Do affordable granite worktops really exist? Really?

[SarkyWench]

yeah, I know. Another worktop thread...

I'd resigned myself to laminate but I keep hearing people say that if you avoid the companies with fancy showrooms and buy online then granite can be affordable.

Are they talking crap?
If not, where do I look? It is a lot of money to spend at some random online company...

We got ours from a dodgy place off a roundabout in Croydon, called NV Granite and Marble. DH's idea. Nobody was more surprised than I was when they actually turned up with the granite, fitted it beautifully and then came back the next day after we rang to say we had a small snagging issue that they immediately sorted out. All for a fraction of the cost of the glossy showroom places. They may well do Internet sales too, I don't know.

We bought travertine and marble tiles for the kitchen and bathrooms from online companies. One batch was very poor quality, the company agreed to a refund but we had to pay the transport cost to send it back. The rest was fine and we were very happy with it. Again, it cost a fraction of glossy showroom prices.

Ooh, Croydon based granite work surfaces !

One thing to bear in mind is that granite is much heavier than other worktops, so your units must be strong enough to support it.

Can I ask for links for your travertine and marble tile sources pretty please? I need to start sourcing materials to kit out 3 bathrooms plus downstairs loo.

That was directed to Rhubarbgarden btw

Not sure what your budget is, but we sourced our granite direct when we did our kitchen a couple of years back. Ours cost about £2k for three fairly large pieces (work tops and island) and a small end piece. We bought ours from Romany granite in Pudsey.

Sorry Myron it was five years ago and I don't have the details any more. I only remember the name of the Croydon granite place because I drive past there sometimes. But having thought about it, I would recommend the eBay based companies rather than online ones just plucked from google - then if the quality is crap you've got some recourse. The bad batch that we got was just sourced from googling and quite frankly we were lucky to get any money back at all, now I come to think about it.

Try Diapol (google search it) we paid less than half the price we were quoted from other suppliers and it looks fantastic (galaxy star is the one we have) they come with samples and measure and fit nationwide as well. You can get your own online quote with their online calculator. They will check that your units are strong enough to support it when they measure.

Funny you should say that.....we got ours from this appropriately-named company who are based near Gatwick. Dead easy, excellent price.

They will send you samples, so you can see what you're getting.

Its been long since we had our worktops done.But i still remember this company that did it. It was discount granite worktops (DGW), you can type to search the company on google. The way those guyz did the installation is way beyond appreciation. Amazingly fast and skilled granite professionals and we had our kitchen done in just 2 days.

Second diapol - I got five quotes and they were half the price of the second cheapest. Did a fab job and still looks ace 8 years on.

Diapol are fab. Our granite work top came from them in our last house, they did a super job at a great price

we went to a local stone mason, who was brilliant and reasonably priced. They templated, checked the strength of our units and fitted the tops brilliantly. Have you asked your local stonemasons if they offer this service? I was also reassured by the fact that if anything went wrong they had an actual premises to visit.

The mistake I made was pricing it in 1m lengths (as that's what their bloody online planning tools use). However they use a set length the same as a length of laminate, so you pay for the wastage.

If I had known that I could have designed my kitchen around it.

I don't think I explained that well. But I know that if I had realised I could have rearranged things to take into account the lengths the granite came in.