Henderson Custom Countertops handles countertop replacement in Hendersonville, NC, as Henderson County's trusted tear-out specialist, specializing in laminate removal, old granite removal and tile-and-mortar demolition. We offer quartz and granite replacement tops.
Our team provides cabinet reinforcement and floor protection, delivering new countertops on the cabinets you are keeping for both residential and commercial projects. We template only once the old top is off and the boxes underneath are sound, and the same crew that tears out and templates comes back to set the new stone.
From breaking a mortar-bed tile top loose without jarring the sink base to a final walk across a clean floor, our team handles every detail. Serving Hendersonville, Fletcher, Etowah and Flat Rock, we plan the tear-out, the plumber's visit and the new install as one schedule.
Why Henderson Custom Countertops
Whoever measures your cabinets is the person accountable for the finished top.
The first thing we check on a replacement in Henderson County is what the old top is and how it is fixed down, because each surface comes off a different way and leaves different damage behind if it is handled wrong.
Laminate is kraft and decorative paper pressed with melamine resin over a particle board core. Once it is unfastened from the cabinets it lifts off in long pieces, and it is the quickest removal. The builder-grade laminate in 2000s Fletcher subdivisions is the usual example.
Tile tops go down the way a tile floor does, set in mortar with grouted joints, and older ones sit on a thick mortar bed. That bed is heavy and has to be broken out in sections, which makes it the slowest and dustiest removal and the one most likely to stress the cabinets under it.
An old granite top comes off in its original pieces where the seams allow, or is cut into carryable sections where they do not. Weight is the risk: a slab levered off carelessly can split a face frame on its way out.
Solid surface such as Corian is joined with colour-matched acrylic adhesive, so its joints are hard to find. We cut it apart along the cabinet line rather than prying it, which keeps the cabinet tops intact.
Before anything is lifted, we protect the parts of the kitchen you are keeping. A replacement has failed if the new stone is perfect and the floor is gouged.
A tile backsplash was usually laid down onto the old top, so its bottom row is locked to it. When the top comes out, that row often cracks or pulls loose. We point this out at the measure and you choose: a new backsplash, a stone splash cut from the new slab, or spare tiles held back for a repair. If there is a box of leftover tile from the original job in the garage, find it before tear-out day.
If stone is replacing laminate, the cabinets are about to carry a far heavier top, and some need work before they can. A laminate top hides a lot: it flexes over a sag and rests on thin corner blocks that were never meant for stone.
We check three things. First, flatness: the MSI quartz installation guide asks for cabinet tops flat and true to within 1/16 inch over 18 inches, so low spots are shimmed and long runs trued up. Second, the sink base: particle board swells and discolours as it absorbs moisture, and a sink base that has taken years of small drips is often soft along the front. Third, overhangs: a bar ledge that held laminate may need brackets before it can carry stone.
In the 1980s and 1990s golf villas around Etowah and in the older in-town houses of Hendersonville, we expect at least one of these. In Fletcher's newer subdivisions the boxes are younger, but a builder-grade sink base is still the first place we look.
Replacing a kitchen top with quartz or granite, tear-out included, is typically estimated at roughly $2,500 to $7,000 in Henderson County, using our trade's ticket data as the guide rather than a price for your kitchen. What comes off matters nearly as much as what goes on.
Laminate comes off fastest; a mortar-bed tile top takes the most labour.
Old stone and broken mortar weigh far more than laminate, so they cost more to take away.
Shimming, a new floor in a soft sink base, or brackets under an overhang are listed as their own lines.
A tile splash that breaks during removal adds a new splash to the scope.
The new stone, and how many slabs your layout needs.
Stairs, steep drives and gated entries add carrying time twice, old stone out and new stone in.
All of this is estimated and subject to change. The final price is the one in your written quote, set after we have seen the old top, the cabinets and the way into the house.
The sink has to be disconnected before the old top can come out, and in North Carolina that is licensed plumbing work. North Carolina General Statute 87-21 brings the connection, repair or alteration of a home's drain, waste and vent system and its potable water system under plumbing contractor licensing. So a licensed plumber shuts the water off at the stops, disconnects the faucet, drain, disposal and dishwasher line, and returns once the new top is set.
Our part is the stone. We cut the sink opening and faucet holes, set the new sink, and leave the opening ready for the plumber. If your shutoff valves are old and stiff, tell the plumber before tear-out day; a stop that will not close can hold up everything behind it.
We line the visits up so the kitchen is without water for as short a stretch as the schedule allows: plumber out, old top off, cabinets fixed, new top in, plumber back.
Start to finish
Nothing is cut until you have approved the slab and the seam layout.
We measure the cabinets, check them for level, look at the carry path in, and talk through material, edge and sink.
You choose the slab, and we show you where the seams and the veining will fall before anything is cut.
The stone is cut wet, edged and polished in the shop, with openings cut to the sink and cooktop you picked.
We carry it in, set it, seal natural stone that needs it, and walk the finished counters with you.
Where we work
Straight answers
Yes, in most kitchens. We check that the boxes are sound and flat at the measure, repair what needs it, and set the new stone on the cabinets you already have.
Possibly. Its bottom row is usually laid onto the old top, so it can crack when the top is removed. We look at it during the measure and give you the options: a new splash, a stone splash from the new slab, or a repair with spare tiles.
In sections. The tile and the mortar bed beneath it are broken out piece by piece, with the dust contained and vacuumed, so the cabinet tops underneath never take one big pry.
Not usually, once they are trued up and any soft sink base is repaired. We check each run before templating and tell you what, if anything, needs work, and that work is written into the quote.
A licensed plumber, since plumbing connections are licensed work in North Carolina. The plumber disconnects before tear-out and reconnects after the new top is set; we cut the holes and set the sink in between.
Most quartz or granite replacements, tear-out included, are typically estimated at roughly $2,500 to $7,000 in Henderson County. Your written quote sets the final price after we see the old top and the cabinets.
It leaves with us on tear-out day, along with the broken mortar, old caulk and offcuts. Haul-away is listed as its own line on the written quote.
Yes, for a stretch. The new top is templated on the bare cabinets once the old one is off, so there is a gap with no counter and no working sink. We set its length at the measure and put it on the estimate, and many households set up a coffee station and a washing bowl in another room for those days.
It should not. Floors are covered along the carry path before anything is lifted, and heavy pieces are carried out, never dragged across the room.
We measure homes and businesses across Henderson County. Builders and businesses can send drawings for a bid.
Licensed, bonded & insured. Calls only, we do not receive text messages.
