jvp409:

I wouldn't be so quick to judge. Why don't you live with it for a while and see?

If I could have a butterfly for 20% of the cost of a peacock, the butterfly would be looking mighty good to me.

Your fabricator's going to take the same spanking whichever you chose, but you'll only benefit, economically anyway, from one choice.

I am wondering how this happened? It doesn't sound like you picked your slab, or made sure your name was labelled onto your slab, or went to the fabricator to review the templating. Lessons learned for others reading this thread who haven't installed their counters yet.

If you could post pictures, we can better help. Sorry about the mixup.

I have verde peacock with natural cherry cabinets and you are correct that the gold in the verde peacock plays very nicely with the wood tone of the cabinets. I had to look at 4 granite yards before I found the slabs that had a nice amount of the gold and larger blue/green splotches. I would not have been happy at all to have had the verde butterfly installed instead.
I have seen verde butterfly in someone else's house and IMO their particular slabs do not have the richness, and depth of color that my verde peacock slabs have. But I truly don't think that anyone who sees your kitchen will say "oh you should have used verde peacock instead of verde butterfly".
Sorry, I just can't say for sure what I would do or what you should do. I would want what I had expected but I am a practical person and I am very conservative with finances so I might just take the discount.

The granite is diffiuclt to photograph accurately but here are a couple close up pictures of my verde peacock in case it might help you compare with your butterfly

This post was edited by badgergal on Mon, Jun 23, 14 at 10:48

How much of a discount would be a huge factor for me. Before you make a decision, be sure you have that information.

Money can not make this right. A sweet discount will be quickly forgotten as you look at a kitchen and slab less beautiful than you selected and not what you wanted. Get the counter you picked, for goodness sake.

Sounds very pretty!

We looked at the butterfly as well and decided to go with the peacock. We kept looking at the butterfly and were afraid that we would get tired of it more quickly than the peacock. We have natural cherry with a coffee glaze cabinets and an oak wood floor, and find the peacock very easy to live with. I think I would not like the butterfly as much.

I agree with snookums, and I haven't even seen the two granites to compare. First of all, you chose one and they installed another. FOUL!!! I realize that everything adds up to one big bottom line, but will this discount be sweet enough to make you not mind over time that they gave you your second choice? Prorate that discount over the next 2-5 years. Was it worth it? What did you spend the savings on? A counter is a big hunk of space in a kitchen. It helps to love it. If you don't love it, is it easy to ignore? That counter doesn't look like a shrinking violet.

If I were in your situation, I would feel very sad and unhappy if I got the wrong granite, after much thought and care was put into the original choice. For me our decision would probably come down to the cost savings of keeping it, DH's opinion, and how unhappy I was with it. It sounds like the company is willing to replace it with the correct granite though, so I would probably go that route myself. Hope this helps!

They are virtually identical from 3' away. Seriously. The only real difference is that Butterfly has a bit more white in it. And that's not that noticeable unless you are virtually nose down into the granite.

In the end, what makes you happy?

I would not hesitate to have the supplier replace it. It was his mistake, not yours. If you are more inclined to be happy with a discount, fine. If not, don't give it another thought, just have him put in what you ordered and do not feel the least bit guilty about it.

I think I would live with it for a agreed amount of time, if I decided I could not live with it I would have the fabricator replace it and not feel one bit guilty that I had him replace it

If the differences are as subtle as the two pics posted above, I would negotiate the biggest discount I could and be completely happy and content with my beautiful new counters!

There's always some risk to the cabinets when removing granite - yes the granite installer should take responsibility but do you really want to go through that? I'd take the discount and be happy about it.

I'm a little curious about how this happened. Did you actually pick out a slab or just tell the fabricator the name of the granite you wanted?

This post was edited by weissman on Mon, Jun 23, 14 at 11:38

Jvp, I agree that peacock would have been the better, warmer choice for your cabinets. If that's what you want, that's what you can get, you just have to ask.

As to whether you should make the change or accept the cash, it sounds as though you think the butterfly doesn't look good. Why not post an image of the install if you want our opinions - if you don't know how, read the stickie at the top of the forum.

It's nice to hear the granite guy will make it right with no fuss involved. Did he say how long it will take him to get new counters in?

I agree it depends how much the discount will be, and how unhappy you are with what you got. If you're very unhappy, then go ahead and replace it. If it's more of a "meh, I can live with it" thing, then some cash in hand might make it right.

Personally, we spent a huge chunk of change on an upgraded granite for our island. It's a beautiful, stunning granite. But now from the perspective of a few years down the road, I think we probably should've saved the money and gotten a cheaper granite.

It's easy to get carried away with this kitchen business when you're in the heat of the moment. Don't lose sight of your ultimate financial end-goals, though.

@ chiefneil - GREAT advice, ''It's easy to get carried away with this kitchen business when you're in the heat of the moment.''' For me, now as everything is adding up, I realize I would have been happy with some less expensive options.

I agree that gold and brownish flecks in granite look very nice paired with cherry cabinets. As long as the Butterfly had some of those specks, I'd be inclined to leave well enough alone, provided that everything else is exactly how you want it. Are the seams to your liking? are your overhangs consistent? Is your sink cut-out up to par? I've seen so many posts on this forum from people who are unhappy with some aspect of their granite installation, I'd be somewhat apprehensive about removing an otherwise stellar job. They may feel they need to move more quickly on the second installation to recoup some of their loss, and who knows if your second installation will be as good as the first. I think I'd take all those factors into consideration and if everything else looked good, I'd try to negotiate a killer deal for the mishap. Before I decided to "live with it" for a few days, I'd want to know up front what kind of discount I'd be receiving should I decide to keep it.

chiefneil, I think many of us feel the same way about items where we might have overspent. We are constantly being told not to cheap out, that over time, the added expense won't matter that much. It's probably a topic for its own thread. We all have our regrets, but where did we splurge and now realize we could have been just as happy with a less expensive item and more money to spend elsewhere or save (what a concept!).

Upload some photos and then we can see...I suspect it probably looks great anyway and you can save some $$. But it it's totally not your thing, then make him switch it. You only remodel every 10-20 years after all...

+1 to linelle--I love that comment! Every time we've chosen something less expensive in our project than our "dream" material or product I've thought about it--"that's $3,000 extra for lanscaping" or "that savings actually paid for that new sewer line we didn't expect to have to upgrade" etc...

linelle,mdln and others re the "not cheaping out"- i am one who "cheaped out" on most of my reno. my reasons were completely valid as i live in a budget kind of neighborhood however i am kicking myself for some of my budget choices! i wish i had spent more on my cabinets as they were somewhat disappointing, wish i could have done hardwood in my kitchen, wish i had planned for light rails and decorative ends. so you see hindsight is 20/20 for us all! no way could we have done everything "right" or perfectly.
the op should find out what kind of discount the granite rep would offer and take that into account when deciding if the granite is really going to bug her in say a year. the two granites are very close in color/movement so possibly it will be a nonissue once you live with it.

Linelle:

Excellent post, thank you!

There are 3 things that I try to purchase top quality in, and that's good shoes, a good mattress, and a good toilet. Those things go a long way to make your life more pleasurable.

Kitchen cabinets are not on the list. Nor are counters, or most kitchen doo dads. And I'm a kitchen designer, who gets to see the "latest and greatest" in everything. There is most definitely a point where "good enough" is more than good enough for the average person. If they'll allow themselves to choose something "average" that is. That little demon Jones next door sitting on the shoulder does a lot of needless damage to folks budgets.

"That little demon Jones next door sitting on the shoulder does a lot of needless damage to folks budgets."

Yes, he does, but to him I owe my livelihood. You can live with a scratched or chipped countertop, but you don't want to. You want to look good. You can't live with a leaking roof, for long anyway.

Vanity and fashion pay my bills.

lwo- thanks from the bottom of my heart! glad to hear a kd who knows what they are doing say not to sweat having average cabinets! your knowledge is so helpful to all of us here on GW:)

I say throw a tantrum and demand a steep discount - beautiful counters though! Take your discount and upgrade something else that wasn't in your budget? A victory chandelier, maybe?

Wow, thanks for all of the great advice. I should have mentioned that we have been without a kitchen since February because of winter water damage, had to rip it all out, insurance, blah, blah. So I am not happy to wait more weeks to complete this project and am worried about damage to my beautiful cabinets. FYI, I did see a sample slab but not the exact slab of peacock (butterfly) before cutting and wasn't home during install. Lots of lessons learned there. My DH could not see a big difference when we went to look at new slabs of peacock. In the end we negotiated a very nice discount which we will put towards a nicer backsplash which will tie the cabinets, floor and butterfly together nicely. I was so torn, sad and angry at myself for not being more on top of things but now I am happy with the decision we made. Sinks hooked up tomorrow, water, YES!!!!!

Oops, three more things. Jellytoast-yes, the installation is perfect, not sure an unhappy crew would do such a nice job the next time. Swentastic...LOL, that is exactly what I negotiated with my DH, the nicer backsplash I really wanted and a new chandelier and live_wire_oak, you are right, from 3"away they look so much alike. It is just under my overhead lights that I notice the white more. I will send pics when job is complete. Thanks.

I feel quite confident in saying you have made the right choice. Both granites are beautiful. Best of luck and enjoyment for many years with your new kitchen.

Great news, jvp409!

Good for you for not tearing it out. I would worry that more damage would be done to the cabinets as you mentioned. A good installation goes a long way in how it looks in the end. Very pretty stone, you are going to be so happy to have water! I was so happy to have my kitchen back and it had only been like 10 days. We didn't replace cabinets just everything else. Enjoy your new kitchen, sorry you had to go through this.

Yay jvp409, so glad to hear that you are pleased! If you would like any backsplash photoshopping, please give me a shout out or PM me. Best, oldbat2be

I'd go with the top one that live wire posted.