Add a new countertop to your kitchen remodel Focal Point Studios is now selling granite, engineered stone, and solid surface countertops.  The average kitchen remodel can include both refinished cabinets and new granite countertops for less than $10,000!  Check out the Photo Gallery tab under this section for more pictures. For a lot less than the cost of refacing your cabinets you can get a beautiful custom finish AND new counters. Don't settle for overlays when, for the same price or less, you can have the real thing. The Fabrication Process Your countertops are only as good as the fabricator who transforms your stone slab into beautiful new countertops. Our fabricator utilizes state-of-the-art digital templating for exacting measurements. (No filling in ill-fitting edges with gobs of glue!) These digital pictures are then superimposed over the granite slab and are moved around to identify the best pattern match before cutting ever begins. Super fine cuts are possible through the use of ground-breaking technology that utilizes the cutting ability of high pressure water! (There are only two of these machines in town, and our guys have one of them.) Our fabricator stands behind their work, giving you the confidence that your counters have been professionally laid out, cut, polished and installed. Best of all, our relationship with our fabricator ensures all this technology, quality and lasting beauty is available to you at competitive prices. A Word of Caution With granite, you often get what you pay for. Beware of "great deals" as "the rest of the story" may make you want to cry! One trick that is sometimes employed to present a "competitive" bid is to omit some of the work. Specialty items that require extra costs may be omitted from the initial bid, as well as other items such as the labor to remove existing counters, the cost of building up the resulting surface for the new counters, and/or the plumbing and electrical disconnects and reconnects. The original price is then bumped after fabrication begins. Another trick is to purchase less product than optimally needed and "force" the pieces to fit, resulting in unseemly joints and cuts in potentially problematic locations. Here are some of the questions to ask and cautions to be aware of. Does the dealer purchase through a local fabricator stocking top quality granite? Some of those so-called "great deals" involve inferior stone and fabricators that aren't even located in the same state, let alone the same town! What happens when there's a problem? If the slab breaks who bears the cost? How much experience do the installers have? Who does the measurements and what kind of equipment do they have? Our fabricator is right here in Kansas City. They stand behind their work, stock only high grade material and state-of-the-art equipment, and if one of their slabs should break, they'll purchase a replacement at no cost to you. Their installers are employees with experience in countertop installation. Equipment is state-of-the-art. Read on to find out more. What kind of equipment is used to determine measurements? There's a big difference between eye-balling a tape measure and making exact measurements with digital templating equipment. The result of poor measurements is rarely a great fit! Ill-fitting corners and gaps can require lots of silicone to fill in the space! Our fabricator uses digital templating equipment for perfect measurements every time. How will the cuts be determined and where will they be placed? A "great deal" may be the result of a fabricator who's willing to cut corners (literally) by laying out the counter pieces based on how many will fit on a slab rather than how the pattern fits esthetically. This can result in noticeable joints where the edges that butt against one another don't have even remotely close patterns. It can also result in joints placed at highly noticeable areas or at problem points, such as over your dishwasher where heat can cause seam problems. Granite is a stone and, to get the best pattern match, adjoining pieces may actually have to come from far different areas of the slab. Some waste is to be expected if the end result is to be a beautiful, seamless looking counter. Because our fabricator uses digital imaging for templating, they are able to superimpose those pieces right on the granite slab and move the images around to determine the best pattern match. All this happens before the first cut is made. The result are counters that are beautiful, seamless looking, and with joints placed at the most inconspicuous places possible. Does the pricing include everything? As previously mentioned, it's important to be sure you're comparing apples to apples when obtaining more than one bid. At Focal Point Studios, we'll always give you the total picture. If there is anything that's optional, we'll let you know right up front. Our goal is your complete satisfaction, both before and during the remodel process, and for years after as you enjoy your new counters.
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