Granite

Each step in building a house involves hours and hours of deliberation. Granite is one of the most expensive (per square foot) parts of the home, so deciding on granites takes a loooong time. Not only is granite expensive, but installation runs about $20/sq ft and add $500 for the granite guy for our delivery and installation penalty for living on the other side of the island. In the morning we dropped the kids off at Therese's and headed to Kailua town (1.5 hours away). We looked at scores of slabs of granite and some marble. After the first pass, Karen and I both had personal favorites (the air of a ground war brewing), but both were in love with Amazonia.



So, we asked, "How much?" Of course, it was the most expensive granite by far in the whole shop! I already had it in my mind that I'd have a piece of it in the house even if it was just a back splash. Karen wrote it off. We looked at Santa Cecilia, Uba Tuba, Verde Butterfly, Persian Brown, and about a dozen others caught our fancy. Natural rock is always beautiful! We ended saving some money by ordering pre-fab granite vanities (made from left over pieces) for the guest and kids bath. After a couple hours in the blinding Kona sun, we broke for lunch and secured the bamboo ceiling for downstairs.

Back to the granite. Granite is most impressive in large areas. The largest unbroken area in our house would be the island in the kitchen. Doing the whole kitchen in Amazonia would break the bank, so we decided to do the island in Amazonia and find a complementary color for the rest of the kitchen. After an hour of taking samples back and forth to the slab of Amazonia, we chose Uba Tuba for the rest of the kitchen. I was feeling blissed (for getting the Amazonia) and burned out. So, Karen chose the granite for our bathroom (Santa Cecilia) and I picked the slab from which it would be cut.

After about 7 hours we were back home.