After finally getting our cabinets installed, the next step was the countertop. From the first day we visited Park Slope Kitchen Gallery, my husband and I fell in love with the Silestone Mahogany countertop. We'd planned to order our countertop from Park Slope Kitchen Gallery, but after the cabinet mix up, things began to get a little sketchy. Since the cabinet installers had charged us for the day of work lost because the wrong cabinet was delivered, we thought it only fair that Park Slope Kitchen Gallery reimburse us for that expense. They agreed to do so, however, instead of giving us the money they wanted to give us a discount on the countertop. This would have been fine but the numbers didn't add up.
Prior to ordering the cabinets, we were quoted a price of $2000 for the countertop. Now that we were ready to order, they were saying the countertop would be $2800 but they would only charge us the 'at cost' price of $2200. Now we did make a modification to the countertop layout by moving the sink from the middle of the countertop to the corner, but that didn't seem to merit a 40% increase in price. I decided to get quotes from other countertop retailers and fabricators. All delivered retail cost quotes between $2100 and $2500, much lower than the retail cost cited by Park Slope Kitchen Gallery. (I later learned that the design change caused by moving the sink should have only increased the cost an average of $150.)
After a measurement appointment and a glowing reference check, we decided to go with Lifestyle Marble and Granite. Since the company also handled tile installation, we also hired them to install our tile floor and backsplash.
Two weeks later, Dave, the company's owner arrived with our new countertop. My husband took the day off to oversee the installation. He emailed a picture of the installed countertop to me at work. Boy did it look beautiful against our golden brown cabinets. Yet there was one thing that stood out to me in the picture. See if you notice it.
Yup. The overhang over the corner cabinet is way too small. While the countertop extended beyond the cabinets on the left and right 1 1/4", it only extended 3/4" over the corner cabinet. Unfortunately, my husband didn't notice this while Dave was there. (The area was blocked most of the afternoon as Dave worked on the backsplash.) Dave called in sick the next day so we had to wait until the following day to talk to him. When we asked him about the issue, he admitted that it was his error. He agreed to order a new countertop and correct the error, free of charge. In the meantime, Dave would install the tile floor. Content that the issue had been resolved, my husband and I went off to work.
As soon as I got to work I received a phone call from my father, who was visiting at the time, informing me that Dave didn't want to complete our job anymore. (Something about losing too much money.) He had packed up his tile saw and other tools and would remove the flawed countertop and return our deposit the next day.
We were completely surprised... and highly annoyed. Dave's decision not to complete the work meant we'd have to start from scratch to find another countertop fabricator and tile installer. It also meant we'd have more weeks of frozen dinners ahead of us.
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