General Terms:
3cm: three centimeters refers to the thickness of the countertop or slab. 3cm is equivalent to roughly 1 ¼”. This is the most common thickness for natural stone or quartz
2cm: two centimeters refers to the thickness of the countertop or slab. 2cm is equivalent to roughly ¾”. There are certain natural stones and quartz materials that come in 2cm. On these thinner slabs the edge is often “stacked” or “built up” by cutting a 1’’ wide piece of material and gluing it on edge so the edge is 4cm thick when you look at it. 4cm is roughly 1 ½”
1cm: one centimeter refers to the thickness of the countertop or slab. 1 cm is equivalent to just under a ½”. Lots of porcelain slabs are 1cm and are great for shower walls and vertical applications because they are light weight.
Accents: A contrast, outline, or highlight added for detail and emphasis. See “Inlays”.
Appliance Edge: These are edges that are up against an appliance like a range or fridge – these edges get a flat polish only so that they fit flush up against the appliance
Apron Front Sink: (farmhouse sink): A sink with a large apron in front that sits on a short cabinet.
Backsplash: Wall protection at the back edge of the countertop; designed to seal the counter and protect the wall from spills and damage; can be integral (coved) to the counter (on solid surface) or applied directly to the wall. The most common backsplash right now is tile. Sometimes people will want to do a full height backsplash with the same material. Sometimes people will want to do a 4” backsplash.
On most kitchens you measure there will be a 4” backsplash. If they want that same type of splash we will want to make the new backsplash a ¼” taller to hide the demo line
Build-up, Subdeck or underlayment: Strips of material that are sometimes attached to the under-side of countertops to raise it flush with the cabinet tops. Subdeck or underlayment is not used on 3cm materials as they bear directly on the cabinets.
Bull-nose: A finished edge on an otherwise unfinished natural or man-made tile. This is a 180 degree radius or half a circle.
Butcher Block: Wood Countertops or “Butcher Block” countertops come in a variety of hardwoods, such as maple or oak. Seldom used for all the countertops in a kitchen, instead they are often used on islands or in inserts.
Caesarstone: A man-made stone that is many times harder than natural stone, making is scratch and stain resistant. Caesar Stone is a quartz or engineered stone.
Cambria: Cambria is a manufacturer of natural quartz countertop material also sold under the name “Cambria”. Cambria is a quartz or engineered stone. Cambria is very big on using the term – Natural Quartz countertop. They also refer to their colors as “designs.”
Cantilever: A beam projecting beyond its supports. For instance, the area where a countertop overhangs a cabinet by a few inches. This is another name for overhang.
Cook-top: An assembly of stove burners that fits into countertop. This is most commonly a glass cooktop. A hole must be cut into the countertop for the cooktop to set in.
Corbels: L shaped of flat iron brackets on 10”+ overhangs to avoid stress cracks.
Corian®: A brand of solid surface material made by DuPont which offers a non-porous, repairable, renewable surface and with the ability to integrate sinks.
Drain Board: Depressions in a countertop which allows water to run into the sink.
Drop-in Sink: A sink which contains a rim that fits over the countertop.
Edge Return: We refer to edge returns as a finished edge that returns back to a wall or cabinet. This is most common on windows sills where we wrap the finish edge back to the wall.
Edge Profile: Defines the shape of the front edge of your countertops
Engineered Stone: A man-made substance usually composed of crushed quartz and polymer binders used to emulate natural stone. It is sold under many labels (Silestone, Cambria, CaesarStone, Zodiac, etc.).
Fab: Labor to transport slabs, template patterns, cut counters to size, grind edge-profiles, cut and drill holes, polish and seal.
Finished edge: These are edges around the countertop that will get a finished edge detail like an ogee, bullnose, eased, dupont etc. This edge detail is on a finished edge.
Gloss: A way to describe a finish which has a deep shine and smooth texture.
Granite: An igneous rock, formed by volcanic action, and composed chiefly of feldspars and quartz, usually with one or more other minerals. It is relatively hard and dense, and will polish to a high gloss. It is an excellent choice for kitchen countertops, floors, and other heavily used surfaces. Granite, quarried from the mountains of Italy, the U.S., India, and dozens of other countries around the world, is one of the most popular natural stones on the market. Available in a striking array of colors, granite’s durability and longevity make it ideal for kitchen countertops and other heavily used surfaces, including table tops and floors.
Grout: The material used to fill and seal the joints between ceramic tiles.
Honed/Brushed/Leathered: Refers to the finish on a countertop.Most stone slabs are polished; but honed = matte, brushed = bumpy, leathered = even bumpier!.
Impregnating: The technical term for sealing.
Impregnators: Impregnators are designed to penetrate below the surface of the stone. The application of impregnators restricts water, oil and dirt from entering the stone.
Inlay: An inlay is the use of a contrasting color placed in or between elements of the main color for decoration. This can be simple trim, or complex company logos or diagrams. Brass or other metals can be used as a decorative feature to call attention to seams when they will not be hidden well.
Island: An independent segment of cabinetry that doesn’t touch any walls and is typically centrally located within the kitchen floor plan.
Integral Sink: A sink made out of the same material as the countertop to form a continuous surface. Integral sinks can only be done on solid surface materials like Corian, Hi-Macs, Livingstone and Avonite.
Laminate: A thin material adhered to particle board substrates. Often referred to as brand names such as ‘Formica’ or ‘Wilsonart’. This is the countertop you will find most often in production homes that customers want to replace.
Lead-Time – Day from the time Clients choose their material to installation of a job.
LF – Linear foot/feet. Also called RF or running feet. Straight-line distance, as opposed to SF.
Limestone: Any stone consisting wholly or mostly from calcium carbonate. Limestones are popular in bathrooms and for tile.
Lip-Mount: A lip-mount sink is designed with a lip around the top edge and designed to drop into a cut-out in your countertops, resting on the “lip”. Drop-in Sinks are lip mount sinks. There are also several farmhouse sinks that are lip mount.
Marble: A metamorphic rock composed of limestone in a crystalline state. It is capable of being polished to a gloss. Marble is a popular choice for countertops, floors, foyers, fireplace facings and hearths, walls, and windowsills. It is less commonly used for kitchen countertops because it is more susceptible to scratching and staining than granite and other alternatives.
Matte: A smooth finish with very little shine. Matte finishes generally refer to solid surface countertops like Corian. Solid Surface countertops can be sanded and polished to your desired finish – matte, satin or gloss.
Melamine: Particle board coated with a plastic material which is used for molds when making concrete countertops because of its smoothness. This is generally the material that is used to make lower quality cabinets – especially in commercial construction. If you have seen a white interior cabinet, there is a 90% chance it was melamine.
Mitre or Miter: A seam in a countertop, usually in a corner, where the counter changes direction. A miter is a 90-degree edge that is formed by two 45 degree angles that allow the edge to fold down.
Mohs Scale: 1-10 mineral-hardness scale – Friedrich Mohs, 1822. Diamonds 10, granite/quartzite 8 or 9, quartz 6-8, marble 4-6.
Mosaic: A pattern formed by inlaying small pieces of stone, tile or other material into a cement, plaster or mortar matrix.
Non-porous: A material that won’t stain. It isn’t affected by chemicals, acids, and temperatures; therefore, it is easy to clean, and resistant to bacteria buildup.
Overhang: Like Cantilever. This is the part of the countertop that extends past the cabinet. A standard overhang is 1.5”. This way if there is a spill on the countertop it will run off the countertop and not drip into the cabinets.
On overhangs for eating, you can go up to 10” unsupported on stone and up to 12” unsupported on quartz if you have twice that length being supported. So, if you have 10” of overhang you need to have 20” bearing on the cabinets.
Penetrating Sealer: See Impregnators.
Profiling: Edge detail applied to the stone. See “edge profile”
Quarry: The location of an operation where a natural deposit of stone is removed from the ground. A deep earth-excavation for bringing raw-stone to the surface.
Quartz: A rock countertop material which, unlike granite, never has to be sealed or polished.
Quartzite: Metamorphic sandstone baked by tectonic heat-pressure in the earth’s crust. Priciest stone material. A compact granular rock composed of quartz crystals, usually so firmly cemented as to make the mass homogeneous. The stone is generally quarried in stratified layers, the surfaces of which are unusually smooth. Its crushing and tensile strengths are extremely high. The color range is wide. When doing quartzites you generally need to do a flat polish edge or a miter. The stone does not take edge details well.
Remnants (fall-off): Pieces remaining after stone fabrication. Remnants measuring less than 3×3 feet are usually discarded.
Sandstone: A sedimentary rock consisting usually of quartz cemented with silica, iron oxide or calcium carbonate. Sandstone is durable, has a very high crushing and tensile strength, and a wide range of colors and textures.
Sealer: Solvent used to protect and enhance the appearance of a countertop surface and reduce the chance of staining. See “impregnators”.
Sealing: The process of using a clear solvent-based product to protect the stone from stains.
SF (Square Feet): Width x depth (wall to front edge), in inches, divided by 144 = SF.
Shim: A thin piece of wood or plastic used during installation to insure that countertops are level. Shims are inserted between the cabinet and the countertop to make the countertop level and provide bearing points so that the countertop is not free spanning in the air between two high points.
Sink Reveal: Applicable to under-mount sinks. Used to describe the size of the hole cut for an under-mount sink. A bigger cut-out reveals the top edge of the under-mount sink. A smaller cut-out hides the top of the sink because the stone overhangs the edge of the sink.
Sink-Setters – Brace-brackets for adding more strength to an under-mount kitchen sink.
Slab: Flat pieces of natural or engineered stone, typically quarried or molded to about 100-140″ wide, and from 60-82″ high.
Slate: A fine-grained rock that tends to split along parallel cleavage planes. Slate is relatively soft and porous.
Soapstone: A naturally dark gray, yet smooth countertop surface made of talc-quarried, metaphoric stone. It is non-porous and easily maintained.
Solid Surface: A manufactured product that emulates stone, created by combining natural minerals with resin and additives. Often referred to as Corian, a Dupont product.
Stainless Steel Countertops: A countertop made from stainless steel. Usually found in commercial kitchens but can create a contemporary and industrial look in your home. These countertops are heat resistant, durable, and easy to clean but are easily scratched and very expensive.
Template or Templating: Detail-drawing of cabinets to create a final counter-cutting layout. The process can be digital using lasers or the templates can be made from strips of plastic or wood.
Travertine: A form of limestone. Travertine is a product of chemical precipitation from hot springs. Some that take a polish are sold as marble and may be classified as travertine marble. Travertine is popular in bathrooms and for tile.
Tumbled: A surface finish produced by tumbling stone in sand, pebbles, or steel bearings to round off corners and create a rustic, matte finish.
Under-mount Sink: A sink that physically mounts beneath the countertop. Alternative to under-mount is a lip-mount sink or drop in.
Unfinished edge: These are edges that are up against a wall or a cabinet. They do not get polished or an edge detail – they are left raw and unfinished.
Waterfall: This is a countertop piece that covers the side of a cabinet or wall. It looks like the countertop is literally going over a waterfall and extending down to the floor
Vessel Sink: A sink which sits on top of the countertop.
Shop Terminology:
A-Frame: A-shaped frame on a trailer or truck, to transport stone counters.
Bridge Saw: Large diamond-blade overhead saw, to cut slabs into counters. The saw blade and motor travel on a “bridge” that moves over the slab that is laying on a table.
CNC: Computer Numerical Control. Automated-cut version of a bridge saw.
Cuts: Slices with diamond blades & bits to create counters or “mount” sinks etc.
Dolly: Wheeled, U-shaped cart with pads/clamps, to move countertops from a trailer into a building.
Fab Table: A big, often tilting (“tilt-table”) steel platform to cut and fabricate stone slabs.
Rail Saw: A much smaller type of granite saw used for cutting slabs to countertop size.
Shims: Composite or cedar wedges, used to level the top edges of cabinets, allowing for flatter countertop-installation.
Tooling: Use of specialized diamond-cutters, grinders, polishers, etc. to fabricate raw-stone slabs into finished countertops.