It is not bad, but it could be better. Did you see a seam beforehand or get specifications on what the seam would look like? Is this seam similar to the ones you were shown if you did see one beforehand?

These are the guidelines from the Marble Institute of America:
"Joint (seam) widths between two stoneunits should equal 1/16" (1.5
mm), with atolerance of +/-1/64" (+/-0.4 mm). In such cases where a larger
joint width has been specified, the tolerance is to be 25% (+/- 1/4) of
the nominal joint width. Joint width does not include the dimension of
an arris (a smallchamfer, approximately 1/16" x 1/16") on the stone
edge. When an arris is used, the perceived joint width may be greater
than the actual width due to the seam filler occupying the width of
the arris."

There should be no detectablelippage at the front or rear edge of the
countertop. Maximum allowable lippage at the center of the countertop
is 1/32" (0.8mm).

Visiblejoints between stone and other materials(e.g., cabinetry,
gypsum wall board) shall be1/8", with a tolerance of +/-1/16" (+/-1.5mm),
and filled with a soft, elastic material

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:YxnTnTmk6xIJ:www.marble-institute.com/consumerresources/homeownersconsumer_countertop.pdf+marble+institute+of+america+seams&hl=en&gl=us

Does the seam feel smooth to the touch? Is it in accordance with those guidelines?

Here is my seam (if you can't see it, it is even w/ the back of the faucet). It is about as impeccable as you can get; however, we went to every granite place in a 200 mile radius and finally had people come in from Baltimore over 2 1/2 hours away to do our granite because they were the only ones capable of doing the seam the way we needed.

An extreme close-up where you can see the seam (sort of). It is even w/ the hole.

I didn't even know the island would have a seam prior to choosing the floor plan. I did view a home with the same floor plan and I never even noticed the seam line on the island. On Friday, I could feel the seam with my finger, so I told them it needed to at least be smooth. On Monday, they are supposed to smooth it out, so I can't feel it. I'm thinking I'll just let them finish it the best they can and then hire an expert who can fix it. It's annoying, but they obviously are not capable of doing it correctly.

This is the seam on another house with the same island as ours (but different granite of course)

Elizabeth0310 this seam on yours really doesn't look bad and is probably industry-standard, at least from the pictures- as long as it feels smooth. What are the seam dimensions, is it more than 1/16 of an inch? I would not accept it if it did not feel smooth. Granted, they could have matched the colors better, but it isn't bad.

Here is a BAD seam:
{{!gwi}}

To do the seam in the way ours was done, it involved, among other things, a multi-step top polishing process that took several hours to do. The people who did it were seam experts and the fabrication was not inexpensive. We paid over $5600 just for fabrication for our 13 ft. island (stone was purchased separately).

We had a hard time finding someone capable of doing it, like I said. I would use the Stone Fabricators Alliance as a starting point to find someone to work with your seam if you want to try to get it better. It seemed like most of the fabricators we found through the SFA used more advanced techniques for seams.

I'm not sure about width. I'll make sure I measure it the next time I'm at the house. I definitely will make sure they get the surface smooth. They have assured me they can do that. I'll look into the SFA. Thank you so much for your help!

Out of curiosity, what are your island dimensions?

Our seam was small(located at the sink) but very rough and felt chipped at the edges. I found out later that our granite has lots of mica so it does flake easily. Even with my difficult granite, they were able to add more epoxy and work it until you can barely see it and we have light granite which shows seams more. Just wait until they polish it and see how it looks but honestly it should look better than that I think.

yes i think ours has some mica or something similar because they said the cutting saw couldn't cut all the rock evenly. They've improved it some, here's a close up of the worst spot. The seam is under 1/16th of an inch. The especially bad chip in the picture is about 1/16th

we're not sure what to do at this point as they've indicated they can't do much more.

Definitely have the same mica and chipping issue that we have. But I do think that they could add epoxy to that area especially and buff it out. But I am no expert!

Hi all - I just bought a new condo - have not closed yet, but I paid close to 4K extra for an upgrade to antique brown granite. Of course I was not there when the granite was installed, and as far as I can tell - this work is perfectly acceptable to the builder and real estate agent... what can I do???

This looks like it's more of a problem with the color matching of the epoxy - or lack thereof. You should probably start a new thread to discuss this specifically. I suspect it can be made much better, but ask, and people who really know can help you out.