No stone unturned

As I mentioned before, Matt read about our counter/budget dilemma and referred us to Mark Hamilton, who runs Hamilton-Schwarzhoff. Matt said something along the lines of "I know you'll think he's cool, even if you don't use him," which left me wondering what he could possibly mean. We made contact with Mark over email on Friday, and sent him over our measurements and plans.

This morning at the Farmers' Market, Cam came back from the Blue Bottle coffee line wearing a huge grin, and saying: "Our counter guy just called, and if he's half as cool in person as he was on the phone, I'll be very impressed." He said he'd come by around 2pm today to see our space and check out the light -- OK, that's pretty cool.

We finshed our shopping, and Cam was like a schoolkid, grinning and getting very excited. Ran a few errands, and came hom just in time to meet Mark... who, indeed, was a very cool guy. He talked about everything from his personal aesthetic influences to his clients in the restuarant biz to his house in New Orleans, all in the space of a 30-minute meeting.

We showed him the work we'd already done on the house, laid out the new plans, and talked about the look we were going for. Then we went down to Mark's truck, where he had three samples: a green-tinged soapstone, a beautiful dark-grey honed Brazilian slate, and a chunk of Carerra marble -- all gorgeous.



He talked about how he buys so much of these three stones that he's gotten the material cost down to the bare minimum, and how he doesn't do any laminating (that is, stacking two pieces together to create an overhang at the front of the counter), which we were overjoyed to hear... we've been trying to get countertop people to quote us for just a slab, and they get all perplexed and/or try to wave us off. Short version is that he quoted us $85/square foot -- installed, and including tax -- for the slate, and said he'd throw in a piece for the bathroom vanity for just the labor cost. $4500 or so for the kitchen, minus the lab counter (which we'll still use butcherblock for).

Oh, and if we need a little piece of Carrera for the transom [*duh, I meant "threshold"] or edge pieces for the shower, he'll sell them to us for just the cost of the fabrication, since he considers them scrap material. Wow. Oh, and he'll buy our sink at the wholesale price and not mark it up. I'm telling you, if Mark didn't come from Matt, I'd swear this was too good to be true.

So, yes, a stone counter is going to be a little more expensive than all butcherblock, but -- like the semi-custom cabinets -- I'm confident that we're going to get a significantly more impressive finish going this route, for just a couple thousand more.

[[*edited for a stupid sorta-typo]]