B
- Backsplash
- A vertical strip of stone mounted to the wall behind a countertop, protecting it from water and splatter. Standard backsplashes are typically 4 inches tall; the material is cut from the same slab and is included in a job's total square footage.
- Full-Height Backsplash (splash, full splash)
- A backsplash that runs the entire height from the counter to the underside of the upper cabinets (commonly 18–20 inches). It consumes far more material than a standard 4-inch splash and is a major driver of slab count, so it must be accounted for during layout and pricing.
- Beveled Edge
- An edge profile where the top corner is cut off at a straight angle (commonly 45°), creating a flat chamfered face. Simple and inexpensive to fabricate relative to ogee or bullnose profiles.
- Bookmatch (book-matched)
- Cutting two adjacent slabs from the same block and opening them like the pages of a book so their veining mirrors across the seam, producing a symmetrical, butterfly-like pattern. Common on feature walls, waterfall islands, and dramatic quartzite/marble installs.
- Bridge Saw
- A heavy fabrication saw with a circular diamond blade mounted on a moving bridge over a tilting or rotating table. Used for straight rough and finish cuts to break a slab down into pieces before edge and detail work.
- Bullnose Edge
- An edge profile rounded into a full half-circle. A half-bullnose rounds only the top portion of the edge, leaving a flatter bottom. A classic, durable, easy-to-clean profile.
- Bump-Out
- A flat rectangular protrusion added to a counter's outline — for example, to wrap a column or extend a counter past a cabinet. Treated as part of the piece's polygon when laying out and pricing.
C
- CNC (Computer Numerical Control)
- A computer-controlled machine that cuts, drills, and shapes stone automatically from a digital file. CNC routers and saw-jet combos run edge profiles, cutouts, and intricate shapes with high repeatability, driven by a fabrication drawing exported as a DXF or similar file.
- Cooktop Cutout
- An opening cut into a countertop to drop in a cooktop. The opening follows the appliance manufacturer's spec, including required clearances; on a quote it is priced as a per-unit cutout charge.
- Corbel (support bracket)
- A bracket — often decorative — installed underneath a countertop to support an unsupported overhang, such as a raised bar or an extended island ledge. See also support bracket and overhang.
D
- Digital Templating
- Measuring a job site with a laser device (such as a Proliner or photogrammetry/LiDAR tool) that captures the exact dimensions and angles of cabinets, walls, and openings as a digital file. More accurate and faster than building physical templates, and the data flows straight into a fabrication drawing.
- Drop-In Sink (top-mount, self-rimming)
- A sink that drops into a cutout from above, its rim resting on top of the countertop surface. Easier to install than an undermount and does not require the cutout edge to be polished, but the lip collects debris at the counter line.
- DXF (Drawing Exchange Format)
- A 2D CAD file format used to send the geometry of a piece — its outline, cutouts, and edges — to a CNC machine or saw-jet for cutting. The standard hand-off between the drawing/quote stage and the shop floor.
E
- Eased Edge
- The simplest finished edge: the sharp top corner is lightly ground and softened so it is no longer a knife-sharp 90°, while remaining essentially square. Low cost and a clean, modern look.
- Edge Profile
- The shape machined onto the exposed front edge of a countertop. Common profiles include eased, beveled, bullnose, half-bullnose, ogee, and mitered. Profile choice affects both appearance and per-linear-foot fabrication cost.
F
- Fabrication Drawing (shop drawing)
- The detailed, dimensioned plan a shop produces for each job: piece outlines, seam locations, sink and cooktop cutouts, edge profiles, and overhangs. It is the single source of truth the saw and CNC follow, and is typically exported as a DXF.
- Farmhouse Sink (apron-front sink)
- A large sink with an exposed front panel (apron) that sits proud of the cabinet face. It requires special cabinet support and a custom cutout, and is more involved to template and fabricate than a standard undermount or drop-in.
- Faucet Hole
- A hole drilled into the countertop or sink deck for a faucet, sprayer, soap dispenser, or air gap. Jobs are often quoted by faucet-hole count; a single-handle faucet needs one, a widespread set may need three or more.
- Finish
- The surface treatment applied to the face of the stone. Polished is glossy and reflective; honed is smooth but matte; leathered (or brushed) has a soft textured sheen that hides fingerprints. Finish affects look, stain resistance, and sometimes price.
G
- Granite
- A natural igneous stone, very hard and heat-resistant, with a grainy, speckled appearance. A long-standing countertop material; it is porous and is usually sealed periodically to resist staining.
- Grain (directionality)
- The directional pattern in a slab — veining in natural stone, or a printed pattern in quartz. When a material has grain, certain pieces must keep a fixed orientation so the vein runs the right way, which limits how freely they can be rotated during nesting and can lower yield.
H
- Honed Finish
- A flat, matte surface produced by grinding the stone to a smooth but non-reflective finish. Softer and more contemporary than polished; on darker stones it can show fingerprints and water spots more readily.
K
- Kerf
- The width of material removed by a cut — the strip the saw blade or waterjet stream consumes. Kerf must be accounted for between pieces during layout, because a nest that fits on paper without kerf may not fit on the actual saw. See the slab yield guide.
L
- Layout
- The arrangement of a job's countertop pieces on one or more slabs. A good layout fits the pieces with minimal waste and respects grain and seam rules; the layout decision is what determines how many slabs a job actually consumes. See nesting and yield.
- Leathered Finish (brushed, satin)
- A textured finish achieved by brushing the honed surface, leaving a soft, low-sheen feel that follows the natural pits and grain of the stone. Hides smudges and water marks well.
- Linear Foot (lineal foot)
- A measurement of length equal to 12 inches, used to price work that runs along an edge — finished edges, backsplash, mitered edges, and seams are often quoted per linear foot rather than per square foot.
- Lippage
- A height difference between two pieces of stone meeting at a seam, leaving one side proud of the other. Visible and palpable lippage is a defect; proper leveling and seam setting keep the surfaces flush.
- Lot (block, batch, dye lot)
- A group of slabs cut from the same block of natural stone (or produced in the same manufacturing run for quartz). Slabs within one lot match closely in color and veining; slabs from different lots can vary, so a multi-slab job should be sourced from the same lot wherever possible.
M
- Marble
- A natural metamorphic stone prized for its soft veining and luminous look. Softer and more porous than granite or quartzite, it etches with acids and scratches more easily, so it needs more careful use and sealing.
- Mitered Edge
- Two pieces of stone cut at 45° and joined to create the appearance of a thicker edge (a "build-up" or "build-down") without using a solid thicker slab. Used to make a 3cm top look like a chunky 4cm+ edge. Priced per linear foot of mitered edge.
N
- Nesting (slab nesting, slab layout)
- Arranging a job's pieces on a slab to fit the most pieces with the least waste, respecting kerf, grain, and seams. Done by hand it is a slow puzzle; SlabOS automatic nesting tests roughly 30,000 placement operations per slab in one click to find a tight, validated best-fit layout. See yield.
- Notch
- A rectangular cutout taken out of a counter's outline — for example, to fit around a wall return, a post, or an appliance. Like a bump-out, it is part of the piece's polygon for layout and pricing.
O
- Ogee Edge
- A decorative S-shaped edge profile combining a concave and a convex curve, giving an ornate, traditional look. More machining is required than for eased or bullnose profiles, so it carries a higher per-linear-foot cost.
- Overhang
- The portion of a countertop that extends past the cabinet or support below it. A standard front overhang is roughly 1–1.5 inches; bar and island overhangs of 12 inches or more usually need support brackets or corbels to prevent cracking.
- Off-Cut (drop, scrap)
- The leftover stone after a job's pieces are cut from a slab. A usable off-cut becomes a remnant — inventory you already paid for that can be sold again; an untracked off-cut becomes waste.
P
- Per-Slab Pricing
- A pricing method where material is charged by the whole slab rather than by the square foot, because the customer effectively buys (and the remnant belongs to) the full slab. Contrasts with per-square-foot pricing; many price lists support both, chosen per material.
- Polished Finish
- A glossy, reflective surface produced by grinding the stone with progressively finer abrasives until it shines. The most common finish; it deepens color and veining and offers good stain resistance on sealed stone.
- Porcelain Slab
- A large-format slab made from compacted porcelain, often used like sintered stone. Extremely hard, heat- and UV-resistant, and non-porous, but thin and brittle to fabricate, requiring specialized blades and careful handling.
Q
- Quartz (engineered stone)
- An engineered surface made from roughly 90% ground natural quartz bound with resin and pigment. Non-porous, consistent in pattern, and low-maintenance (no sealing). Many quartz patterns are directional, so grain still matters during layout.
- Quartzite
- A natural metamorphic stone formed from sandstone, very hard and durable with marble-like veining. Often confused with engineered quartz but is a completely different, natural material; it is porous and is typically sealed.
R
- Remnant
- A usable leftover piece of stone from a previous job, large enough to fabricate a smaller item — a vanity top, bar, windowsill, or repair piece. Tracking remnants to the piece turns them into searchable inventory you sell a second time instead of scrap. See slab yield.
S
- Seam
- The joint where two pieces of stone meet, bonded with color-matched epoxy. Seams are unavoidable on runs longer than a slab or on complex layouts; placing them well can save a slab and hide the joint, while a careless seam wastes material and shows. Often priced per seam or per linear foot.
- Shop Drawing
- See Fabrication Drawing.
- Sintered Stone
- A slab manufactured by compacting and heat-fusing natural mineral particles under extreme pressure, with no resin binder. Highly durable, heat- and scratch-resistant, and non-porous. Closely related to porcelain slabs and fabricated with similar care.
- Slab
- A single large, flat sheet of stone, the raw material a shop buys and cuts countertops from. Sizes vary by material and lot, but a full slab is commonly in the range of about 9–10 feet long by 5+ feet wide. See square foot and yield.
- Slab Inventory
- The stock of slabs and remnants a shop holds, ideally tracked to the individual piece with its material, color, lot, dimensions, and location. Accurate slab inventory lets you reserve the right stone for a job and reuse remnants instead of buying new.
- Square Foot (sq ft)
- A unit of area equal to a 12-inch by 12-inch square (144 square inches). The core unit for measuring countertop area and pricing material, fabrication, and installation.
- Square Footage (billable sq ft)
- The total area of a job, computed from the exact polygon area of every countertop piece plus the material area of backsplashes, mitered edges, and waterfalls. The basis for material, fabrication, and installation line items.
T
- Templating
- The process of capturing the exact dimensions of a job site before fabrication — historically by building a physical template out of strips or boards, now usually by digital templating. The template becomes the basis for the fabrication drawing.
- Thickness (2cm / 3cm)
- The depth of the slab. The two common countertop thicknesses are 2cm (about ¾ inch) and 3cm (about 1¼ inch). 3cm is more rigid and often used without a build-up edge; 2cm is lighter and cheaper but frequently needs a mitered build-up to look substantial. Pricing commonly varies by thickness.
U
- Undermount Sink
- A sink mounted to the underside of the countertop so the stone's polished cutout edge is the visible rim, leaving an uninterrupted surface for easy wipe-down. The cutout edge must be finished and polished, making it more labor-intensive than a drop-in.
V
- Vein Matching
- Aligning the veining across a seam (or from a counter into its backsplash or waterfall) so the pattern appears continuous and the joint nearly disappears. Requires careful slab selection and layout, and constrains how pieces can be nested. Compare bookmatch.
W
- Waterfall Edge
- An edge treatment where the countertop continues down the side of an island or cabinet to the floor at 90°, so the stone appears to "pour" over the edge. Often vein-matched or bookmatched at the corner. It consumes substantial extra material and is accounted for in square footage.
- Waterjet
- A cutting machine that uses a high-pressure stream of water mixed with abrasive to cut stone. It produces clean, intricate cuts and tight inside corners that a circular blade cannot, and is common in CNC saw-jet combos. Its stream still has a kerf.
Y
- Yield (slab yield, material yield)
- The ratio of usable countertop square footage to the total square footage of slab purchased. The single biggest lever on material cost: the same pieces can fit on one slab or spill onto two purely based on layout. Higher yield from tight nesting lowers true material cost and lets a shop bid sharper. Read the full slab yield guide.
See the whole workflow on a real job
SlabOS turns this vocabulary into one platform — draw the job in live 2D and 3D, price it from your real slab list, nest it onto the slab, and track every remnant. Book a demo and we'll run one of your actual jobs through it.
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