SFA

My countertop finally got installed last week. The owner of the fabricator came in yesterday to fix some problems. The faucet would hit the wall when the handle goes all the way to the back. He drilled the hole bigger to allow the faucet move away from the wall a little bit. But there is only certain amount he can do. The handle still hits the wall when open all the way back. Just not that much as before. It really bothers me. Also after he moved the faucet forward, the three holes on the counter will not line up. He said the other soap dispenser and water filler could have the space to move around a little bit. But I do not think they can move that much to line up with the faucet.

I believe if they move the sink forward a little bit and cut the hole closer to the sink, this problem will be avoided. But he said there is no room to move the sink forward. I know the only way to fix the problem is to redo this portion of the countertop which most likely he do not want to do it. Do you think this problem is acceptable to all of you?

Another thing is that the seam is not even all the way cross. At the corner of the seam, it is not even.The owner said the seam will never perfectly even. Is that true?

Thank you for any inputs. Really appreciated.

Without more information I cannot be 100% sure but, it may be a faucet/sink combination issue more than a fabricator issue.
If you rotate the fixture will that help?

Hi there,
That looks like Himalaya White Granite. If that's the case, then he's right about the sink. You can't bring it closer forward. The front rail will be too thin creating a structural concern. If it's quartz, he could move it a bit closer forward, but I wouldn't say that it's his requirement to do so. I'm assuming you provided the sink, and it's probably 17" wide? That doesn't leave you too much room to fit the faucet. They make faucets with handles that only go from vertical to toward the front of the sink. That might be a good option here.

As to the seam, it's not great. I don't know. There was some chipping along the front of the seam, and the glue went into those chips creating the unevenness you see there. My job, I'd fix it.

I hope that helps.
Alex

Thank you for your input, Dave. Which fixture are you referring?

Thank you very much, Alex. It is quartz. They brought my sink to their shop, but not faucet. I showed the faucet to them when the installation happened. Do you think it is a problem that the three holes does not lined up with each other?

Regarding the seam, I believe the reason causing the glue residue is that the two sides are not on the same level. Is it fixable? Do they have to take the slabs apart and put them together again?

You're welcome. It depends on the fixtures that are going into those holes. In the picture they look like they're significantly off, but only one hole has a fixture in it, which can be misleading. Are they off an 1/8 or a 1/4"? That's workable in my opinion. With that extra wide sink and what looks to be a rather thick faucet, they did standard placement for sink and faucet, but it just didn't fit, so he moved it forward to make it workable, creating the unevenness. I'm not saying they did everything right, but it's at least an understandable situation on the fabricator's part.

As to the seam, I'd have to be there, but my guess is that it would be a tricky repair to make perfect, but they could definitely improve upon it. Probably two options: You could fix it with a face polisher (the fabricator has to be good) or you can fix it by pulling them apart and cleaning the seams up. The face polisher isn't going to make it even, it's going to correct any differences in height along that seam (inevitable) making it almost go away in terms of texture. This won't address that aesthetically all that much, but the overall seam quality will be higher. Each is a fairly significant repair and will take some time.

Good luck,
Alex

Slabs are never perfectly flat. Unevenness across the seam is called lippage. you have some slight lippage is sounds like. If there is lippage at a seam on a quartz countertop we don not polish the seam flat. The lippage will remain. resetting the seam would result in the same amount of lippage. It appears from your photos that the sink is as far forward as possible. You bought a large sink. It really didnt have enough space behind it for that particular model faucet. As Alex pointed out they make faucets that look just like the one you purchased but the handles only pull forward. If you replace the current faucet with one that doesnt require so much space behind it then that problem will be solved.

I just measured the difference. The center of the faucet now and the center of the left hole is off about 9/16.

I thought they were going to polish the surface to remove a little bit from the higher side to bring them closer. But they did not. They used some fine sand paper and polished the glue a little bit by hand tying to make it feel better when touching. That is it.

Thank you, Colin. I think you are right. That is from the unevenness of the slabs because the rest of the seam is fine and only this area is uneven. So this is not fixable, unless we change to totally different slabs, right?

Is there a problem with a larger hole they cut for the faucet? Will it have more potential to leak? They made it quit a bit larger.

Twist the faucet.

It shouldn't leak as long as the escutcheon covers the hole

I will echo the sentiments above. Looks like a modern design, with minimal overhang over overlay doors. I believe the sink is in the correct place. Looks like you have a large sink for the cabinet, a sink that accommodates accessories by being extra deep. The faucet was the wrong choice for this configuration. Quartz slabs are never flat, and generally aren't surface repairable. Some can polish the face of quartz, no one that works for me can, and we are a very "high end" operation. I would replace the faucet, or twist it. Sounds like the fabricator stands behind his work, considering he came to see your issues in person. He deserves to be paid in full.

Alex DiPietro wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 26, 2020 10:24 am

I will echo the sentiments above. Looks like a modern design, with minimal overhang over overlay doors. I believe the sink is in the correct place. Looks like you have a large sink for the cabinet, a sink that accommodates accessories by being extra deep. The faucet was the wrong choice for this configuration. Quartz slabs are never flat, and generally aren't surface repairable. Some can polish the face of quartz, no one that works for me can, and we are a very "high end" operation. I would replace the faucet, or twist it. Sounds like the fabricator stands behind his work, considering he came to see your issues in person. He deserves to be paid in full.

Alex pretty much said exactly what I was thinking. Either turn the faucet where the control handle is in front or select another faucet. We clearly state in our contract that it is the homeowner's responsibility to make sure their faucet is going to work with their sink selection because of sinks like this that are larger in front to back depth than a standard undermount sink.

zyyz802:

Your fabricator blew your sink position; there's absolutely nothing wrong with your sink or faucet choice. That ugly fat poorly functioning front sink rail could be as thin as 2 3/8" (see below), not the 4-5" pictured. Had he done so, the faucet would have plenty of room. Once the sink is strapped, not clipped, in place it provides plenty of structural strength to the counterop. The sink supports the top with straps, it doesn't with clips.

Completely fabricator error.

You can dance a Conga line across this skinny rail:

Don't listen to Kowboy. He's a wanna be fabricator and nothing but a trouble maker. The other posts are telling you like it is.

Jeff H. wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 27, 2020 10:27 pm

Don't listen to Kowboy. He's a wanna be fabricator and nothing but a trouble maker. The other posts are telling you like it is.
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Jeff:

People come here for professional advice; ad hominem attacks against fellow participants are not only against the site rules, they aren't helpful to the people seeking help.

The "other posts" stating that the faucet is wrong and the sink is too large are incorrect. I have posted picture proof positive to substantiate my claim. You can make a case that I'm wrong or you can call me a "poopy head", or "troublemaker". Which do you think serves the OP and the community best please?

I hold a builders license (CBC1259693) and plumbing license (CFC1430430) in the state of Florida. My articles have appeared in Old House Journal and the Journal of Light Construction. The contract for my column on countertop repair was renewed for 4 consecutive years. I've run a successful sink replacement business that covers the southern coasts of Florida for several years. I've been a positive contributor here for a decade or so. Not bad for a "wanna be fabricator".

Avoiding what this conversation has dovetailed into, most fabricators treat the 4" sink rail as standard. Could they go narrower? Sure. Most of us don't; however. We don't because we want a product that is durable in the long-term and 4" accommodates a durable front-rail with a back-rail that can almost always fit the faucet the customer desires. Sadly, your set-up is not in that almost always.

Alex:

There is virtually no difference in the flexural strength between a 4" and a 2 3/8" front sink rail when that rail is supported by a strapped sink and once the top is properly installed on the cabinets. If you're using Sink Hole Savers, risks transporting the top to the job site is mitigated, no matter the depth of the rail(s).

There is simply no reason to install fat ugly water-catching front sink rails. You want enough room in the rear to get a rag back there to clean, not just shoehorn a faucet in.

Kowboy wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 27, 2020 4:00 pm

zyyz802:

Your fabricator blew your sink position; there's absolutely nothing wrong with your sink or faucet choice. That ugly fat poorly functioning front sink rail could be as thin as 2 3/8" (see below), not the 4-5" pictured. Had he done so, the faucet would have plenty of room. Once the sink is strapped, not clipped, in place it provides plenty of structural strength to the counterop. The sink supports the top with straps, it doesn't with clips.

Completely fabricator error.

You can dance a Conga line across this skinny rail:

IMG_0353.jpeg
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This sink is not the same as th op sink. Nice try kowboy

Tim:

True enough, but irrelevant. The OP's sink is apparently a Krause Kore. The dimensions are 32" x 19". Plenty of room to pull the sink forward: https://www.kraususa.com/kitchen/kitche ... ories.html

The sink I pictured is a Kohler Strive, 35" x 18 5/16", just 11/16" smaller than the Kore:https://www.us.kohler.com/webassets/kpn ... ler_en.pdf

Thanks so much for making my point that this is purely fabricator error. Take another shot please.

Kowboy wrote: ↑

Sun Nov 29, 2020 9:04 am

Tim:

True enough, but irrelevant. The OP's sink is apparently a Krause Kore. The dimensions are 32" x 19". Plenty of room to pull the sink forward: https://www.kraususa.com/kitchen/kitche ... ories.html

The sink I pictured is a Kohler Strive, 35" x 18 5/16", just 11/16" smaller than the Kore:https://www.us.kohler.com/webassets/kpn ... ler_en.pdf

Thanks so much for making my point that this is purely fabricator error. Take another shot please.

IMG_0352.jpeg
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So are you suggesting that the fabricator pull the sink so far forward as to make the false front tilt outward so as to catch all water that hits the front rail as it is in the photo where you retrofitted a bigger sink in an existing hole? Pretty sure my customers wouldn’t accept that. Just saying.....

[/quote]
So are you suggesting that the fabricator pull the sink so far forward as to make the false front tilt outward so as to catch all water that hits the front rail as it is in the photo where you retrofitted a bigger sink in an existing hole? Pretty sure my customers wouldn’t accept that. Just saying.....
[[/quote]

I am suggesting no such thing. I did not retrofit a bigger sink into an existing cutout. There is no bulging false drawer front. Pictures and math are kicking your a$$ today brother, but hey, go ahead and take another shot please.

Kowboy
You do nice work on saving rod jacked counters
I’m truly amazed at how you fix those messes
That being said
I don’t agree with you on this particular thread
There is a solution beyond recutting the cutout and bashing what all fabricators do as standard
I set all my sink cutouts at 3.875 “ period
I’m not dealing with a broken sink rail and a lot of materials people pick nowadays is certainly subject to failure with a smaller sink rail
Get a different faucet or turn the darn thing a bit and move on
My 2 cents

I would say the fabricator should of made you aware that the faucet would be tight if he was not willing to do a smaller rail. I cut front rails in quartz at 2 5/8" to 4" all day. As far as standards go it's my understanding we are all custom countertop fabricators and every situation is a custom one. I hope for your sake you and the fabricator can work the situation out. We have turned similar faucets sideways so the handle turns sideways rather than front to back. I would not do that without prior consent from the homeowner and they would have the option to get a smaller sink and possibly delay the install while shopping, but at least they had the choice.

Lester:

When you replace sinks for a living and see the same fabricator mistakes over and over again you quickly justify "bashing what all fabricators do as standard". I don't care if it's in the Natural Stone Institute's fabrication manual. Just because a lot of guys do it doesn't make it right. The "...but we've always done it this way..." mentality remains strong. If you're creating fat ugly dysfunctional faucet-crowding front sink rails and installing sinks with leaking clips, I'm going to call you on it unapologetically.

Kowboy wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 30, 2020 6:24 pm

Lester:

When you replace sinks for a living and see the same fabricator mistakes over and over again you quickly justify "bashing what all fabricators do as standard". I don't care if it's in the Natural Stone Institute's fabrication manual. Just because a lot of guys do it doesn't make it right. The "...but we've always done it this way..." mentality remains strong. If you're creating fat ugly dysfunctional faucet-crowding front sink rails and installing sinks with leaking clips, I'm going to call you on it unapologetically.
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I don’t do anything like that
I inform customers on oversized sinks
Cabinets that aren’t 24”
Some older cabinets are only 23-23.5 inches deep
Window sills that stick out to far etc etc
But I hold true to my setback