Last week, I went down to the granite fabricators to decide exactly where they were going to cut the stone- oh such power! This is one of my favorite things to do on specialty stones like this New Azul Aran. There are huge chunks of crystal and mineral deposits that you really don’t want the guys in the shop to decide which ones are right for you or your client. The use of this semi-translucent corrugated plastic, makes seeing what you’re going to get a piece of cake. DESIGN TIP: Talk about what the slab will look like when it’s cut into countertop slices when you’re selecting the stone. My client and I discussed which bits were our favorites and which we’d like to use the sink placement to omit when we picked out the slab months ago.

The island granite is getting the sink (lower center- you can see their line) and we placed it over top of a funky stripe of geology that wasn’t as pretty as the rest of the slab. I also wanted to make sure that the really dark spot (visible to the right of the template) didn’t end up on the counter because it is so different from everywhere else, it would end up looking like an ink spill. There is a beautiful, deep steel blue section just to the left of it that will make the cut. If this dark spot had ended up on the edge of the island counter, it may have even looked like a chunk was missing, which would have made most people crazy.

The other slab was used for the rest of the kitchen, which doesn’t have much to speak of. The cooktop wall was strategically placed to avoid another less remarkable spot on the slab, while getting all the good stuff to each side. The small square in the corner is going between the oven and the fridge and has a fabulous cluster of goodies, so my client will see it every morning when she makes coffee. And that last piece is going on the desk, which was added after we saw what materials were left over, which only cost an additional $350. Remember: You have to pay for the whole slab and whatever you don’t use will sit in a bone yard and likely be sold to someone else, so use as much as you can!

It’s all getting installed today, so we’ll see how the plan came together!