Last night we meet the builder, Lon, and his granite guy, John, at the house to discuss the kitchen countertops. The granite guy was wearing a black tee-shirt with the words “got granite?” on the front. I commented on this as it made me laugh and he said he’s getting ready to print another tee-shirt, this time saying, “Don’t take us for granite.” You gotta love a kitchen countertop guy with a dry sense of humor.
John had a nifty laser and tablet computer that allowed him to scan the outline of the room, and, with the help of a mobile target, pinpoint the locations of various key locations in the room, all of which he’ll use to have the granite cut to within a 1000th of an inch of the walls. High tech.
We were able to select a single basin sink which will be mounted under the countertop. The opening for the sink will be just slightly smaller than the sink, creating what John called a negative reveal. The 1/8 inch space allows for a good seal between the sink and the granite, and allows for a bead of silicone to be extruded from between the two materials. Without the negative reveal the silicone would be visible and would eventually become stained and unsightly. A positive reveal (i.e., where the top the lip around the sink would be visible) would also become unsightly.
The builder normally installs a faucet that has a pull down sprayer – something neither Sibylle nor I want. We opted instead to put in a faucet that has a separate sprayer. As the holes for the faucet and sprayer won’t be cut until the granite is on site (so that John can use the actual fixture to ensure an accurate fit) we have some time to firm up our selection.
With the granite selected we turned to selecting a backsplash tile and accent. Lon, the builder, had brought several sample for us to look at and after trying several on for size we picked a tile that has some color variation but is mostly light colored for the backsplash. The backsplash butts against the black of the countertop, and against the dark wood of the cabinets. The accent we selected is grayish, and picks up highlights from the tile.
There will be three rows of 6″ tile between the counter top and the undersid of the cabinets, and we want to have the 2″ accent tiles placed diagonally at random intersections of the tiles. Lon suggested that the tile guy could sketch on the wall the 6″ grid for the backsplash and then we could random select where we wanted the accents. This method will allow us to consider where the outlets and switch plates will be.
After finishing up with the tile selections Lon described the remaining steps for the house (finish the trim this week, painting starting next week, et cetera) and said that things appear to be on pace to complete the house in late November or early December. Basically 5 weeks from now.
FIVE WEEKS!
Needless to say both Sibylle and I are extremely excited about this news. We’ve been focused on the end of December and hoping for the middle of the month. To hear that the end of November or beginning of December is likely was music to our ears.
Time to tentatively schedule the piano mover and get estimates from the house movers.
