Introduction
Have you ever wondered what it’s like getting measurements, a quote, and pro installation for custom countertops? Well, I just did that, and I’m here to show you every step and the price breakdown, so let’s get started on Modern Builds!
Welcome to the Kitchen
Welcome to the kitchen in this income property renovation. The cabinets are looking great, and they’re ready for counters. Really quick, I’m going to get a rough measurement of how many square feet I’ll need approximately—that way, we’ll get better pricing info while we’re shopping. And everybody, say hi again to my mom, Carrie! Hello! She’s going to be joining us on this shopping journey. Are you excited, Mom? She’s pumped. All right, let’s go!
The Goal: Quality and Affordability
So the goal today is to get a good-looking countertop at a good price. We don’t want to compromise on either.
First Stop: LNL Kitchen and Bath
LNL Kitchen and Bath, right next to Big Bob’s Flooring Outlet—hi! This place had a huge warehouse. We started by checking out their quartz, and they’ve got granite too. Oh, and that was what I was going to say—everything is priced installed, like measured, installed, done. Okay, got it.
Exploring Quartz Options
Now, I’ve got no idea what this looks like on camera, but some of these are really ugly. But we do have some good options, right? Yes, we got some good options here, and this is only the first stop. There’s counters like this, but they’re just too busy. On a giant piece, it doesn’t look too bad, but on a smaller countertop, there’s just too much happening here in my book. And that’s the same case with some of the counters over here—there’s just a little bit too much happening, and it’s also a little too brown.
Finding the Right Balance
This one I like quite a bit. It’s got some brown tone in it, but I’ll show a close-up where you can see that everything is just lower contrast and smaller patterns and veining. For me, this probably looks cool on camera, but once again, too much contrast. This could maybe look good in a hotel or something like that, but we want to straddle that line of modern and traditional to where people on either side would be really happy with the choice that we make.
Granite vs. Quartz
So this is too dark—that’s not what we’re looking for. That’s interesting—oh, there’s like gold in that. That one’s not bad. That’s a pretty gray if you were going to go gray. I like that. I agree—this looks really good. It’s really low contrast, but it’s got quite a bit of figuring in it.
Heading Back to Quartz
This one’s just too busy, and this one is just too plain—there’s nothing going on. But right here, we might have the perfect in-between. There’s some really nice figuring in this countertop, and it’s also not just purely white and gray. This one’s also on my list.
Pricing and Timeline
All right, about $50 a square foot. Also, they mentioned it should only take about 2–3 weeks to be installed, like completely done. I think that’s a reasonable price—$44,000 for the countertop.
Second Stop: Express Granite
And now it’s time for stop number two. We got to make sure they actually had good prices, but they did have an awesome selection. This is super fun—I’m enjoying it.
Exploring More Options
Stop number two: Express Granite. And if you can’t read that very well, there it is again and again. I like this a lot, though. I mean, it’s super pretty. It’s got a little bit down there in the bottom left.
Quartz vs. Granite Again
We headed out to check out their granite supply after looking at some of the quartz samples in the lobby, and it was more the same. A lot of these natural stones just kind of remind me of like an office space or a commercial space. And then something that looks really good like this dark one just isn’t our vibe—it’s not the style that we want.
Finding the Best Seller
That’s no big deal because then we went into the shop where they kept their quartz and checked out what they had in stock. Ah, this is what we’re looking for—this is kind of the style we’re looking for over here. A little more this one or this one—uh, I’m liking this one a little more with that with a little lower contrast.
Finalizing the Choice
We have this one—it’s our number one seller. Oh, that’s a good-looking one—Bianco Aspen. And then you have the super jumbo slab, so if you have a small kitchen, you don’t have to do any seams. Yes, I see what you mean.
Pricing and Installation
All right, you said what price on this one? This is going to be $52 installed. Got it. And I do think this is our best option here. It’s their best seller for a reason—in my book, it looks really great. The figuring and veining is really cool, but it doesn’t repeat too much, and it’s not too high contrast.
The Upside of This Stop
The big upside that this place had is it’s only going to take about a week to get these counters installed instead of about three. The price is pretty much similar—everything’s been about $50 or $55 bucks. The best option here is set at $52. Also, they have extra-large slabs, which means less seams.
Third Stop: Metro Flooring
All right, option three—Mom, what’s it called? What’s the name of option three? Metro Flooring, which also includes counters. That is just so cute—yeah, I love that.
Disappointing Third Option
The third stop didn’t have any slabs in stock on hand because they don’t actually cut anything on site. They hire out any of these custom jobs to a contractor like we visited in the first two stops.
Comparing Samples
https://www.jsbhomesolutions.com/learning-center/kitchen-countertop-replacement-costhttps://www.jsbhomesolutions.com/learning-center/kitchen-countertop-replacement-costThese two are similar, but this one’s a little bit more earth-toned rather than black and gray. And this one has some really tiny subtle speckling to it. So we’re going to get pricing on these three and see what’s up.
Price Shock
Now, when I got this price list, I was shocked because this was before the installation fee. Okay, option three was kind of a bust. They don’t include the price of installation with the pricing of their counters, and at the end of the day, it’s just going to be way more expensive than somebody that sells and installs direct.
Making the Final Decision
Now, I’m not going to lie—I liked the people at the first store. They were really nice, super helpful, and they had a huge in-stock selection. But if it’s going to take two more weeks to get it installed, is that really worth it?
Back to Stop Number Two
It’s just crazy because they only have one countertop we like, but it’s kind of my favorite counter so far. And if you couldn’t have guessed, we’re back at stop number two.
Scheduling the Measurement
Yo, what’s up? You’re the guys! All right, in the office, we just filled out a quick form with our information, and then we scheduled the time for Carlos to come out and measure.
The Measurement Process
Awesome—I appreciate the help. Thanks so much. We’ll see you tomorrow. Thank you so much. All right, tomorrow morning. All right, we’ll see you later—get measured!
High-Tech Laser Measuring
So that was really productive, and they’ll be at the renovation tomorrow morning. I think he said at 9:00 to measure everything, so we’ll see you there.
Digital Modeling
This whole process was something that was exciting for me to see because I had no idea. Carlos was using some high-tech laser technology to measure everything.
Finalizing the Quote
So this is what we got—you know, we chose $52 per square foot. Yep, so it’s $2,704. Sweet! And then I’ll give you the window sill too.
The Cutting Process
Dude, Carlos, you’re the man. All right, all right, let’s do it!
Surprising Carlos with a New Website
I just ran mine through, you know, like Squarespace. Basically, they got like templates—it takes like a half-hour to make a website for like the whole year. It cost basically $150 bucks.
Final Installation
Yeah, because the one I had was like $1,000 a month. Oh, oh, that’s—yeah. Is there any chance I can stop by and get footage of your CNC running? If not, I totally understand.
The Finished Kitchen
Oh no, no, you’re good. Yeah, yeah, awesome, dude. If you can give me a little bit of a heads up—I don’t even—like, I give you like an hour heads up.
Conclusion
I was not expecting Carlos to say yes to us being able to film counters being cut, but we’re going to do that right after we give a things to today’s sponsor.
Final Thoughts
Today’s video is sponsored by Squarespace, but this ad read is going to be a little bit different. Whenever I found out Carlos got rid of his website managers because they were charging him an arm and a leg—I’m not kidding, like $1,200 bucks a month—I decided that I should build him his own Squarespace site.
Next Steps
And while I do that, let me talk about Squarespace. Whether you need a website, online store, or just a custom domain, Squarespace has got you covered, and you need zero website-building experience.
Final Reveal
Now, with Fluid Engine, Squarespace’s next-generation website designing platform, it’s never been easier to unlock your unbreakable creativity with their enhanced drag-and-drop editing technology on both desktop and mobile.
Thank You
Squarespace’s designer templates have never been easier to make one-of-a-kind. Plus, there’s no limit to the number of products that you can sell using a Squarespace store—whether that’s a physical good, a digital good, or a service product.
Final Goodbye
And if you’re somebody that wants to take payments in person, Squarespace has got you covered by connecting the Square card reader to the Squarespace app. All of your sales, orders, and inventory are up to date online and in-person.
Ending Note
So to learn more, make sure and follow my link down below—squarespace.com/modernbuilds. There, you can build out your entire Squarespace site before entering any of your credit card info. And then, when it’s time to make your site live, don’t forget to use my code MODERNBUILDS for 10% off your first site, store, or domain.
Final Thanks
This website only took about 20 minutes to build. I really hope Carlos likes it, and we’re going to surprise him with it at the end of this episode. As always, thanks again to Squarespace for sponsoring this episode—squarespace.com/modernbuilds, code MODERNBUILDS.
Final Look
Behold the SaberJet XP—it’s basically a giant CNC but for stone. Not to mention, the bed’s like 10 or 12 feet long.
Final Installation Steps
The first step is getting the slab onto the cutting table attached to a swiveling crane. These suction cup handles lift this giant slab that weighs hundreds of pounds.
Final Words
So what kind of blade is this? It’s a diamond blade. Yeah, it’s a huge diamond blade. And that cuts through anything, right? Oh yeah, there’s nothing that’s not going to cut through.
Final Appreciation
There’s also a water jet next to the diamond blade for cutting curves. This will probably take like 30 minutes, 25 minutes. And if you were going to cut a similar project by hand, how long would that take you? It’s going to take you like 5 hours. Wow—four, five hours.
Final Goodbye
And that would have been done on a manual saw like this, but now it’s 2024, and we’ve got technology. If you’ve seen a CNC for woodworking, you’re going to be really familiar with how this works.
Final Note
But the diamond blade basically starts by plunging into the slab and then starts its straight cuts. If this is real-time—I’m not speeding this up—that’s impressive.
Final Thanks
The water keeps the blade cool and the cut clean. And to save material, the saw blade stops at the corner of the slab, and the water jet will finish it out later on.
Final Look at the Process
So I’ll let this run, and you’ll start to see the counters take shape. It was a really fun process to see, considering it was so fast.
Final Steps
And then, this is where the water jet kicks in to finish out the corners—just like you might use a jigsaw to finish a plunge cut in wood.
Final Appreciation
Because you don’t want the blade to feed into an already cut slab. And in this shot, you can see what it looks like once the corner has been cleared out.
Final Words
But this water jet also comes in handy for any bullnose or radii—really, it can cut any custom curve that you want.
Final Time Check
Long everything—43 minutes. 43—wow, that’s awesome. It’s kind of funny—like, the cutting process that probably used to be the thing that took the longest is now the fastest.
Final Shoutout
It’s the fastest. Shout out to CNCs—wow, way to go, robots!
Final Steps Before Installation
And the next step for these cut countertops is for the edges to be sanded and polished.
Final Goodbye to Carlos
All right, well, I’ll get out of your hair, but dude, I appreciate it so much, man. I can’t wait to see everything.
Final Installation
Installation happened the following morning, and I was excited to see everything in place. I was just impressed also with the quick turnaround of this process.
Final Look at the Kitchen
It took a day to shop, a second day to get everything measured, quoted, and cut, and installation on the third.
Final Details
All right, really quick—while they grab the second counter, look at this. Both the scribe on the back of the countertops with the wall and the reveal with the front is perfect—so clean.
Final Touches
The second countertop is going to have an overhang where the peninsula is, so people can have some bar stools and eat right up here at the kitchen.
Final Thanks
This slab was super heavy—I don’t know how much help I was, but I’m glad I was able to offer a hand. Oh yeah, perfect. Right? Yeah, man, these look great.
Final Appreciation
And that’s an awesome roundover right here too. And soon, we’re going to have to figure out a cool way of covering the back of these cabinets.
Final Steps
The guys used this two-part epoxy to connect the countertops and the cabinets around all of the edges. And during this process, I grabbed some shims to make sure that all of the cabinet boxes were flat and level so that they were supporting the countertop without any visible gaps.
Final Look at the Sill
This shot is just the test fit of the window sill. They also put construction adhesive in here so that once it was set and level, it would never move.
Final Sink Installation
We’ve got a cool undermount sink going in, and the guys cut this groove on the underside of the countertop for the hardware to slide into.
Final Countertop Placement
Oh yeah—boom, boom, boom. All right, the guys accidentally left this small countertop that goes next to the fridge, and they were trying to tell me that they’d be back tomorrow to bring it by and install it.
Final Surprise for Carlos
But I told them that I’d come by the shop and pick it up along with dropping off a check. In reality, though, this is just the perfect opportunity to surprise Carlos with his new Squarespace website.
Final Handover
I hope he likes it. Yo, dude, what’s going on? How you doing, man? First off, I want to get you paid. Oh, but there was the countertop next to the fridge that I was wanting to pick up.
Final Reveal of the Website
All right, so you told me you just got rid of your website people. Mhm. Did you ever see that any of my videos are sponsored by a company called Squarespace? Uh, a little bit—because you were saying you were watching a couple videos.
Final Thanks to Carlos
I built you a website. Oh, really? Yeah. And I also got the membership and everything for a year set up for you. Also, if you ever want to change anything—like the photos, the logo—it’s all really, really, really simple to use.
Final Appreciation
That’s nice. You gave me the window sill—you hooked me up with the window sill, so I was like, “Oh man, I got to do something nice to pay back or whatever.” Okay, awesome.
Final Countertop Installation
We got the counter. Everybody, say thanks to Carlos for this amazing video. I appreciate it again.
Final Steps
Okay, so that was bye to Carlos but not bye to you guys because we still got to get this countertop installed.
Final Silicone Application
I put some silicone adhesive under Carlos’s recommendation, and it was in. And now, we are done.
Final Look at the Renovation
So there you have it—this kitchen is looking way better than it did before, especially with those tile countertops.
Final Thoughts on the Process
Now that we’ve got a solid surface counter, a renter or owner that’s got this house next is going to be super hyped.
Final Reflection
I had no idea what to expect going into this process—I’ve never ordered custom countertops before. And so, if you’re in a similar boat, I really hope that this content was helpful and valuable or at least just answered a few questions about what this whole process is like.
Final Design Choice
I didn’t pick the loudest quartz option out there, but I’m really happy with the choice. And for $2,704, I am really hyped with the results that we got—especially compared to something more affordable like laminates or the tile counters we had before.
Final Aesthetic
Plus, this look really helps tie in the more traditional cabinets to this modern vibe we’re going for.
Final Thanks to Carlos
Carlos really was the man for letting me in his shop where we got to see how these get cut. I wasn’t expecting that for this video, so thanks again.
Next Steps for the Kitchen
The next step for this kitchen is a backsplash. I plan on taking down this drywall and putting up some new backer board before I apply my new tile.
Final Call to Action
As always, I appreciate the support a ton. Make sure and click that like button if you haven’t already, and we’ll see you next time on Mike’s First Flip.
Final Goodbye
It’s Mike’s First Flip—see you next time! Bye! See you!