Buncombe Custom Countertops is Buncombe County's trusted island specialist for kitchen island countertops in Asheville, NC, specializing in single-slab quartz islands, granite islands with bar seating and quartzite island tops. We offer seating overhangs and two-stone kitchens with contrasting perimeter countertops.
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Our team provides brackets and corbels sized to each overhang, delivering a solid, seam-free centerpiece for homes and dependable work surfaces for both residential and commercial projects. We template the island on its installed, leveled cabinets and mark the seam plan, or the proof that none is needed, on your chosen slab for your approval before the shop makes a single cut.
From corbel spacing under a deep seating ledge to tear-out, templating and the final set, our team handles every detail. Serving Asheville, Weaverville, Woodfin and the Arden community, we plan the island so it seats the family and still leaves room to cook.
Why Buncombe Custom Countertops
The crew that measures your kitchen is the crew that sets the tops.
A kitchen island top in Asheville needs a seam only when it is longer or deeper than the slab it is cut from, so the size of the slab, not the size of the kitchen, decides the answer. One major quartz maker lists its original slabs at 56.5 by 120 inches and its jumbo slabs at 64.5 by 131.5 inches, and says the jumbo size exists largely to cut or remove seams on big islands.
That is why the island is often the one surface in the kitchen that can be seamless. Perimeter runs turn corners, meet the range and stop at the refrigerator, so they are cut in sections anyway. An island is a free-standing rectangle reached from every side, and if its footprint fits inside one slab it can come out of that slab whole.
Natural stone does not come in a catalog size. Every granite or quartzite block is sawn differently, so we measure the real slabs you are choosing between, not a brochure figure, before telling you whether the island fits in one piece.
An island longer than the longest slab gets a seam, and where it falls matters more than whether it exists. We keep it out of the seating zone and away from a sink or cooktop opening, and on a veined stone we place it where the pattern can run across the joint. You see that layout on the slab before the saw touches it.
The depth of your seating overhang decides what has to hold it up. Countertops are normally built with a slight front overhang to protect the cabinet faces, but an island that seats people runs well past that, and the stone needs help once it does. Most bar seating uses an overhang of about 12 inches, and planners allow at least 24 inches of top length for each person on a stool.
One quartz maker states its 3 cm material can carry up to a 14-inch overhang with no added support, as long as the overhang stays under a third of the top's depth and roughly 70 percent of the top sits on cabinets. Natural stone varies by slab, so we check the specific material's limits rather than assume.
Past that point the same maker calls for corbels spaced no more than 3 feet apart, fastened into the cabinet framing or the studs of a knee wall so the load goes into structure, not into a cabinet side panel.
A table-depth overhang needs posts, legs or a steel substrate. Posts cost some legroom, so hidden flat steel is often the better answer when the seats need to stay clear. Whichever support the overhang needs is drawn on the plan you approve, so the brackets are in place and level before the top arrives.
A kitchen island is, by definition, a free-standing counter or cabinet unit reached from all sides, and it has to leave room to move around it. Planning guidance calls for at least 42 inches of clear floor on every side for walking and opening appliance doors, so the top we cut is sized to the aisle as well as to the cabinets.
These choices are settled at the measure, because every one of them changes the cut list.
The island and the perimeter can be two different materials, and in many kitchens they should be. The perimeter works hardest, next to the range and the main sink, while the island is the piece everyone sees first. Splitting the two lets you spend where it shows and buy durability where it works.
A quartzite island over quartz perimeter tops is a common pairing. Quartzite is a hard metamorphic rock, harder and more stain resistant than granite, and its natural movement reads well on a large single surface. Engineered quartz on the perimeter needs no sealing, though its resin makes it less heat tolerant than natural stone, so trivets stay near the range.
Marble etches when acids such as lemon or vinegar touch it, so some owners keep it to the island, where it is used for pastry and serving rather than daily chopping.
Butcher block, traditionally hard maple and now also walnut or teak, is used in home kitchens as an alternative to stone, and a wood island beside stone perimeter tops warms up a kitchen full of painted cabinets. When two materials meet the same room, we match the finished heights, typically 35 to 36 inches from the floor, and choose thicknesses so the island and perimeter read as one plan.
A new kitchen with a stone island is typically estimated at roughly $8,000 to $20,000 in Buncombe County when the island is priced with the rest of the kitchen, a service-ticket-bank estimate rather than a quote. Where your job lands in that range depends on the island itself far more than on the county.
Every figure here is an estimate, and prices are subject to change with slab availability and your final layout. Your written quote, prepared after the free in-home measure, sets the final price.
Kitchen designers, cabinet shops and builders can send a plan and a finish schedule instead of booking a homeowner measure. We still template the island on the installed cabinets, never from the drawing alone, because a plan cannot show a floor that falls away by half an inch across a big island. Trade accounts get the seam layout and support plan back for approval before the stone is cut, so the designer signs off on what the homeowner will sit at.
Drag the handle. The cabinets stayed; only the top changed.
BeforeAfter
BeforeAfterThe process
We come to the house, look at the cabinets, the walls and the way in from the driveway, and talk through materials and edges.
You get the slab, the edge, the cutouts, the seam plan and the dates in writing. Nothing is cut until you sign off.
Once the cabinets are set and level, we template them, then cut and finish the tops in the shop to that template.
We set and join the tops, then walk the finished kitchen with you before we call it done.
Questions
Usually yes, if its length and depth fit inside one slab. We measure the actual slab you choose, and if the island is longer than any slab we show you where the seam would fall before anything is cut.
One quartz maker allows up to 14 inches on 3 cm material with no added support, provided most of the top rests on cabinets. Deeper ledges get corbels or hidden steel, and natural stone is checked slab by slab.
In most kitchens, yes. We check that the cabinets are level, square and sound at the measure. If they need shimming or a knee wall needs framing for support, that is noted on the quote before any stone is ordered.
Island tops are typically estimated by slab count, material, overhang support, cutouts, edge and access. One slab with a simple edge costs less than two slabs with a seam and a sink opening. Your written quote sets the final price.
Yes. A quartzite or marble island over quartz perimeter tops is a common plan. We match the finished heights so the two read as one kitchen.
The dates are set at the measure and written on your quote, because they depend on whether your slab is in stock, how many slabs the job needs and the finish you pick.
It changes the plan, not the answer. We walk the drive and the path to the kitchen at the measure, and if one long piece cannot make the turn safely we tell you before the slab is bought.
Yes. We measure and install island tops county-wide, from Asheville out to Weaverville, Woodfin, Arden, Candler and the east side of the county.
Free measures across Buncombe County. Builders, cabinet shops and property owners can send drawings for a bid.
Licensed, bonded & insured. Calls only, we do not receive text messages.
