Real Calgary installs
17 of our 100+ Calgary installs, photographed after the job was finished.
Kitchens and islands
Bathrooms and vanities
Commercial spaces
How to read a countertop gallery
A gallery is marketing. It is still one of the more useful things on a fabricator's website, as long as you know what to look at. Most people scroll looking for a stone they like. The stone is the easy part, and you can change your mind about it right up until the slab is cut. The workmanship is the part you live with for twenty years, and a fair amount of it is visible in a photograph once you know where to look.
Seams
The right question is where the seam is, not whether there is one. Any run longer than a slab needs a seam, and so does most L-shaped and U-shaped work. Good seam work puts the join somewhere structurally sensible and visually quiet, holds both pieces dead level with each other, and carries the pattern across the join where the stone allows. If every photo on a website is framed so that you can never see a seam, that is worth a question.
The sink reveal
Under an undermount sink the stone is polished back to expose a sliver of the sink rim. The word that matters is even. A reveal that is fatter at one end than the other is a templating or cutting error, and photos shot from above show it plainly. Look at the corners of the cutout too, where sloppy work tends to show first.
The front edge
Sight down the front edge for a straight line and an even polish, especially where two pieces meet at a corner and where the profile wraps the end of a run. An edge that looks slightly wavy in a photo usually looks the same in person.
Overhang and support
Islands and eating bars have stone cantilevered past the cabinet. Past a certain point that overhang needs steel or corbels underneath, and the honest answer to "does mine need support" depends on the material, the thickness and how far it hangs. Any fabricator should be able to tell you before install day, not after.
Where stone meets wall
Calgary walls are rarely straight, especially in older homes. Look at the caulk line behind the counter. A thin, even line means the piece was scribed to the wall. A thick wandering bead of silicone means a gap is being filled rather than fitted.
Cutouts and holes
Cooktop, faucet, soap dispenser, air switch, filtered water tap. These should land where the fixture and the person using it need them, with the faucet holes drilled to the spread of the faucet you actually bought. Bring the faucet spec to the measure and this stops being a risk.
Why the same stone looks like two different stones
Two photos of the same named stone can look almost unrelated, and both can be completely honest. It catches people out constantly, so it is worth understanding before you fall in love with a picture.
Natural granite, marble and quartzite are cut from a quarried block. The veining moves as the saw works through the block, so consecutive slabs are relatives, not twins, and a slab from a different block can be a different animal altogether. Engineered quartz is manufactured in batches, and the pattern lands on each slab where it lands, so a bold calacatta can be dramatic on one slab and quiet on the next.
Then there is light. A north-facing Calgary kitchen in February and the same kitchen under warm pot lights in the evening will show you two different colours off the same counter. This is the entire reason we bring physical samples to the in-home measure instead of asking you to choose from a screen, and the reason we would rather you see the actual slab before it is cut.
If you love a look on this page, note the caption and call us. We will tell you what is available now, what the current slabs actually look like, and what the honest substitute is if that exact stone has moved on.
Questions worth asking about any project photo
Ask these of us, and ask them of everyone else you are quoting. The answers tell you more about how a job will go than the photo does.
- ✓Which exact stone is that, by name and colour code? A named stone with a code can be priced, sourced and verified. "White quartz" cannot, and a quote written against a vague description is a quote that can quietly change material.
- ✓Who cut this, and who answers for it if a seam is wrong? Many countertop companies, us included, have an established fabrication shop cut the stone. That is normal. What matters is whose name is on your contract, because that company owns the result. Ask who templates, who cuts, who installs, and who you call if something is off.
- ✓Can I see the actual slab my top will be cut from? Not a sample chip, not a website swatch. The slab.
- ✓Where will my seams go, and will you show me on the drawing? Seam placement should be a decision you were told about, not a surprise on install day.
- ✓Is removing and hauling away the old countertop in the price? Get it in writing either way.
- ✓Is this quote firm after template, or an estimate that can move? An estimate that grows after the tops are already ordered is the single most common complaint homeowners have about this trade.
Our answers, for the record: an established Calgary fabrication shop we partner with cuts every job, your contract is with us so we answer for the result, we show you the slab, we walk you through seam placement before it is cut, and you get a written itemized quote within 24 hours of the measure.
These are our own jobs
Every image on this page is a countertop we templated and installed, photographed in a real Calgary home or business after the job was finished. There is no stock kitchen photography and no supplier catalogue renders on this page.
If you want to see more of something specific, a particular stone, a waterfall island, a full-height backsplash, a job in your part of the city, call and ask. We will send more photos of that exact thing rather than a brochure.
Rated by Calgary homeowners.
See one of these in your own kitchen
Free in-home measure, real slabs to look at, written itemized quote within 24 hours.