Another common design question with our kitchen refacing and remodeling clients is what to do with the backsplash.

There are four popular choices…

1)  The first option is to do a “Standard 4-inch Splash” in the same granite as the counters, like this kitchen…

… or this kitchen…

2)  The second option is to do a “Full Splash” – solid granite straight up the wall, usually in the same granite as the counters…

3)  Option number 3 is “Custom Tile.”  Here’s where the pattern possibilities are limitless – from rather simple checkered patterns to very ornate mosaics, the only limitation is your (or your designers) creativity…

4)  Can’t decide between “Custom Tile” and a “Full Splash”?  Your fourth choice is a “Hybrid” installation of both…

The best of both worlds – the drama of granite and the engaging charm of custom tile.

Whatever your vision for your kitchen remodel or cabinet refacing project – the award winning designers at Republic West will help you bring it to life!

Contact Republic West today for AZ kitchen designs and other home improvement services including window replacement, door replacement, cabinet refacing, kitchen and bath remodeling, and room additions. Call 480-481-9595 for your free consultation.

Now that we’ve had a chance to review how granite slabs are made, let’s take a closer look at the varieties of granite.

First of all, granite is divided into 5 major pricing groups.  The pricing is basically based on two factors:

1) market forces (how far away the slab is from, the exchange rate of the country it’s from, etc.),
2) natural beauty.

Some granites don’t necessarily cost any more on the “market forces” side of the equation, BUT they’ve got a particular “look” that commands a higher price – just like art.

Lower group granites tend to (but don’t always) have a more consistent look, like this Baltic Brown:

Higher group granites, on the other hand, tend to (but don’t always) have more “motion” or “flow” to the look of the slab, like this Serengeti Gold:

Another reason for a granite to command a higher price is a unique look like this Galaxy Black.  It’s hard to capture its’ beauty in a photo, but in real life it looks like stars in a jet black sky…

Here are some more popular granites…  Azul Bahia…  If you think “ooh!” when you see a granite, that usually means it costs more…Espirito Santo…Golden Ridge…Another indicator of price is how hard the name is to say, like this “Vitoria Regia Anticato”…When you’re doing a kitchen refacing or remodel project, you don’t want to have to go it alone.  Our award winning designers will help you through every step of the design process to help you find the perfect mix of wood, door style and countertops to get you exactly what you had in mind!

Contact Republic West today for Tempe granite countertops and other home improvement services including window replacement, door replacement, cabinet refacing, kitchen and bath remodeling, and room additions. Call 480-481-9595 for your free consultation.

Now let’s take a closer look at granite countertops.  Before we take a look at the specifics of the different varieties, let’s learn a little more about where it comes from and how it’s made… from the quarry to your countertop…

It all starts at the quarry… not just any granite will do – it’s got to be structurally solid and have the right look too…

Here’s a great close-up to give you a feel for the sheer size of this operation…

The granite is cut from the quarry into large “blocks”…

The blocks are then cut into “slabs” with huge saws…

Here are some slabs just off the saw…

Next, it’s off to get polished… starting with a very rough grit all the way down to a fine perfectly smooth finish…

Then, the polished slabs get loaded onto huge cargo ships…

And trucked to indoor slab yards like Arizona Tile in Tempe…

Where you get to pick your own “perfect” slab…

And it becomes the centerpiece of your gorgeous new kitchen…

Contact Republic West today for Scottsdale granite countertops and other home improvement services including window replacement, door replacement, cabinet refacing, kitchen and bath remodeling, and room additions. Call 480-481-9595 for your free consultation

First, let’s take a closer look at Engineered Granite (also called Quartz Composite).

Engineered granite is usually around 95% quartz and 5% synthetic resin.

Quartz is one the most abundant minerals on the planet – it’s the main component of granite, glass, and sand, and it’s really durable… only diamond, sapphire and topaz are harder.

The other component of the counters is synthetic resin – made from distillates of crude oil.

In a nutshell, Engineered Granite is basically sand and gravel mixed with plastic and dyes for color.

Because Engineered Granite is man-made, there’s a huge variety of “grains” and colors available.

First, the “grain” can vary all the way from very smooth:

To “medium”:

To “super chunky”:

This example above is almost like Terrazzo flooring, which is made through a very similar process.

The look just depends on the size of the granite chunks and the pigment colors added to the mixture.

As for color, there is a huge selection – from mellow “Earth tones” to vibrant reds you could never find in real granite…

Republic West offers all of the most popular brands of Engineered Granite including:  Silestone, Caesarstone, Cambria, and Zodiaq.

Our showroom at 8101 E. McDowell (southeast corner of McDowell and Hayden in Scottsdale) has a very large selection of Engineered Granite counter samples in stock.

If you’re looking for the convenience of zero maintenence and like the look, Engineered Granite counters are definately a great option to consider.

Contact Republic West today for Phoenixgranite countertops and other home improvement services including window replacement, door replacement, cabinet refacing, kitchen and bath remodeling, and room additions. Call 480-481-9595 for your free consultation

The only two countertop products to get an “A” rating from Consumer Reports are Granite and Engineered Granite.  Our kitchen remodel clients often ask “What’s best?”  The answer is – it’s really up to you, they’re both great in their own ways.

Here’s a quick comparison:

Granite Advantages:

• It’s by far the most popular choice, representing easily over 90% of new remodel installs.

• Great for resale as it’s universally understood as a quality upgrade.

• You get to choose your slab from a large slab yard with a vast selection.

• Natural beauty and “presence” to the material (for most people, though not everybody likes granite)

Granite Downside:

• Sealing is recommended once a year.  The manufacturers of Engineered Granite really push this as a big downside (Engineered Granite does not require sealing) though sealing is very easy – spray it on and wipe it off.  Plus it’s fair to assume that the vast majority of people never seal their granite and never have any problems.

Engineered Stone Advantages:

• Does not require sealing.

• Does not have any natural ‘flow’ or imperfections – this is an upside for the smaller group of people who don’t like the natural look of granite.

Engineered Stone Downsides:

• You don’t get to choose your slab – your only color choice is the small sample tiles provided by the manufacturer.

• Homogeneous appearance  (again this is an upside for the people who don’t like the natural look of granite.)

• A less common design choice (it represents at best 10% of the market)

In the end?  Get what you’re happy with.

Now that we’ve done a quick overview of the comparisons between Granite and Engineered Stone – let’s take a deeper look at them individually…

Contact Republic West today for AZ granite countertops and other home improvement services including window replacement, door replacement, cabinet refacing, kitchen and bath remodeling, and room additions. Call 480-481-9595 for your free consultation

The next key decision is what to use for countertops.

Here are your most common choices, by popularity:

1)  Granite
2)  Engineered granite (synthetic quartz or quartz composite)
3)  Formica
4)  Corian, ‘HI-MACS’ or “solid surface”

The vast majority of our kitchen reface and kitchen remodel projects choose granite or “Engineered Granite.”  Before we take a look at these most popular options, let’s take a look at Formica and Corian.

Corian and HI-MACS (solid surface).  Corian was developed by DuPont in the 1970′s.  HI-MACS is a similar product made by LG in Korea.  For years solid surface was the gold-standard of what people got as an upgrade from Formica.  Nowadays, it’s a tiny fraction of new installations.  Be careful, some of the Big Box stores still push it like it’s still in style – don’t be fooled, it’s not.  For not much more or the same price, you can have the much better choice of granite which we’ll get to in a bit.

Next we have Formica.  Formica was invented in 1912 as a replacement “for mica.”  If price and “bang-for-your-buck” are key, Formica is something to consider.  There are thousands of color and finish varieties to choose from – here’s a tiny sample:

You can see it has come a long way since the faux wood look of the 1970′s.  Many of the selections have actually done a respectable job of looking pretty close to granite.

Next, we’ll take a closer look at the by far most popular choices in new kitchens today – Granite and Synthetic Granite.

Contact Republic West today for AZ countertop designs and other home improvement services including window replacement, door replacement, cabinet refacing, kitchen and bath remodeling, and room additions. Call 480-481-95955 for your free consultation

The majority of our kitchen remodel and refacing clients end up going with a Raised Panel door.  There are no right or wrong answers amongst the doors – it’s all a matter of personal taste.  If you want to stay more ‘inside the box’ design wise – the Raised Panel door is the way to go.

Here’s a common example of a Raised Panel door:

Here’s a great example of a Raised Panel door kitchen:

Coming up next, we’ll take a closer look at your next key descision after your door style – the countertops.

Contact Republic West today for Scottsdale custom cabinet designs and other home improvement services including window replacement, door replacement, cabinet refacing, kitchen and bath remodeling, and room additions. Call 480-481-9595 for your free consultation.

After the Slab Door, the next most common door style is the Recessed Panel door.  Simply put, this is a door where the center panel “goes in.”  Here’s a very common example of a recessed panel door – the “Shaker” door:

Depending upon the wood type and hardware you choose, this door style can be used in either a more contemporary look:

Or a more classic oldworld or farmhouse look:

Or, somewhere inbetween:

As you can see, the Recessed Panel door is very versatile and certainly worth considering for your design.  Next, let’s take a look at the most common door by far – the Raised Panel Door.

Contact Republic West today for Phoenix custom cabinet designs and other home improvement services including window replacement, door replacement, cabinet refacing, kitchen and bath remodeling, and room additions. Call 480-481-9595 for your free consultation.

Beyond the ‘species’ of wood you choose, the next key step in designing a kitchen remodel or refacing project is the door style.  There are three major categories of doors:  Raised Panel, Recessed Panel and Slab.  We’ll start our design overview with the least common choice – the slab door.

A slab door is simply a flat piece of wood…

Slab doors are typically used in very contemporary or minimalist designs…

Depending upon the room, you can also go for a Bauhaus retro or Scandinavian modern feel.  Slab doors are striking and gorgeous, but not so common in the big picture – definitely an “outside the box” style selection.

Next, let’s take a look at the Recessed Panel door…

Contact Republic West today for AZ custom cabinet designs and other home improvement services including window replacement, door replacement, cabinet refacing, kitchen and bath remodeling, and room additions. Call 480-481-9595 for your free consultation.

Oak is the definition of the Craftsman look.  Any really expensive fine furniture you see designed by Frank Lloyd Wright – it’s all done in Oak.  Paradoxically, in the cabinet industry, Oak is now a very rare choice in new designs.  Perhaps because for so many years it was the only choice, people have reacted, and now it’s seldom used.  Here are some common stains in Oak:

Oak is considered to be a “high grain” wood – lots of lines to it.  In a full kitchen, you can see the classic Oak “zebra stripe” of its’ grain:

Look at the back of the island in the “after” picture of this cabinet refacing project we did in North Phoenix (above the “before” picture) and you can see a great example of the Oak grain pattern.

There you have it, the six most common kitchen remodeling and cabinet refacing wood selections… in order of popularity.  Coming up next… Door styles…

Contact Republic West today for oak kitchen cabinet designs in AZ and other home improvement services including window replacement, door replacement, cabinet refacing, kitchen and bath remodeling, and room additions. Call 480-481-9595 for your free consultation.