Questions to Ask When Buying Granite Countertops
For homeowners talking to a stone yard, a fabricator or an installer before paying for granite countertops. The questions follow the order the purchase goes in: choosing the slab, the price, the fabricator and the template, edges and cutouts, installation day, then care and warranty.
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The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
The slab
Can I choose the exact slab my countertops will be cut from, not just a sample?
Why ask it
Granite changes from one block to the next, so a hand-sized sample can look little like the slab that shows up in your kitchen. A good yard walks you to the full slabs and lets you pick. If the answer is that yours will be 'close to the sample', either see the slab before it is cut or accept that the color is a guess.
How do you tag the slab I pick, and how do I know that same slab is the one that gets cut?
Why ask it
Expect your name on the stone, a slab or bundle number on your paperwork, and no objection when you photograph both. Find out how long the hold lasts and whether it takes a deposit to keep it. A yard that cannot explain how a tagged slab is followed to the saw is relying on someone's memory.
Is this true granite or another stone sold under that name, and how does it hold up in a kitchen?
Why ask it
'Granite' on a price tag is a trade name, and the stones sold under it differ in hardness and in how readily they soak up liquid. The salesperson worth listening to can say what this one is and how it stands up to scratches, lemon juice and cooking oil. 'It is all granite' leaves you to find out at home.
What level or grade is this slab, and what puts it in that tier?
Why ask it
There is no shared grading scale. Each supplier sets its own levels, and they mostly follow rarity, color and where the stone was quarried, not strength, so a level 1 at one yard tells you nothing about a level 1 at another. Ask what, apart from looks, you would gain by moving up a tier. Often the honest answer is nothing.
Is this slab 2 cm or 3 cm thick, and what does the thinner one need underneath?
Why ask it
The thicker stone usually sits straight on the cabinets, while the thinner one is often set on a plywood subtop with a built-up front edge to hide it. Neither is wrong, but they look different at the edge and above the dishwasher, and they are priced differently. Check that every quote you compare is for the same thickness.
Can I take a small piece of this stone home to test before I commit?
Why ask it
Leave a few drops of cooking oil and lemon juice on it overnight and look in the morning: a dark spot means the stone drank the oil, and a dull patch means the acid marked it, which is not how granite is supposed to behave. Ask for a piece from your slab's own bundle, since a showroom sample with the same name may come from another block, and ask whether it has been sealed. Many yards keep broken offcuts for exactly this.
Do I buy the slab from you directly or through my fabricator, and who gives me the price?
Why ask it
Many slab yards are wholesalers: they will show you stone all afternoon and quote a price only to the fabricator. That means you can tag a slab without knowing what it costs until the fabricator's quote arrives. Learn how this yard works before you get attached to one, and ask your fabricator whether they will cut stone from a yard they do not usually buy from.
How many slabs will my kitchen take, and do they come from the same bundle?
Why ask it
Slabs sawn one after another from a single block match in color and movement. Slabs from different blocks may not, even under the same name. If the job needs two, see them side by side and have both tagged, then ask what happens if a third is needed and that bundle has sold.
Are these lines fissures or cracks, and would you cut around them?
Why ask it
A fissure is generally treated as part of the stone's natural structure, and a crack is a break, which you can often feel catch under a fingernail. Run your hand over anything that worries you and put the question to the fabricator, not only to the yard's salesperson. Lines that would fall beside a sink or cooktop cutout matter most, because the stone is narrowest there.
Has this slab been filled with resin, dyed or backed with mesh?
Why ask it
Resin applied at the factory to fill small pits is routine. Mesh on the back usually means the stone needs help surviving handling, which is worth knowing before you plan a long overhang. Dye is the one to press on: a slab colored to look darker can lighten or blotch later, so ask plainly whether the color is natural and whether they will write that on the order.
Which finishes does this stone come in, and how does each change the price and the upkeep?
Why ask it
Polished is normally the standard, with honed and leathered priced above it. A matte finish on a dark stone can show fingerprints and oil more than the polished version does, so touch a finished piece with your own hands before deciding. If the finish would be applied in their shop and not at the factory, ask what that adds in days.
Can I see the slab in daylight, next to my cabinet door and floor sample?
Why ask it
Warehouse lighting shifts every color, and a slab seen edge-on in a rack tells you almost nothing. Bring a cabinet door, a floor tile and a paint chip, and ask for the slab to be pulled out or wheeled toward an open bay. Wetting a patch with a damp cloth shows roughly how a dusty or unpolished area will look once finished.
Do you sell remnants, and would one cover a bathroom vanity or a small island?
Why ask it
Remnants are the pieces left over from other people's kitchens, and many shops price them well below a cut from a full slab. The choice is whatever happens to be leaning in the yard that week, so arrive with exact measurements. For a whole kitchen this one can be skipped.
Price
What does your price per square foot include, line by line?
Why ask it
The stone, fabrication, a standard edge, delivery and installation are the usual contents. Cutouts, tear-out, the sink, plumbing, backsplash and tax are the usual omissions. A low figure per foot with a long tail of extras can finish above a higher figure that covers everything, so get one installed total in writing from each shop.
Am I paying for the square feet in my finished counters, or for every slab the job uses?
Why ask it
Some shops bill the installed area and absorb the waste. Others bill each slab that goes on the saw, and an L-shaped kitchen that only just tips into a second slab then costs far more than its area suggests. Once you know the method, ask whether moving a seam or shortening an overhang would keep the job on one slab.
If I pay for the whole slab, do I keep the leftover pieces?
Why ask it
Offcuts can become a matching vanity top, a windowsill or a shelf, and the shop will normally keep them unless you speak up. Having a second piece cut and polished costs least while your slab is already on the table. Say what you want before fabrication, because leftovers are often broken up or sold within days.
Is removing and hauling away my old countertops in the quote?
Why ask it
Tear-out is frequently its own line, and old tile or glued-down laminate can take a piece of the wall or a cabinet rail with it. Settle who repairs the backsplash or drywall if it does not survive. If you are handy, ask what the price drops to when the old tops are already gone on installation morning.
Who disconnects and reconnects the plumbing, the dishwasher and the cooktop?
Why ask it
Plenty of stone installers will not touch plumbing or gas, and whether they are allowed to depends on the rules where you live. You need to know if a plumber has to be booked, for which day, and how long the sink adhesive should set first. The answer decides how many days you wash dishes in the bathtub.
Is a sink included in the price, and can I supply my own instead?
Why ask it
A 'free sink' is commonly a basic stainless bowl, so get its size, steel gauge and brand, plus the credit for declining it. If you bring your own, ask the date it has to be at the shop. An undermount cutout is made to the actual sink or the maker's paper template, and a late sink delays the whole job.
How much is the deposit, is it refundable, and when is the balance due?
Why ask it
A deposit when the slab is tagged or templated, then the balance at installation, is a common arrangement. Ask at which step the deposit stops being refundable, since a slab cut to your kitchen cannot be sold to anyone else, and get the answer in writing, because what protects a deposit differs from place to place. Try to keep the last payment until you have walked the finished counters.
If the template measures larger or smaller than the estimate, how does the price change?
Why ask it
An estimate drawn from a sketch or the cabinet plan is approximate, and the template is the true measure. Some shops hold the quoted price and others re-figure it by the square foot. Whichever applies, ask for the revised number before cutting starts, not when the invoice arrives.
Fabricator and template
Do you cut and polish the stone in your own shop, and can I visit it?
Why ask it
Some sellers are showrooms that send the fabrication elsewhere. That can work, but then you need the fabricator's name, whose warranty applies and who answers the phone when something is wrong. A walk through the shop also lets you look at finished edges and sink cutouts waiting to go out.
Can you show me a seam you have made in a stone like mine?
Why ask it
Seams are where fabricators differ most. Look at how tight the joint is, feel whether both sides sit level under a fingertip, and step back to see if the filler color disappears at arm's length. A real seam in a showroom display beats any photograph, since photos are taken from the kindest angle.
Can I speak to a customer whose counters you installed a few years ago?
Why ask it
Fresh reviews describe the sales visit and installation day. An older job tells you whether the seams stayed tight, whether the sink is still firmly up, and whether the shop came back when called. One or two names is plenty, and hesitation over providing any is informative.
What has to be finished in my kitchen before you come to template?
Why ask it
The usual list is base cabinets set, leveled and screwed down, end panels on, and the sink, faucet and cooktop either on site or identified by exact model number. Templating over cabinets that will still be moved is how a top arrives not fitting. Ask for their list in writing and pass it to whoever is installing your cabinets.
How do you template, and should I be home for it?
Why ask it
Laser measuring and thin plastic or wood strips both produce an accurate pattern. Being there matters more than the method, because overhangs, corner shapes, seam positions, faucet holes and where the sink centers are all decided in that visit. If you cannot attend, ask for a drawing to approve afterward.
Can I see and approve how my pieces are laid out on the slab before you cut?
Why ask it
Many shops photograph the slab and place the pieces on screen, and others let you come and see the templates lying on the stone. This is the moment you choose which part of the slab lands on the island and which hides behind the range. With an even, speckled granite you can skip it. With strong veining or big color shifts, insist.
How many seams will there be, and where exactly will they fall?
Why ask it
The count follows slab length, the shape of the room and what can be carried through your door. Have each seam marked on the drawing you sign. Fabricators disagree about seaming at the sink, where the joint is short but close to water, so listen for their reasoning. 'We will figure it out on install day' is the answer to worry about.
How wide will the seams be, and how do you color and level them?
Why ask it
Get a width they will stand behind and have it written on the order. A careful shop talks about epoxy tinted to match the stone and a clamping tool that pulls the two pieces flush while it sets. For a stone with movement, also ask whether the pattern will carry across the joint, which has to be planned in the layout and can take more slab.
How long is it from template to installation, and what tends to stretch that?
Why ask it
Ask for a range in working days and how deep their backlog is this month. The common hold-ups are a slab still in transit, a sink that has not been delivered and a special edge or finish. If you are replacing existing counters, ask whether they can stay in place until installation morning so the kitchen works in between.
Edges and cutouts
Which edge profiles are included, and what does each upgrade cost per foot?
Why ask it
A simple eased or lightly beveled edge is usually the included one, and ogee, full bullnose and mitered edges are charged by the linear foot. Look at sample edges in the thickness you are buying, since a profile reads differently on thinner stone. Crisp square corners at hip height are the ones people walk into, so ask to see the corner radius options too.
How do you mount an undermount sink, and how much of its rim will show?
Why ask it
Clips, a rail or cradle fixed to the cabinet, and adhesive alone are all in use, so ask what carries a sink full of water with a disposal hanging from it. Then choose the reveal: stone overhanging the rim, flush with it, or set back so the rim shows. Each cleans differently, and it cannot be changed once cut.
Do you reinforce the narrow strips of stone in front of and behind the sink and cooktop?
Why ask it
Those strips are where a countertop most often breaks while being carried. Some fabricators set steel or fiberglass rods into the underside, and others leave part of the cutout to finish on site so the piece travels stronger. Either is a plan. A shrug is not.
How many holes do I need for the faucet and accessories, and what does each one cost?
Why ask it
Holes are often priced individually, so count them before the template: faucet, sprayer, soap dispenser, filtered water tap, a disposal air switch, and a dishwasher air gap where local rules call for one. Check that the faucet handle will clear the backsplash or windowsill behind it. A hole added later means a trip charge and drilling dust in a finished kitchen.
How far can the island overhang for seating before it needs support?
Why ask it
The answer depends on the thickness, the particular stone and how much of the piece rests on cabinet. Get their figure in inches for your slab, and ask whether it allows for someone leaning or sitting on the edge. Brackets or steel plates have to be in place before the stone arrives, so settle who supplies and installs them.
What are my backsplash options, and is a granite one priced separately?
Why ask it
The choices are usually a short strip of the same stone, a full-height slab or tile added afterward. A strip is cut from your slab, so it has to appear in both the layout and the quote, and full height may call for another slab plus outlet cutouts. If you plan to tile, ask what gap they leave at the wall and who caulks it.
Installation
Who installs the stone, your own crew or a subcontractor, and how many people will come?
Why ask it
Ask how many they send for your largest piece and how it will get past the stairs, the tight turn or the doorway to the island. Subcontracted installation is common, and what you need to know is who pays for damage and whose number you call. Licensing and insurance requirements for this work vary by place, so ask what applies locally and for a copy of the proof.
Do my cabinets need anything before they can carry the stone?
Why ask it
Stone wants cabinets that are level, fastened to the wall and to each other, with support across the dishwasher opening. Older boxes and freestanding islands sometimes need bracing first. The template visit is the right time to be told yours are out of level, and a crew content to set granite on uneven cabinets is leaving the stone to bridge the gaps.
Will any cutting or grinding happen at my house, and how do you keep the dust down?
Why ask it
Ideally the cutting is done in the shop and only small adjustments happen on site, outdoors or with water or a vacuum on the tool. Dry-cut stone dust is very fine, travels through a house and is not something to breathe. Find out where they would work, what they cover and who cleans up.
How do you protect my floors, cabinets and doorways on the way in?
Why ask it
Listen for floor runners, padded corners and one person whose only job is to watch the walls. Your part is a clear path, a measurement of the tightest doorway and photos of the cabinets and floor taken beforehand. Ask who repairs a gouged door frame, so that conversation is not happening for the first time in your hallway.
If a piece cracks or is cut wrong before it is installed, who pays for the replacement?
Why ask it
You are hoping to hear that the stone is the fabricator's risk until it is installed and accepted, and to see that on paper. Matching is the harder half: if your bundle has sold, a replacement may not sit well beside the pieces already in. Ask whether they would redo every visible piece or only the broken one.
How long does installation take, and when can I use the counters and the sink?
Why ask it
Many kitchens are set in a day, but seam epoxy, adhesive and the silicone under the sink need time before they take weight and water. Get the specific wait before the plumber connects anything, before heavy appliances go back and before the first sinkful. Then book the plumber and the tile setter around those hours.
Can we walk the finished counters together before I sign off and pay the balance?
Why ask it
Run a fingertip across each seam, sight along the overhang at the cabinet fronts, and check the edge polish, the sink centering, the cutout corners for chips and the caulk line at the wall. A flashlight held low across the surface shows scratches that overhead light hides. Anything noted with the crew still present is far easier to get fixed than something reported a week later.
Care and warranty
Does this particular stone need sealing, and will you seal it before you leave?
Why ask it
Dense dark stones can absorb next to nothing, while some lighter ones take up oil quickly, so the answer should be about your slab. Ask which sealer they apply, whether it is in the price, and whether it goes on in the shop or after installation. A blanket 'every year' or 'never' suggests a script.
How will I know when it is time to reseal, and can I do it myself?
Why ask it
The usual home test is a spoonful of water left on the surface for several minutes: if the stone darkens underneath, it is absorbing. Resealing is normally a wipe-on, wipe-off job with a product from a hardware store. If they offer a long-life sealer at extra cost, read what its own warranty asks of you before paying.
What should I clean it with every day, and what should stay off it?
Why ask it
Mild dish soap or a pH-neutral stone cleaner is the usual advice, with vinegar, bleach, abrasive powders and some all-purpose sprays commonly listed as hard on the sealer. Ask for their list in writing, because a warranty can depend on following it. When a shop sells its own cleaner, it is fair to ask whether soap and water do the same job.
Can I put a hot pan straight on it, or cut directly on the surface?
Why ask it
Granite takes heat better than most countertop materials, yet fabricators still tend to recommend a trivet, because sudden heat near a seam or on the thin strip beside a cooktop is a different matter from heat in the middle of a slab. Cutting on it is harder on your knives than on the stone. A seller who says nothing can hurt it is overselling.
If it chips or stains in a few years, who do I call and what does the repair involve?
Why ask it
Edge chips by the sink and above the dishwasher are the typical ones, and they are normally filled with tinted epoxy and polished, so keep the fragment if you find it. Ask whether they do repairs themselves, what a visit costs and how they would draw out an oil stain. A leftover piece of your own slab, kept in the garage, gives whoever does the repair something to match the color against.
What does your warranty cover, for how long, and can I have it in writing?
Why ask it
Workmanship is the usual subject: seams, the installation and the sink mounting, for a stated period. The stone itself, being natural, is often excluded, along with stains, chips and cracks blamed on the house settling. Go through each exclusion and what would void the coverage, and where the wording is unclear ask how it works in practice where you live. File the document with your slab number.
How to shop for granite countertops
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Before you visit a yard
Bring a sketch with numbers on it
Draw each run of cabinets from above, write the lengths and depths in inches, and mark the sink, the cooktop and any seating overhang. With that, a shop can tell you roughly how many slabs the job takes and give an estimate you can compare, instead of a starting price per foot.
Carry the kitchen with you
A cabinet door, a floor tile, a paint chip and photos of the room in daylight. Stone that looks perfect alone in a warehouse can turn pink or green beside your cabinets, and you only see that with the samples touching the slab.
Learn who sells what
A slab yard stocks stone, a fabricator cuts and installs it, and a showroom or home store may only take the order. Sometimes one business does all three. Ask each one which part is theirs, because the questions about seams and cutouts belong to whoever runs the saw.
Decide the fixed points first
Undermount or drop-in sink, the cooktop or range model, how many stools at the island, tile or stone on the wall. These decide the cutouts, the overhang and the slab count, and a quote made without them will change.
At the yard and in the shop
Look at the whole slab, both ends
Color and pattern can drift from one end of a slab to the other. Stand back far enough to take in all of it, then walk its length looking for patches, lines and filled areas, and imagine where your sink and island would fall.
Use your hands
Run a palm over the surface and a fingernail across any line. Pits, rough fill and edges that catch are easier to feel than to see under warehouse lights. Ask about each one while you are standing at the stone.
Photograph the tag and the slab together
One picture showing the slab with its number or your name on it settles any later question about which stone you chose. Keep it with the quote, and compare it with the pieces at the layout approval or on installation day.
Split the list between the two conversations
The slab and price questions suit the first visit. Template, seams, edges and installation are worth asking again when the person who will actually measure your kitchen is in the room, since their answers are the ones that will be carried out.
Comparing two or three quotes
Match the specification before the price
Same stone or the same tier, same thickness, same edge, same number of cutouts and holes, same backsplash. Two quotes a long way apart are often describing two different countertops, and the gap shrinks once they describe the same one.
Compare installed totals
Add tear-out, the sink, plumbing, sealing, delivery and tax to each quote, or ask each shop to. The per-foot figure is an advertisement. The total is what leaves your account.
Weigh what you saw, not only what you were told
A seam you ran your finger over, a tidy shop and a layout shown to you on screen count for more than a confident answer. If the cheaper fabricator could not show a finished seam, the saving is a bet on something you have not seen.
When the stone you love is at the pricier yard
Ask the fabricator you prefer whether they can buy that slab, or a slab from the same bundle, through their own supplier. Many can. If not, a similar stone seen in person may suit you as well as the first one did.
Reasons to keep looking
You cannot see your slab
Buying from a sample, a website photo or a slab 'like this one' means the stone is chosen for you. Granite that is very even from block to block exists, but you should hear which slab is yours and be free to look at it.
The price only exists out loud
A quote should name the stone, the thickness, the edge, the cutouts, what is excluded and the total. If a shop will not write that down, each missing line is a possible extra on installation day.
No answer on seams
A fabricator who measures kitchens every week can say where yours would be seamed and why. Vagueness here usually means the decision will be made by whoever loads the truck.
Everything paid before anything is cut
Deposits are normal, and so is paying for a slab that is being held for you. Paying the full amount before templating leaves you with nothing to hold back if the fit or the finish is wrong.