The Prefab Kitchen

In the granite industry, a countertop that has a laminate prior to being sold is called a "pre-fab". These countertops come in handy because the work necessary to turn granite into a countertop is mostly done. Once a homeowner has chosen a prefab color, all a granite installer needs to do with a pre-fab is to make a couple key cuts to fit it into place, and a cabinet can quickly have a luxury stone countertop.

Prefab Countertop Colors

Prefabs are produced in bulk, mainly in countries like China, and shipped to the United States at very low prices. These counters are also considered to be of reasonable cost, since the labor cost of custom fabrication is not really needed. The convenience of prefabs are great for the common and simple bathroom vanity, but are they equally economical in a kitchen?

The layout of a kitchen is the determining factor of whether prefabs are economical or not. A small galley kitchen might be easily re-modeled with prefabs, if one 8 foot stretch of granite can be installed along each side. This works because the two separately manufactured prefab granite countertops are most likely not from matching slabs of granite. In a galley kitchen, the walkway separating the two tops could be enough space to fool the eye into thinking that the prefabs are the exact same color.

Some prefab veining is hard to match at the seam.

When a kitchen has seams, or places where two separate pieces of granite need to be joined together, the prefab kitchen begins to run into issues. For example: by the time prefabs arrive to a Nipomo, California distributor such as Natural Stone Source, the chances of two different prefabs born from the exact same part of the mountain is incredibly unlikely. The countertops may look very similar, but when butted up next to one another, the color and pattern will probably vary quite a bit.

Prefabs with tiny colors and predictable pattern are tough to seam in the world of prefabs, but a prefab with any sort of stripe is another story altogether. A prefab with a vein running through it can never be adequately seamed to another prefab. To successfully seam the running pattern of granite veins, at least two uncut slabs of granite are needed in order for careful layout, and accurate matching at the seam.

These angles are impossible to accomplish from prefabs
 without extensive seaming. 

Any custom kitchen will be hard to cover with prefabs as well. If there are wall outcrops, varied countertop widths, bar tops, or a peninsula, you will find that prefabricated countertops carry a high waste factor. Furthermore, while prefab peninsulas are generally available, you may find the cost per square foot of material to exceed what you would pay for raw slab material, even when you end up with a prefab that is bigger or smaller than what you needed.

This 8" bartop width would have left a lot of waste
 if fabricated from prefab countertops.

Ultimately, a kitchen will look better with custom cut and fabricated granite slabs over the prefabricated counter. In order to get what you pay for, and be happy with your project, starting from scratch is really the best plan for stone kitchen countertops.

To see our selection of both prefab countertop colors as well as granite and marble slabs, please visit our main website www.nssgranite.com