Two trades
In the UK or the Netherlands you often buy the worktop through the kitchen company. Here the marble workshop usually deals with you directly. You choose the slab, sign our quote and pay us. The kitchen fitter puts the units in first, then we come.
When you don't live in the house, that means two visits and two invoices. If the units go in on a Friday and we measure the week after, someone has to open the door twice.
The quote
A French quote, the devis, lists each item.
- Fourniture, the stone, per m² or per piece, with the thickness, usually 2 or 3 cm.
- Façonnage, the shaping, edges (chants), sink and hob cut-outs (découpes), drainer grooves.
- Pose, fitting, sometimes with a line for delivery and access if the kitchen is upstairs.
- TVA, VAT at 10% or 20% depending on the house. See quotes and VAT.
Read the thickness and finish twice. Poli is polished, adouci is honed. A quote that just says "marbre blanc" with no name, thickness or finish can't be compared with another one.
You accept it by writing "bon pour accord", the date and your signature. A scan by email is normally fine.
Deposit and payment
There's no fixed legal deposit. Many workshops ask for part of the price when you sign, because we buy the slab for your job and a cut slab can't be resold. Ask how much and when the rest is due. Our own terms are on our quote.
Payment is by transfer in euros to a French IBAN. The exchange rate on the day you pay is your risk, so allow for your bank's charges.
The 14-day cooling-off period
French law (article L221-18 of the consumer code) gives you 14 days to withdraw from a contract signed away from the business, at your kitchen table for instance. Signed at the workshop, generally not. But things made to your specifications are excluded (article L221-28), and a worktop cut to your templates is one of them once production has started. Raise any doubts before we cut.
Measuring
The template, gabarit, is taken once the units are fixed, level and final. A plan is fine for the price, not for cutting stone. Farmhouse walls are rarely straight, and a 3 m run can be several millimetres out against lime plaster.
Have these ready when we come to measure.
- The sink, or its exact model and cut-out drawing.
- The hob model and its cut-out size.
- The tap position, and whether we drill the holes.
- The upstand or splashback height.
If nobody can be there, a key holder or your kitchen fitter can let us in. Photos of the units sent beforehand save a wasted trip.
Choosing the slab from abroad
Two slabs with the same name can look quite different. See your actual slab, or a dated photo of the whole slab next to a tape measure, before we reserve it, and ask for its number. Our slabs are at 8 rue Joseph Marie Jacquard, La Chapelle-Saint-Luc, six days a week, Saturday 10:00 to 16:30. If the veins have to run round a corner or down a waterfall end, the layout decides how much is wasted.
In 2023 we had eight marbles in raw slabs, Armani Grey, Bianco Dolomite, Black Marquina, Carrara White, Golden Portoro, Grey Wood, Silver Portoro and Vietnam White. For what's in stock now, ask on WhatsApp at +33 7 45 20 76 39 and we'll send a daylight photo. Offcuts are on the clearance page.
After fitting
Run your hand along the joints, on 3 cm you should barely feel them. Check the sink cut-out edges are polished. Ask which sealer we used and when to redo it. Lemon and vinegar still mark marble whatever the sealer, see marble and hard water.
See also kitchen worktops and Troyes.
