Kitchen Reno - Granite!

Since this is our first kitchen renovation, I don't know how common this is, but we waited on putting doors on the cabinets until the granite counter top was installed.  We wanted to reduce the risk of any dings from people moving big things around.  Last week was Granite Day.  It was quite exciting as it meant a return to a true kitchen-like space for us.

The template guy came and was in and out in about 30 minutes.  He basically used what looked like thin plywood and shims and hot glue to create the exact shape of our kitchen counter.  He marked out where the sink and faucet would go, ,as well as noting any other special instructions (rounded corners, etc.).  Then about a week and a half later it was time for installation.  

Our kitchen was in 4 pieces of stone - two small ones and then 2 larger ones that were epoxied together.  To seal that seam, the installers used a pretty cool device that used vacuum pressure to push the two separate slab pieces together.  The resulting seam is so tiny, you really can't see it. 

Here's a photo from the installation - the white things on the counter grab the slabs and use a vacuum (hot a hoover - but a strong suction force powered by an air compressor) to pull the two pieces together.

The installers also put the sink in place. We opted not to have them attach the dishwasher as it would have needed to be leveled before the granite installers arrived.  We will attach it directly to the cabinets when it's ready.

So where are we?  Done?  Nope, but we are now back to having a usable kitchen space :)