I found an ad for “white granite” on Craigslist. For only $60 there were two smaller pieces and one large one.
Luckily my son was visiting when we went to pick up the pieces because the large one especially was very heavy. The man who was selling the pieces was young and strong and so is my son so with a combination of leverage and sheer strength the pieces were loaded in the truck.
There was a label on one of the pieces that when researched confirmed that the material was not granite but a luxury version of Corian quartz.
There were only the two of us to unload the pieces but after some preliminary cutting we were able to slide them off the truck onto the rolling carts we have on hand from an earlier Craigslist deal.
I cut the pieces to length and width and started the finish work. One edge of the longer piece was not even so I used a board to grind down the edge. I also used the diamond pads and the dry variable speed polisher on the edges.
After the pieces were cut to length we were able to transport the counters to the kitchen cabinets. I had reinforced the edges of the cabinets with strips of plywood screwed into the corner braces. I purchased the surface clamp used to draw the pieces together when gluing them. It is on the counter in the photo.
My son helped muscle the cut pieces on to the counter and wanted to maintain the 45 degree angled edge now only on an extra piece. Cutting the granite edge was difficult and I feared that getting the 45 degrees straight by hand was impossible. So we asked about professional finishing and installation. The bathroom quartz installers were willing to do the job for $800 but since it was a couple of thousand dollars worth of material he decided to do it. Here the installer are arriving with the bathroom quartz.
The installers set up the pieces outside for last minute fitting.
The counters were edge cut and installed professionally in the kitchen.
Unfortunately I had the 45 degree angle cut piece in the kitchen and when the installers picked up the pieces they took that one too and did not return it. They probably discarded it! I had enough pieces without it but I would have found a use for it.
The white quartz is perfect for the kitchen. So much cleaner looking than the speckled laminate countertops.
We still have to install the special tile backsplash.