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Cambria Home Additions & ADU: The Los Angeles Owner’s Guide
Cambria home additions and ADUs in Los Angeles typically run $53,100 – $153,400, and most families reach out to us when they’ve outgrown their floor plan but don’t want to leave a neighborhood they love. The moment that usually triggers the call is different for everyone: a second child sharing a bedroom, aging parents moving in, a home office that’s been carved out of a dining room for too long. What they all share is the same question: can we add square footage without disrupting how our family actually lives day to day?
We’re an independent Los Angeles remodeling contractor that plans and builds home additions and ADUs with Cambria quartz surfaces specified throughout. That matters because a Cambria top in a new ADU kitchen or a laundry room addition isn’t a generic upgrade; it’s a named material with a manufacturer warranty you can verify on your own. We’re not affiliated with Cambria, but we’ve installed enough of their slabs across Los Angeles to know exactly how the material performs in our climate and how it holds up under daily family use.
Which Cambria Models This Applies To
When we talk about Cambria in a home addition or ADU, we’re talking about their full quartz slab line: designs from the Marble, Quartz, and Coastal collections, plus the matte-finish Matte collection that’s become popular in Los Angeles ADUs where owners want a quieter, less glossy surface. Cambria doesn’t use tiered pricing by collection the way some manufacturers do, so the design you pick doesn’t shift your slab cost the way a leather-finished granite might.
The compatibility question that actually matters with Cambria isn’t the model name; it’s the slab dimensions. Cambria jumbo slabs run 132 inches by 65.5 inches, and standard slabs are 120 inches by 55.5 inches. For an ADU kitchen island that’s 10 feet long, a jumbo slab means no seam down the middle. For a smaller addition with an 8-foot island, a standard slab leaves less waste. A competent fabricator plans the layout around what the slab actually gives us, and we specify that in the written scope before any cutting starts. Aftermarket isn’t really a thing for quartz slabs the way it is for appliance parts: you either buy Cambria through an authorized fabricator, or you’re buying a different quartz brand. We also work with Silestone and Caesarstone when an owner prefers them, but Cambria is the one we’re asked for most often in Los Angeles, particularly in ADUs where the countertop is the visual anchor of the whole space.
Styles & brands we work with
Signs Your Cambria Home Additions & ADU Is Failing
The failures we see in Los Angeles additions and ADUs rarely start with the Cambria itself. Quartz is dense and non-porous; it fails slowly, if at all. What fails first is usually the structure around it.
- Hairline cracks at the sink or cooktop cutout. This almost always means the cabinet below settled or the slab wasn’t supported evenly across the cutout. We see it more in ADUs built on post-tension slabs where minor ground movement is normal.
- Seams opening up at the island. Los Angeles heat and dry air cause cabinets to contract; if the seam was tight in March, by September it can show a visible line. A proper seam doesn’t do that.
- Chipping along the front edge. Cambria is hard, but a dropped cast-iron pan at the wrong angle will chip any quartz. Edge-profile choice matters: a full bullnose hides more than a sharp eased edge.
- Staining that won’t come off. Cambria is non-porous, so true staining is rare. When we see it, it’s usually metal marks from a can dragged across the surface, or residue from an adhesive that was never fully cleaned.
- Undermount sink separating from the slab. This is a mechanical failure, not a Cambria failure: too few clips, the wrong adhesive, or a sink installer who rushed. In a new ADU, this shouldn’t happen, period.
See the difference
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AfterReplacement Cost & What’s Included
For a Los Angeles home addition, the total project range of $53,100 – $153,400 includes everything from foundation to fixtures. If you’re replacing the Cambria countertop itself, a new slab typically runs $2,360 – $7,670 installed depending on square footage, edge profile, and whether we’re templating around an existing sink or specifying a new one. A full ADU kitchen with Cambria tops, new cabinet boxes, sink, and faucet always gets a written line-item price before we start, and that paper is the number we hold to.
What’s included on every job: new Cambria slab cut from an authorized-fabricator template, sink and faucet disconnect and reconnect, cabinet support repair if the old top failed because the base settled, seam set and polished, and all debris removed. That last part isn’t a courtesy; it’s part of the Cedarwell Care Promise we work under: drop cloths on floors, shoe covers at the door, a photo of the clean-up before the crew leaves. Our workmanship on Cambria installation is covered under the 365-Day Done Right Promise: if it isn’t done right, we make it right. The Cambria manufacturer warranty travels with the slab itself.
DIY or Call Us?
Replacing a Cambria slab is not a DIY project. Quartz is heavy: a standard 120-inch slab weighs over 600 pounds, and a full-size jumbo slab approaches 900. Templating requires a laser or digital template; cutting requires a bridge saw or CNC. The danger isn’t theoretical. People get hurt trying to move a slab with two friends and a furniture dolly. We say it plainly: this is a job for a crew that moves slabs every week, not something to attempt with a rented cart.
What an owner can safely do is check the support underneath. Open the cabinet doors and look at where the slab meets the cabinet top; if you see shims that have worked loose, note where they are and tell us when you call. If you see a seam opening, measure the gap with a feeler gauge or a folded piece of paper so you can describe it accurately. Don’t tighten anything, don’t shove shims back in, and don’t caulk over a moving seam. Then call (949) 850-9896 and we’ll come look.
FAQs
Thirty years or more is a realistic lifespan for Cambria quartz in our climate, provided the cabinet base stays sound and the seam was set correctly at installation. The material itself won’t fade, etch, or absorb stains; what shortens its life in Los Angeles is ground movement, poor cabinet support, or an undersink failure.
Small edge chips can often be filled and polished by an experienced fabricator, especially on lighter designs where the repair blends well. A crack that runs from a cutout corner usually means the slab is compromised and should be replaced. Call (949) 850-9896 and we’ll give you an honest read before anyone picks up a tool.
From template to finished installation, most Cambria replacements in Los Angeles run two to three weeks. Templating takes about an hour, fabrication runs one to two weeks depending on the backorder status of the slab you choose, and installation is typically a single day. We will always tell you the exact timeline for your job before you commit.
Cambria is made in Minnesota and distributed through authorized fabricators; nobody keeps a warehouse of every design in Los Angeles. We order the slab by design name and lot, verify it’s defect-free when it arrives, and template only after the slab is physically in hand. That way we’re never measuring for a slab that hasn’t arrived yet.
Written by Graham Stein, Owner, Elmstead Remodeling at Elmstead Remodeling, serving Los Angeles and nearby areas.
