What Does a Big Kitchen With a Waterfall Island Cost in Quartz? Priced Line by Line
Most countertop pricing online is a range with no kitchen attached. This is the opposite: one real layout, measured, drawn and priced line by line in our estimator, so you can see where the money goes.
The space
A new-build family kitchen in Whitby with white-oak slab cabinets: an L-shaped run of 150″ on the sink wall and 120″ on the cooktop wall, and a 108″ × 48″ island that seats four. The owners wanted the island to read as a single block of stone — mitred waterfall ends on both sides — and a chunky 1.5″ mitred edge everywhere else to match. The builder had installed a basic laminate as a placeholder; the owners replaced it before moving in.
- L-shaped run: 150″ sink wall + 120″ cooktop wall, 25.5″ deep
- Island 108″ × 48″ with two 36″-high mitred waterfall ends
- 1.5″ mitred (built-up) edge on every exposed edge
- Undermount sink 30″ × 18″ with faucet hole; 30″ cooktop cutout
- No slab backsplash (tile)
The stone
HanStone Calacatta Extra, 3cm. Calacatta Extra has the big, soft grey veins the owners wanted on a 9-foot island, and because HanStone supplies it on a 130″ × 65″ jumbo slab the island top came out of one piece with no seam. Waterfall ends live or die on vein matching: the panel is cut from the slab directly beside the top so the pattern folds over the mitre and keeps going. In a busier or smaller-slab stone that match is harder and the seam count goes up.
The quote, line by line
Every Quick Quartz quote is itemized like this. Prices are what this job was quoted at in October 2026 and exclude HST; yours will differ.
| Stone — HanStone Calacatta Extra, 3cm (118.8 sq ft incl. cutting waste) | $7,591 |
| Fabrication — templating, cutting, polishing, mitred build-ups, seams | $2,066 |
| Installation | $2,066 |
| 1.5″ mitred edge — 68.5 linear ft (incl. both waterfall ends) | $1,713 |
| Cooktop cutout | $140 |
| Undermount sink cutout, polished + faucet hole | included |
| Delivery & installation base | $250 |
| Tear-out and disposal of the builder tops | $300 |
| Sealing / care package | $120 |
| Laminate removal & disposal surcharge | $200 |
| Total, installed | $13,575 + HST |
That works out to $131 per square foot of finished countertop, everything included — quoted per square foot of counter, not per square foot of slab. Cutting waste is inside the stone line, not hidden in the rate.
Where the money goes
- Stone, about 56%. Three slabs for 103 sq ft of finished stone. The two waterfall panels alone are 24 sq ft of slab that most kitchens never buy — they are the difference between this quote and a standard island.
- Fabrication and installation, about 30%. Mitred edges are built up from two pieces glued at 45°, polished so the joint disappears, and waterfall panels are mitred top and bottom and set level with the floor. It is slower, more skilled work than an eased edge, and it is priced into both the fabrication line and the edge line.
- The edge line. 68.5 linear feet at the mitred rate is roughly four times what the same kitchen would pay for an eased edge. Choosing a mitred edge only on the island and an eased edge on the perimeter would have cut this line by more than half.
- What stayed the same. Delivery, tear-out, sealing and the cutouts cost what they cost on a small kitchen — on a job this size they are under 7% of the total.
Common questions
Is a waterfall island expensive?
It is the single biggest optional upgrade in a kitchen. Each panel is a full extra piece of stone cut and mitred to the top, so two panels add roughly 20–25% to a typical island quote. Done well it is also the feature people notice first.
Why mitred edge instead of just a thicker slab?
Quartz comes in 2cm and 3cm. A 1.5″ (about 4cm) edge is made by mitring a strip of the same slab and gluing it under the front edge, so you get a thick-looking profile without paying for a thicker slab that does not exist. It also lets the veining wrap the edge.
Could this have been done on fewer slabs?
Not in this colour at this size — the 150″ run alone is longer than any slab, so it is seamed once near the sink. The island top needed a full jumbo slab, and the two panels plus the cooktop run took a third. Our estimator lays the pieces out on real slab dimensions so you are not paying for stone that was never needed.
Does the cooktop cutout cost more than a sink cutout?
Slightly. A cooktop cutout is an unpolished rectangle with rounded corners that has to be cut on site or in the shop with the appliance spec in hand; sink cutouts are included because every kitchen has one.
How long did it take?
Templated on a Monday, three slabs fabricated over two days, installed on the Thursday. Waterfall panels are set the same day as the top.
More priced examples
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