EXPERT COUNTERTOP SOLUTIONS
IN COLUMBIA, MD

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Top Rated Quartz and Granite Countertops Columbia Maryland Company

KNC is the leading supplier of marble, quartz and granite countertops Alexandria VA. If you have a need for high quality kitchen countertops, bar tops, fireplace surrounds. tub decks, bathroom vanities, or anything that has to do with stone surfaces, we are the specialists you need. Our clients include homeowners, interior designers, and general contractors.
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OUR PRODUCTS

Our products are cut from first rate natural stone, with an eye on design, functionality, and durability.
However, we are not pushing you to go for granite if you would rather consider other types of stone countertops.
We can offer you a wide variety and range of the best stone countertops that fit your taste and budget. This includes:
Our products are cut from first rate natural stone, with an eye on design, functionality, and durability. However, we are not pushing you to go for granite if you would rather consider other types of stone countertops. We can offer you a wide variety and range of the best stone countertops that fit your taste and budget. This includes:

Columbia Home Gets a Facelift with Quartz Stone

Have you ever watched the movie “Pleasantville”? Well, Columbia is a little bit like that, but in color right off. Columbia is what is called a “planned community,” which sounds like a good idea on so many levels. Located in Howard County in Maryland, Columbia is a city comprised of 10 self-contained villages with names like Oakville Mills and Wilde Lake, created and developed by James W. Rouse in 1966. The original plan was to provide a place good for 100,000 residents, and Columbia is close to that as of 2010 at 99,615, although the census includes residents that are not actually part of the planned community.

The idea was to make a completely desegregated and value-focused place to live. It is currently governed by the Columbia Association, which sets down the rules and regulations for the collective community, The rules pertaining to a planned community tends to restrictive, and may even include how a house should be built and what color it should be painted. While this may seem like a bit dictatorial, it appears to work very well in Columbia, which has consistently been named among the top ten places to live in the US by CNN Money.

Columbia turns 50 in 2016, and it is as beautiful as Rouse had initially intended it to be. It attracts families from the larger cities surrounding it including Washington and Baltimore looking for good schools, and companies seeking educated workers. It is in the upper echelon of the best places for career growth and financial opportunity.

Surprisingly, home prices in Columbia is not the most expensive in the state, as would be expected in such a great place to live and work. The median is $361,000 as of 2013, compared to home prices in Gaithersburg in Montgomery County at $376,600. Of course, it is still more expensive to live in Columbia than in most of Maryland, but with the median family income at $100,902 (Maryland median is $72,483), residents there can well afford it.

An interesting thing about Columbia is none of the houses or apartments have mailboxes. The mail is collected per block and the residents have to go and pick them up. It is one way to encourage people in the same block to meet and get to know each other a little more other than just a nod of acknowledgement across the road.

Among the famous people that sprung up from Columbia (and there are quite a few), the most interesting one from a historical perspective is actor Edward Norton, who starred in films such as The Incredible Hulk, The Illusionist, and Primal fear (for which he was nominated for an Oscar). It turns out that he is the grandson of Columbia developer and founder James Rouse on the maternal side. He was actually born in Boston (hence the slight accent), but grew up in Columbia. His first acting gig was at Toby’s Dinner Theatre on Symphony Woods Road at age 8.

Things to Do Around Columbia

Columbia is a nice place in which to live, but what if you just want to visit? Well, you won’t find as much excitement there as in the big city, but it has its moments. Take for instance the Oriole Park at Camden Yards, dubbed “The Ballpark that Changed Baseball Forever,” where you can ogle the bronze likenesses of Oriole Hall of Famers Brooks Robinson, Earl Weaver, Frank Robinson, Cal Ripken Jr., Eddie Murray, and Jim Palmer.

In keeping with the spirit of Columbia, you can head over to the man made Lake Kittamaqundi, which means “Friendly Meeting Place,” and commune with nature with family and friends. It’s just walking distance from The Mall.

You can also try to catch a musical performance at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in the, apropos enough, Symphony Woods. Originally designed as the home of the National Symphony Orchestra by architect Frank Gehry, it has since housed more contemporary, but still impressive talent such as Jimi Hendrix and Green Day. Toby’s Dinner Theatre is also an option for dinner and a show.

If you feel peckish, but don’t feel like a show, head on over to Fell’s Point instead. This is a historic landmark named after the Englishman that founded a ship-building company in the area. Go for the Chesapeake cuisine, especially the local oysters, in one of the many food establishments in the area.

Angling to Make a Statement Indoors

Columbia has rather strict rules regarding the design of a home’s exterior, but not the interior. Homeowners can pretty much express their personality any way they like, and that is precisely what the client intended for her Colonial style home. The charming 1,560 square foot property had a spacious  but rather conventional kitchen with granite countertops, maple cabinets, and ceramic floor tiles that matched the cabinets.

The client called us in to replace the staid granite countertops and backsplash with something with a little more dramatic. We suggested Sparkling Black or Sparkling Ruby countertops from MSI with either a Honey Caramel or Manhattan Blend backsplash to serve as a transition from the maple of the cabinets to the solid color of the countertops. The client could not visualize what it would look like, so we used our Kitchen Visualizer tool to give her an idea of what the color combination would look like.

The client saw how the Sparkling Ruby made a really dramatic impact on the otherwise uninspired maple and white kitchen, and even looked great with the existing stainless steel appliances. She hesitated when she heard that it was quartz stone, and not granite like she thought, but we explained that quartz stone was more durable than granite, and that it wasn’t porous, so what it lacked in “naturalness” was made up by the fact that it was practically no maintenance.

The client asked for a copy of the visualization for both Sparkling Ruby and Sparkling Black with the Manhattan Blend backsplash so that she could show it to her family that night. We showed her how to download them from the site to her computer, and also how to put in other combinations of countertops and backsplashes.

The client called the next day, and said her husband chose the Sparkling Ruby because “if they were going to go dramatic, they should go whole hog.” We had a good laugh over that. She agreed to come down to the store to pay a deposit for the stone slabs and backsplash. We advised her that they would be shipped by MSI, and that it typically took two weeks to arrive. She agreed to that and we closed the deal.

Installing the kitchen countertops and backsplashes

As soon as the stones arrived, we called the client to schedule the creation of the template and the removal of the existing granite countertops and backsplash. Because she had chosen 3 mm slabs for the Sparkling Ruby, the slabs were much heavier than the granite, so we needed to reinforce the supports to handle the extra weight. The contractors got to work as soon as the fabricator had completed the wooden templates, and the counters were ready for installation just in time. The installer came in with the fabricated slabs, showed the client where the seams would be by dry fitting the slabs. The installer showed her how closely the seams fit so that it was all but invisible. This is  because the pieces were cut so precisely at the shop.

Installation just took half an hour, as no sealing was necessary. However, the installer asked the client to refrain from using the countertops until the next day to ensure that the glue holding the stone to the counter supports had set completely.

The client called the next day, and said her husband chose the Sparkling Ruby because “if they were going to go dramatic, they should go whole hog.” We had a good laugh over that. She agreed to come down to the store to pay a deposit for the stone slabs and backsplash. We advised her that they would be shipped by MSI, and that it typically took two weeks to arrive. She agreed to that and we closed the deal.

Post Installation

Departing from the conventional is always a scary decision, but in many cases, it pays off. The client was very happy about her new countertops, and reported to us after several weeks that she had been complimented about it numerous times. She had called to inform us that her next-door neighbor had asked for our number, and she wanted to know if her neighbor could get a discount. We assured her that we always quote the lowest possible prices for all our projects.

Word of Mouth

Sure, enough, the neighbor called us about putting in some new vanity tops for her two bathrooms and for a bar she had recently had built in the living room. We try our best to always be accommodating and helpful to our clients, sometimes even at considerable cost to us, because we know it pays dividends in the end. Customer satisfaction is the best type of marketing, so you can be sure that when you come to KNC Granite for your countertop and vanity top needs, you will always have a great experience.

About Columbia, MD

If you are planning to raise your own family, then Columbia is one of your eye-catching choices, because it has all the conveniences you need like shopping centers, grocery stores, restaurants, barbershops, salons, and parks. 

It is situated in Howard County, where it has a total population of 103,663. Meanwhile, the people in here are very warm and kind. Also, peace and order is great in Columbia. With that, you’d be more than happy to move in with your family in this city.

PROJECT PICTURES

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Tell us about your project ideas or just say hello. Whether you’ve got a big idea or need some inspiration with a kitchen project, we are here to create perfect kitchen countertop. From concept to creation, let us inspire you.