12/09 We recently installed Ceasarstone in our home: kitchen, island, hall nook, and fireplace. The island has a large single 4x10' single slab, the kitchen 25' of countertop and a backsplash to the ceiling. The work was near perfect as we could expect. Our biggest concern for our project was high quality seams. Venice Tile and Marble nailed it. Tight seams and color matched epoxy filler make it almost undetectable unless you look really closely. We worked with Rudy (fabrication manager), Armen (accounting) and the jobsite foreman. All were professional, friendly, helpful, courteous, patient and knowledgeable. We got to watch the entire process from templating, to cutting, to installation. They have excellent process and quality control.
We hired Venice Tile and Marble after shopping carefully surveying 5 other Bay Area suppliers:
Union Stone in Santa Clara - Lowest cost, marginal communication (my wife could speak Mandarin with the owner but I can't), reference jobsite we visited had glaring flaws (non-square corners, gaps, etc.). We told them about our disappointment and they said that that project used the "B-team" and that we would get the "A-team". Ha! No thanks.
Truestone Distributing in S. San Francisco - Very good over the phone, fast quotes, great communication. Visited 3 jobsites (1 in Atherton, 2 in SF) hoping to be impressed but disappointed. Large seams, poor color matching. Too bad.
The Countertop Store of San Carlos Good communication. Highest price by 30%.
Greco Granite in Redwood City - Solid work, fast competitive quote, one man shop at the time. Artisan. Decided not a good match for our project. Wanted a larger firm.
We visited the shops of all vendors and Venice seemed the most knowledgeable and professional. They were our last choice as we thought their pricing would be the highest having seen the huge natural stone yard. Yet they turned out to be competitive. Their material cost for Ceasarstone was initially unusually high but when I told them that the price of a slab should not exceed $1000 they verified and dropped the pricing inline with others. The labor cost, otherwise was comparable to everyone else. read more