Counters Make Us Happy

That's right. Kitchen counters are the kind of thing that we look forward to. This really is, though, the centerpiece of this entire project. When our contractor, Matt, took us to the granite warehouse (those in the trade call it a stoneyard...and now I will, too!) in New Haven he told us that some of the pieces in there were better suited for hanging on a wall as a piece of art than as mere kitchen counters. Luckily, those particular types of exotic stone were easily ruled out due to...financial considerations. But we found a piece from Brazil that we thought suited us (and our "budget"), the same country that brought us bossa nova, Carnaval and Ronaldo. Although it sounds redundant, the piece we chose was very "rocky." Some of the pieces in the stoneyard looked like bamboo, others looked like a cross section of a riverbed. Pictures, sadly, don't do it justice, kind of like that photo album of your vacation that you show at work and your colleagues feign interest.

Gyula, our granite fabricator, did an amazing job of matching up 2 pieces near a corner so that they look like one, lining up a couple of veins and matching color perfectly. The length of our counter made it impossible to cut a single piece. It was close, but I guess Green Ocean slabs aren't as long as some. And because Erika and I are so environmentally conscious (oil-based primer and paint aside), we used the entire slab of granite! Of course, if we were really committed to being green we could have used concrete or glass or recycled spotted owls for our countertops...

Our island has its piece resting on top as we have yet to fix it to the floor. After the stove is installed in we will move the island (and amazing granite top) to its final resting place!