granite kitchen benching

[sidk]

Hi, Can anyboby give me some assistance or your thoughts on granite kitchen benching.
I have the opportunity to pickup a new kitchen complete with granite benches.(hopefully at the right price) I think at this point the new kitchen will go into the area as it is a blank room that has never been a kitchen before.
I am unsure about 2 things
#1 cutting the holes for the hotplates & sink. What sort of blades do I use
???
I have circular saw, grinder & riciprocating saw.
#2
If I want to shorten the bench up a bit by trimming the granite back. Is this difficult
I know I will have to rew jig the carcase of the kitchen. & I am happy to do this.It is the ends of the granite, say I want to trim back 50 mm off the end of the granite slab. Am I likely to shatter the end if i cut it similar to the cutting of the sink holes.

I'll be interested to hear

[Trav]

Sidk

Mate - I wouldn't touch the stuff with my tools. It is great for benchtops - I'd love to have it - but it will chew up your tools and spit them out. You need to grind it to cut it with a diamond blade, but cutting it neatly will be near on impossible without the right gear and skill.

While you might be getting it at a grat price, it will still be expensive if you make a mistake.

I suggest you call a few of the granite benchtop places and see how much it would be for them to do the job for you.

Trav

[journeyman Mick]

Sidk,
easy enough to cut the stuff, a "disposable" grinder with a diamond blade will set you back around $50. Easy enough for the sink and cooktop cutouts, just make sure the offcut is fully supported underneath while you are cutting. Cutting the end is a bit trickier as you obviously want to get it dead straight after which you need to polish it. I'd be inclined to fit the kitchen and when you're done get a specialist in to do the cutting, polishing and glueing down.

Mick