When you say at the base of the fireplace, do you mean the hearth or the surround? If it's the hearth, that really should have been 1 piece unless the piece you selected wasn't big enough & then they should have pointed that out before installing.

We have Volga Blue which is black with gray & blue in it. We have 2 seams where the top surround meets the legs of the surround. If you really look, you can see the seams, but I think that has to do with the angle. Black and dark granites are easier to match & hide seams vs. light granite. I would do 3 things: sit back and look at the fireplace without looking for the seams and see if you notice them and have someone else come in and view the fireplace again not looking for the seams and see what they think, then have the contractor do the same.

Hope this helps!

How big is the area covered by the two pieces? We have a black hearth and it's about 4' by 2' - if yours is that size, I can't see any reason to do such a small area in two pieces. We used the black because we didn't have a large enough piece left of the surround stone to do the hearth in one piece.

The Shanxi black granite we bought was $10 per square foot for a 3'x8' piece so it didn't cost much. The surround was made from remnants of our kitchen granite (really quartzite) so there are two short seams, but I don't find them very noticeable. That was an expensive stone so it would have been too expensive to buy a new slab to do it in one piece and this worked out well for us.

Looking at the picture above, I think that a seam even very well done might have been glaring in the black hearth extension because the black in that position is so reflective. Any small deviation could have been noticeable as a distortion of the reflection. Perhaps that is what bothers you about your seam.

Thanks mydreamhome. Yes, it is the hearth..and I agree, I'm not sure why it is 2 pieces. Unfortunately, they installed it while I was at work, so I have to wait til he gets back. It is 100% noticeable to anyone...so Im hoping they can hide the seems better.

Can you post a picture?

Here are some images of seams to give you an idea and
possibly visuals to talk to your contractor about what
you are looking for.

I hope this helps you get what you want.
~boxer

seams

Just to give an update...my contractor came back and tried to hide the seem...for some reason, he was able to "hide" some of it, not all of it. Needless to say, I was not happy, so I am having him rip it out and give me a new piece. Still not sure why he had to cut it in the first place.
Thanks for all you feedback!