Quartz miter join (upstand/worktop)

[oranjeboom]

Templater came our to errr....template the kitchen today. First of all after me confirming with the worktop company that they would only be needing x2 20mm quartz sheets for the work surfaces and upstands etc, it turns out that I am likely to need 4 sheets ( I did ask them at least 2x, but they were adamant!). Not a great start so now I'm waiting for a cost adjustment on that one in addition to the extra £300 for polishing for an undermounted sink.

 

Main question I have now though is around the island which will have an upstand(downstand?) either end of the unit. both ends needed a miter join:

 

 

So today I am told that he's never seen a good join, and that it's not recommended. He suggested to have a 20mm overhang which I guess makes his job a lot easier also! But clearly that's not what we wanted from the pics we sent the company, so why now tell us this?? I have seen quite a few mitered joins in show rooms etc, but is there a real issue with these in a real kitchen setting? What are people's experience?  If it's properly glued and sealed and then smooth/polished on site what risk is there? Staining in the join if the seal wears away? This is the profile I was hoping for:

 

 

I personally don't like seeing an overhang especially if the side is quartz also:

 

 

For once I have not paid them any money upfront! I don't want to be back on here in a few weeks time with another quartz join bodge job!

 

[ryder72]

All signs point towards a dodgy fabricator - price went up, Cant or wont do mitres etc.

 

There is nothing wrong with a mitred downleg unless your kitchen sits on a floating floor. If its a floating floor (like floorboards etc) then mitres are a bad idea as they could open up in time. If its  solid floor (concrete/screed) then there is absolutely no reason not to have a mitred join.  It will last as long as the kitchen itself.

[ToughButterCup]

6 minutes ago, oranjeboom said:

[...]

He suggested to have a 20mm overhang which I guess makes his job a lot easier also! But clearly that's not what we wanted from the pics we sent the company, so why now tell us this??

[...]

 

If it really is a suggestion: you don't need to accept it. 

 

10 minutes ago, oranjeboom said:

[...]

today I am told that he's never seen a good join, and that it's not recommended. 

[...]

 

He's that inexperienced is he? Hmmm.

[bassanclan]

I would ask him to take you to one of his jobs where he has mitred it. If he can't then say goodbye!

[nod]

It may not be on any use to you 

I fitted all our kitchen but left the quarts to the exsperts 

There seem to be two major players 

Both in my neck of the woods 

One at Southport The other 3 miles away in Preston

Granite U.K. 

We went with Granite UK The more expensive of the two

It took six to carry the the island worktop in and they were going to kick there shoes off on the way in

There guy that came to do the templates spent four hours checking and re checking 

 

There’s only a small amount that I haven’t done myself and the few bits I’ve brought a contractor in

Ive not been happy with 

 

Onthe day the wofktops where fitted I was tied up at another job

Im quite picky ( Very) 

They did a faultless job

 

im not sure how comitted you are 

But a may be worth giving these guys a try

 

[AliG]

Is the worktop in Silestone?

 

Silestone comes in 2 sizes 306x140mm and some colours come in jumbo slabs 325x159mm. Not sure how you could need 4 slabs,  unless they think of it in strips.

 

We have a 60mm deep worktop on the island, it is created by a mitred joint round the entire perimeter of the island which is over 8m, we were going to do your design originally but changed it. The join is less than 1mm wide all the way round and you can only see it by looking closely, day to day I never notice it, it is much tighter than a worktop join. They are talking nonsense about not seeing good mitre joints. It sound like they just don't want to do it. I would certainly worry about their ability to do it.

 

Mitred joints will add somewhat to the cost though, they are quite awkward to do as they involve cutting the quartz quite thin. But they aren't unusual at all.

 

An overhang would look awful.

Edited January 10, 2019 by AliG

[oranjeboom]

15 hours ago, ryder72 said:

All signs point towards a dodgy fabricator - price went up, Cant or wont do mitres etc.

 

There is nothing wrong with a mitred downleg unless your kitchen sits on a floating floor. If its a floating floor (like floorboards etc) then mitres are a bad idea as they could open up in time. If its  solid floor (concrete/screed) then there is absolutely no reason not to have a mitred join.  It will last as long as the kitchen itself.

 

He did mention they were flat out with work and reading between the lines the whole setup seems a bit chaotic so I suspect the stone cutter's been telling the templater(s) to keep their designs as simple as possible.

 

I've got concrete floor which will have have a laminate floor which will need to 'move' due to the UFH, so the plan was to have a couple of support 'wedges' under each slab to take the weight.

 

15 hours ago, recoveringacademic said:

If it really is a suggestion: you don't need to accept it. 

 

Oh, I won't be!! His boss will be annoyed that she's lost the work and won't be getting a penny from for the templating either.

 

 

14 hours ago, bassanclan said:

I would ask him to take you to one of his jobs where he has mitred it. If he can't then say goodbye!

 

Well i could, but now that he's mentioned it to start off with I really have lost faith already. Any jobs he sends me to may not be his in anycase and the last thing I want his to be replacing his work later on.

 

14 hours ago, nod said:

It may not be on any use to you 

I fitted all our kitchen but left the quarts to the exsperts 

There seem to be two major players 

Both in my neck of the woods 

One at Southport The other 3 miles away in Preston

Granite U.K. 

We went with Granite UK The more expensive of the two

It took six to carry the the island worktop in and they were going to kick there shoes off on the way in

There guy that came to do the templates spent four hours checking and re checking 

 

There’s only a small amount that I haven’t done myself and the few bits I’ve brought a contractor in

Ive not been happy with 

 

Onthe day the wofktops where fitted I was tied up at another job

Im quite picky ( Very) 

They did a faultless job

 

im not sure how comitted you are 

But a may be worth giving these guys a try

 

 

I'm not picky, but just want a decent service for a change. Just fed up with trades buggering things up and me having to deal with their sh1t. I always tend to be in the vicinity when they are doing their job, not looking over their shoulders but at least in the area to be checking to see what and how they are progressing. But have had to step in and say...."urrrrgh.....have you tried doing it this way....?". Just the other week I had to get the company who supplied me with a window to replace their bodged up beading (wrong lengths, dodgy angles). I went to get the gorilla a coffee and during that time he must have miss-hit the beading with his glazing hammer and cracked a corner of the glass. Just discovered that the other day. It's only 40mm long and you can hardly see it, but I know it's there and will have to get that sorted again also. Ineptitude everywhere.

 

Back to the kitchen....thanks for the supplier links. Not sure if they have a local branch, but I'm going to go back to the kitchen company as they have a quartz supplier who were able to do the job (and miter!) but didn't have the same stone that we were after, so we'll just have to get a substitute.

 

12 hours ago, AliG said:

Silestone comes in 2 sizes 306x140mm

 

Thanks, but we will need some bigger slabs than that. I can imagine mitering all those small pieces will lead to issues!!  

 

No it was not Silestone  found them to be very expensive. But yeah, the one we were going for did not have the slabs in jumbo format, only in standard (hence them saying we would be needing 4 sheets instead of 2 all of a sudden. Doh).

 

12 hours ago, AliG said:

It sound like they just don't want to do it. I would certainly worry about their ability to do it.

12 hours ago, AliG said:

An overhang would look awful.

 

Yes, requires more thinking, prepping and careful cutting.

 

Overhangs have their merit but with our design, it will just look like an obvious failure.