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Granite Tile Kitchen Countertop and Bar

Here are some photos of a countertop and bar that I tiled with 12 x 12 granite tiles. I cut 3 inch strips of the granite tiles to bullnose (round over) for the front edge of the counter and 2″ strips for the face.

The biggest problem you will run into with using granite tile on counters is that most kitchen countertops are 25″ from front to back. Since most granite tiles are 12″ square (unless specially ordered) you end up with a small strip in the back that is less than one inch wide – it doesn’t look right. To prevent this I will either tile them like this with the 3″ bullnose on the front or place the tiles diagonally (on point).

Using granite tiles rather than a full slab for your countertops are considerably cheaper – less than half. When ordering granite tile for your counter you want to order 2.5 square feet for each lineal foot of counter space. For instance: if your counter is 10 feet long you want to order 25 square feet of tile. This will be enough to cover the countertop, bullnose, and the self-edge which is the piece on the face below the bullnose.

This particular customer wanted wider grout lines so I used a 1/8″. I will usually tile granite countertops with either 1/32″ or 1/16″ grout lines which gives it more of a solid “slab” look. Most photos are taken right after I grouted so the grout lines look a bit strange – cloudy. If you would like to install granite tile on your countertops just give us a call and we can set up a free consultation.

You can click on any of the photos below for a full-size version.

{ 6 comments… add one }
  • Aly January 17, 2013, 11:37 pm

    This is a weird question but can you tell me where this counter was installed? It looks identical to my Mom’s kitchen in the Belmar in Lakewood Colorado?

    • Roger January 19, 2013, 12:38 am

      Hi Aly,

      It was installed in Water Valley in Windsor, Colorado.

  • Steve February 5, 2010, 6:27 pm

    Hi,

    How did you round the edge of the tile to make the 3 inch bullnose?

    Thanks
    Steve

    • Roger February 5, 2010, 6:50 pm

      Hi Steve,

      I have a diamond profile wheel for my wet saw with which I round off the edge then I use sequentially numbered (grit) polishing wheels on my grinder to polish them.

  • SARAH MCKENZIE August 19, 2009, 10:40 am

    THE COUNTER IS BEAUTIFUL. COULD YOU SEND STEP BY STEP HOW YOU DID THE FRONT EDGES. I CANNOT SEE GROUT SEAM IN FRONT

    THANK YOU

    • Roger August 22, 2009, 8:52 pm

      Thank you Sarah. I really didn’t do anything really special or specific on the edges. I rounded and polished the edges of cut 3 x 12 inch tiles and took my time to make sure everything was lined up perfectly and taped in place so it didn’t move while the thinset cured.
      It helps a lot to pick a grout that closely matches the base color of your tile. The grout in these photos is not yet set and so it looks a bit darker than it actually ends up. When it fully cured it matched the granite almost perfectly. The most important part taking your time.

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