To ask if this has been done correctly or should I complain?

[JH12]

We have had qwartz worktops and upstands fitted to our new kitchen today. However, I feel the joins are very noticeable. I wasn't expecting them to be completely invisible but was expecting them to be blended in some way. Is this right? Or should I complain? Hopefully pictures included

It looks to me like all the edges have been chamfered before fitting. Which is wrong- where the two slabs meet, the edge must NOT be chamfered, so as to give almost no gap and allow for a discreet seam. My quartz came unchamfered, they fit it all, then chamfer the edges in situ. Hope I'm explaining it coherently . The point is, it's too frigging expensive for it not to look perfect.

Yes that does make sense. All the worktops and upstands came from Howdens with a chamfered edge, the fitter didn't do anything to them, but would have been better that way. And yes the amount of money they cost I'm really not happy

I see. Oh dear. Mine was from a specialist stone supplier. Do you have a Howdens catalogue showing the joins looking better than yours? If so you can argue you have not got what you paid for. Or they could send someone to fill the seams with epoxy resin- I don't know if that would make it ok

It looks like you're not the first to be unhappy with Howdens 'professional' quartz fitting.
I hope this link works;

forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5758399

Was the budget tight? Did they use offcuts to keep the price down as really you shouldn't have a join there

This is one of my joins on a quartz top. Hopefully it can be seen properly. Very narrow join with some kind of filler.

No not off cuts. The join on the worktop is on the corner so there has to be a join there. The upstands from Howdens only come in shorter lengths so that's why they are there. I'm not concerned where the joins are just that they are so obvious

fragles that's not correct. There is always a join there as you can see from everyone else's photos.

By the way I just checked my join- the filler in there is really hard, not like flexible mastic. I'm pretty sure it's epoxy resin.

Poor job OP.
Don't let it go.
It will bug you forever and spoil your enjoyment.

So he has just rung to say he is stuck on another job and can't get here till tomorrow or Friday morning. Grrrrr

It's not a poor job, you bought stone and this is the issue.

Just because it's not what you expected does not make it "wrong".

AAah

He fitted what you ordered

You ordered the wrong thing

So your fault

Sorry

@Brokenlightfitting it's not the length that's her problem it's the way they are connected as in they have used a clear filler when it should be the same colour or near as the worktop

Well I've solved the problem of one of the joins in the upstand. It's invisible now hahaha

So felicis and broken, how come everyone else's quartz doesn't look like that? It IS a poor job. It strikes me that Howdens shouldn't be fitting stone if they don't know how to fit it correctly.

Haha good job OP. Now just lay a tea towel over the long join and the job's a goodun!

So long as crumbs can’t get in it, I’m sure that you’ll soon get used to it once your kettle etc is in situ.
Things like this can drive you nuts when new then after a month or so you won’t even notice it.

My DH is a builder for 30+ years & he says join should have been filled with a specially mixed resin to match the colour of the worktop. Definitely not mastic/silicon.

I have quartz and the joins are nothing like that - they are visible but very nearly seamless. I’d be very unhappy if I was you.

@Andonandonan can I ask how you find the white quartz for staining/cleaning etc? Debating between white quartz or corian at the moment.

We had this issue too, I took pictures and sent them to the kitchen company who sent the fitter and they agreed with me, he came back the following week to fill in the gaps

@FoxInABox no issues at all. We’ve had it almost 2 years now and it still looks good as new.

I was glad one of the designers we spoke to persuaded us to go for a bit of a fleck as originally I wanted really plain white - she pointed out every speck of dust etc would show and actually it would have been bland without the fleck.

It is such a beautiful thing, I’m really glad we went for quartz & spent the extra. I also think it’s less likely to scratch than corian and I like the slightly cold feel whereas the corian samples we had just felt a bit plasticy.

Barkeeper’s friend is useful to have in for the odd mark that has appeared eg when dh left a teabag on the side for over a day!