In a recent article written by the Foundation Finance Company, in conjunction with data from Realtor.com, states that the kitchen has now become the most valuable room in real estate. Are you surprised? In this day and age, the kitchen culture lends itself to a room much like a living room – one that you just so happen to cook in from time to time.
Why has the kitchen become the most valuable room in the home? No matter how large or small a kitchen’s square footage, it’s the room with the largest value packed into it. We’re talking about the top features that add cost value to a home; they happen to be all in the same room. Realtor.com identifies these top four features in a home as: custom cabinetry, kitchen islands, creative lighting and countertops.
Knowing how much value goes into one room of your home, it’s important to be an expert on those four top features. As experts in the area of all things countertops, it’s essential to us to help our clients understand where the real value is when remodeling their kitchens. With that, what red flags to look for while kitchen countertop shopping.
We asked our Tithof sales team for their top 5 red flags to watch out for while engaging in the kitchen countertop shopping experience:
Seam location
Most countertop jobs are impossible to complete without a seam or two. However, the subject of seams should never be glazed over. Knowing how many and each seam location is crucial to acquire from your sales rep.
Our CNC machined joints and patterned match software allow for the best possible outcome of a natural stone joint.
Slab sizes
Islands are one of those top valued features of a kitchen, and they can also be a tool for an amateur sales rep to be vague in detail. Make sure if your project includes a kitchen island that the slabs you are looking at are large enough to accommodate, not only the island size, but a bit of extra for cutting and overhang.
With kitchen island overhangs comes an unfinshed, rough underside that is another red flag to be mindful of. Raw granite can be extremely rough and has been known to snag clothing and scrape skin. Tithof provides a smooth surface on the underside of all overhangs as a little extra finishing touch.
Patterning
Patterning on slabs can be the silent killer of a project and secretly blow your budget out of the water. Sometimes, because of a slab’s pattern, the best layout may be calling for more slabs than your budget allows.
To ensure complete satisfaction, Tithof offers all of our clients a digital layout, prior to any cutting, to show the best matched vein patterning, paired with the most cost-efficient use of material.
Slab quantity
It seems like an elementary detail, but many people tend to glaze over the actual number of slabs necessary to complete a job. As much as one whole slab can quietly get added to a project for completion, unnoted to the customer until the final surprise invoice. The number of slabs that are necessary to complete a job will absolutely affect the final project cost.
Viewing your slab
Believe it or not, some customers aren’t ever able to view their slabs before they are fabricated. Because natural stones like granite, marble and quartzite are quarried from the earth, they’re all different. Even 30 slabs cut from the same block can have incredible variance in vein and patterning. Be sure you are shown your slab before it’s cut, so that you can approve every little detail.
The most informed and prepared customer is the one with the most satisfaction upon project completion. Review these red flags and research others online before beginning the fun process of kitchen countertop shopping for your renovation project. And know that adding value to your home doesn’t always have to mean breaking the bank!