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| - Recycled Glass Countertops
I'm posting this review everywhere because I had such a hard time finding anything out before I ordered. Even Consumer Reports was no help!
I'm in Calgary, Alberta, Canada where there are several options and several suppliers but not much word of mouth yet. I found the most important part of my decision was in the feel of the countertops - some of them felt plastic-y to me and even though they were lovely I didn't want to live with that feeling.
Of note: colours are limited here. Don't fall in love with a colour on-line; it seems that only the most common colours are readily available. Some cost extra to bring in and others won't be sent unless you're ordering in bulk (I didn't need ten slabs to make it worth the distributors time). Also, don't believe the web-sites that say the products are available at Home Depot. Even though that web-site had a lot of photos from installations in Canada the product isn't available through HD in Canada yet.
I narrowed the choices down to 3 brands: Vetrazzo (vetrazzo.com); GEOS (eos-surfaces.com/geos/); and Granite Transformations (granitetransformations.com) and got quotes from all three.
All three brands carry a product that is clearly made from recycled brown beer bottles, although Vetrazzo throws in a few pieces of a gorgeous blue (from Skyy vodka bottles) too. You can get all the details of their manufacturing and post-consumer content information from their web-pages.
Recycled glass is not inexpensive! I have a small kitchen and the quotes were: Vetrazzo $6700; Granite Transformations $4200 and GEOS $3800. All of these are considerably more than natural granite would have been ($2300) but I really hate that we are chopping down mountains for our kitchens - and then tossing them out with the next reno. So I figured I should put my money where my environmental mouth was.
After going all over town and spending hours online, I chose Granite Transformations. Their product is only 1/4 inch thick (it's designed to go over top of old countertops to give you a mess-free renovation but they custom made a substrate for me since my entire kitchen was new) which worried me at first, but their granite product had a lot of good local reviews and they've been around for a long time so I thought it would be worth the risk.
Warranties - it seems like the most common problem is that bits of glass can work lose and pop out over time. The local Vetrazzo dealer I spoke with is happy to fix those but it isn't on warranty - you pay every time they come out. Granite Transformations includes these minor repairs in their warranty.
Sales - the Vetrazzo dealer I spoke to says they are just selling off the slabs they have and won't order more "because they had problems with the manufacturer"; they have clearly had some warranty issues too. She didn't say anything specific, but she really wanted me to know exactly what I would be getting into and encouraged me to do everything I could to hurt the sample - lemons, wine, heat, etc. It was kind of an anti-sales job and combined with the price it scared me away. The GEOS dealer I spoke to was absolutely lovely. Really nice person, really understood countertops, but they hadn't installed many of these yet and didn't have any personal knowledge of how they stand up to wear and tear. Colleen from Granite Transformations was also very nice and professional and they have installed more of these so she was able to speak to longevity.
Service - Since I chose Granite Transformations I can also speak to the really wonderful guys who came out to template and install. Jeff and James arrived when they said they would, were very friendly, got the work done more quickly than expected and have given me a fabulous impression of the company. They are the type of people you want working in your home. I had no hesitation leaving them alone and there was no mess left at the end of the day.
Seams - the seams in the countertop are almost invisible. Because we'd discussed where they would be during the templating process I knew where to look but the overall impression of one piece of glass is far superior to my last experience with natural stone.
Backsplash - the seams in the 4" back-splash aren't quite as good but they are certainly acceptable. In retrospect, if I'd understood how the backsplash would look I would have had them build out a small substrate for that too so that it had the bulk of a granite backsplash instead of just looking like matching tile. I'm sure they would have done that - I was just too casual about ordering that finishing touch. In fact, if you are going to tile I wouldn't even bother with the matching 4" backsplash.
I just had the countertops installed yesterday and I'm really happy with how they look. I promise that I will update this review annually to let you know how they are standing up to daily use.
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