be struggling with how to gauge what it will cost to fix it up.

One of the blessings of such a small home is that virtually everything that you might want to do will cost less simply because there is less of it. Even if you upgrade to nicer-quality finishes, you can still get it done on a budget.

Your Kitchen Makeover Budget

Your kitchen makeover budget might include:

New counters
Cabinet paint and painting supplies
Cabinet hardware
New flooring
New appliances
Wall paint
New light fixtures and outlets
A sink and faucet
Backsplash tile

For now, most of that list is a lot more than we can cover in a single post, so we’ll try to link in articles as we find them (and write them).

For today, let’s just talk about the counters, and about painting the cabinets.

The Cost of New Granite Counters

The worn-out laminate counters in a small kitchen like this in Austin can almost always be replaced with lovely granite countertops for less than $1200. That price point will get you Uba Tuba granite (dark green/black with medium-size flecks of color), or Santa Cecilia granite (cream with flecks of gold and brown, with speckles of garnet).

These two inexpensive granites are favorites of our customers because they both look more expensive than they are, and they are chameleons that go with almost any decorating scheme. For another $150 or so (depending on the square footage of the counters), the counters could be upgraded to Black Pearl granite, a material that wins hands-down for updating a home across a lot of different styles: it can go super-traditional with white subway tile, or super-modern with glass tile and glossy, flat-front cabinets.

Black Pearl is our go-to favorite.

If $1200 still sounds like a lot to you take note: we’ve had several small ktichens jobs come through recently that were each under $1000! WOOT!

If the kitchen has an island (or you’re going to add one), you can almost always find a really pretty granite remnant from the back of our shop that will fit and can help bring down the overall cost of your new granite counters.

A small island (36-inches x 42-inches) almost always comes in under $350 if it is made from one of our remnants.

Painting Old Kitchen Cabinets

The cabinets in this particular kitchen were solid wood, and were in good condition despite being covered in grease from years and years of cooking. If you really want to save money on refinishing your old cabinets, you can paint them yourself.

The DIY bloggers behind Young House Love have written several great cabinet painting tutorials. Once you’ve read that one (the basics), you may find their latest series on kitchen cabinet painting to be a fascinating read.

If you DIY your kitchen cabinet painting, you can get it done for under $200, even if you use good paint (like Benjamin Moore’s Satin Impervo, or their newest cabinet paint, Benjamin Moore Advance).

If we had managed to buy the house in the photo above, we would have painted the cabinets a classic white-almost-ivory, for a clean and timeless look, using Benjamin Moore’s Cloud White Satin Impervo (oil).

The Cost of Replacement Kitchen Hardware

You can frequently find cabinet hardware on ebay for cheap cheap cheap. Just make sure to read the reviews before you buy. We bought all of the hardware for this kitchen makeover for under $150, and it had a LOT of cabinets.

In the big box stores, you can find knobs for as cheap as $1 to $2 each (even ones that feel good in your hand), and handles for as little as $2 to $4. If you really want to save on hardware costs, stick to the knobs and skip the pulls.

Your Own Austin Vintage Kitchen Makeover

If you actually read this far: congratulations! If we put in granite kitchen counters (25 or more square feet, which is about one 10-foot long counter) in your Austin home, mention this article and we’ll thrown in an 18-gauge, stainless steel undermount sink for free (a $100 value).