EBAY GRANITE WORKTOPS: A REALLY GREAT DEAL?

‘Reclaimed’ granite worktops

Can you fit a customer’s own granite?
It is one of the most frequent questions we hear. People who have bought granite worktops from ebay and other sites want us to handle, cut, polish and install the worktops in their kitchens.
We mentioned ebay granite worktops in an FAQ article some years ago. If anything, the trade in second hand granite worktops has only increased since then, as more and more people who were in the first generation of granite worktop owners are changing their kitchens and wanting a new look with a new stone. The reasons why we often say ‘No’ to this kind of project were outlined in that piece, and not much has really changed.
Still the requests keep coming, though. I thought I would revisit ebay and similar sites and look at some of the pros and cons of buying your granite and quartz kitchen worktops by this route.

The biggest motive for going to ebay for granite and quartz worktops is probably price. Given that a full set of worktops for even a smallish kitchen can set you back over £2,000, ebay entries starting at £1 or less are immensely attractive. Frankly, anything that starts at £1 is pretty attractive!

Secondly, buying used ebay granite worktops is a way of getting granite in the most environmentally sustainable way possible. Nothing new is going to be dug out of the ground, and hopefully a minimum of energy and water will be used in the process of getting them to your kitchen. It is pretty rare to be able to get a bargain and still feel you are doing the right thing for the planet – win win!

It isn’t only ebay, of course. Sites like Gumtree and Preloved with its FREE classified ads are good hunting grounds for second hand kitchen worktops.

I confess to being a bit of an ebay freak. My largest purchase of 2019 so far was on ebay, and I have bought similarly large items before. If you buy on secondhand and auction sites, you do so with your eyes open, and you recognise the risks – as well as the benefits – of this type of purchase. I am by no means anti-ebay, and I’m delighted with my latest Nikon, but there are some products that I just wouldn’t get by that kind of route.

Here are a few questions that you need to ask before going down the ebay route for your kitchen worktops:

How are you going to get it home? Most genuine offers of secondhand granite or quartz worktops on ebay are for pick up only. The ones that say “Free Postage” are NOT what they seem – normally a man-with-a-van granite or quartz outfit, they are not actually offering used worktops, and the price as listed is NOT what you would ultimately pay.
Picking up granite worktops is a specialised business. I have seen builders rapidly put a slab back on the ground after cheerily saying that they would help carry. This stuff is shockingly heavy. Damage to the worktop, damage to your flooring or kitchen units – most of all, damage to YOU – is a very real risk. You don’t get that with second hand cameras or vintage jewellery!

How’s it going to fit? Granite worktops are a made-to-measure item. Every kitchen should be templated and the worktops cut to fit. This is neither easy nor straightforward, even for skilled stonemasons. Even kitchens which are supposed to be identical – like identical units in blocks of flats – vary enough to mean that one set of worktops will not fit exactly right in any of the other homes.
Buying ebay granite worktops is a bit like getting a bespoke suit second hand. It may have been taylor-made, but it wasn’t taylor-made for you. Unless you happen to be 6″ 1′ with a long back and relatively short legs, with the habit of dressing to the right, that fine cloth may just be a pig’s ear.

And who is going to make it fit? That takes us back to the article mentioned earlier. Do you cut customers’ own granite? is a regular question – and one that, I’m afraid, always gets a No when it is this kind of secondhand deal.
But perhaps you can find a really good and honest stonemason to rework your stone. Ultimately, if they know their stuff and have the tooling, the cost of the kind of remedial and clever work that will need to be done to your ebay granite worktops is likely to all but wipe out the financial advantage of having bought this way. To rework the Saville Row suit to Saville Row standards is going to need a Saville Row taylor – and you might as well have forked out in the first place.

How’s it going to match? In my experience, people buying granite from someone else’s kitchen almost always underestimate the amount they are going to need – and that is without taking breakages in transit or installation into account. Often people even plan in advance on installing the used stuff and then “getting a bit more”. It is as if that is going to be easy.
It isn’t. Natural stone is exactly what it says on the tin – natural. Natural products are notoriously hard to match – the variations are infinite and subtle and are part of the charm of these materials. But that means that you cannot possibly take for granted “adding another matching bit”. It is all to easy to save a lot of money… but then end up with a kitchen which really does look as if a great deal of money was saved. And THAT isn’t a look that most home owners really want.

A fine corner join in matching sections of Blue Pearl granite

The message of all this is simple and as old as the hills. You can’t, I’m afraid, get something for nothing. It’s true that there are some good deals to be found on ebay – and I love a deal on ebay as much as the next person. But you can’t get a made to measure product that fits your needs and really looks right by taking a massive shortcut. At best, it may well be a bodge. At worse, you could end up with something far more problematic still.

To get a professional look, and at a reasonable price, get the professionals in. We are at your service!