Granite Countertops Near Fort Bliss Exchange in El Paso

Why People Near the Fort Bliss Exchange Come to COMAF Marble & Granite

Military families move constantly. However, if you live at Fort Bliss and are lucky enough to find a house you want to stay in, granite countertops are a great way to transform your kitchen into a kitchen that looks like it's yours and only yours. Families near the Exchange come into our showroom on Gateway Blvd E and want to make their base housing or other rental homes feel more personal.

As many know, Fort Bliss is one of the largest military bases in the US. Living in the neighborhood surrounding the Exchange, there are homes on Fort Bliss, just like homes in the rest of El Paso's east side. The residences range from the newer builds on Chaffee Road to the older ranch-style homes on Fred Wilson Avenue. Most of the kitchens still have the initial laminate or tile countertop they had when they were originally built and that is where we can come in.

We are a family business, established in 1985. We bring granite in from Brazil and here is how it helps people at Fort Bliss: we can offer more granite countertop choices in the Borderland than big home improvement stores do, in colors and styles you won't find anywhere else; the fact that we don't purchase granite from a retailer allows us to offer granite at lower costs, helping you stay within your military budget; not only do we fabricate granite countertops, we install the countertop, too — we don't need subcontractors to come to your home; and we are conveniently located on Gateway Blvd E, a short way down Dyer Street, just off Cassidy Gate.

The biggest concern when speaking with Fort Bliss area homeowners about countertop upgrades is that countertops can stand up to everyday living. You're often busy, kids are doing homework on the granite, pots are being moved from the stove onto the granite, and groceries are being set down on the countertops every time you visit the commissary. Granite countertops can handle this and show less signs of wear than a less expensive countertop will.

Additionally, homeowners near the Fort Bliss Exchange might want to sell their home after PCSing. Granite countertops can increase the appeal of the home to make it stand out from other houses on the market. We are often hired to put granite countertops on homes at Gruber Road that are up for sale because granite countertops help sell the house.

Because of El Paso's desert climate, granite countertops stay cool to the touch. This is good for your west-facing kitchen that sees a lot of the afternoon sun during the summer months. Granite will not warp or crack or fade under the Borderlands sun, as some less expensive synthetic surfaces will after a few years. Your El Paso utility bills may be high, and having surfaces in your kitchen that do not absorb and release heat is a practical consideration for homeowners at Fort Bliss.

If you find yourself on El Paso's east side and are thinking, "Maybe this kitchen needs to be upgraded," you are likely right. We're on the east side every week in homes with granite countertops, so we're ready to help your home with granite countertops. Visit our showroom at 3100 Gateway Blvd E or give us a call at (915) 345-3774 for your free, no-obligation estimate.

How to Get from the Exchange to COMAF Marble & Granite

We're located along the Patriot Freeway at 3100 Gateway Blvd E, a destination Fort Bliss residents will find is among the easiest to locate in the area, thanks to the clear road signs and easy access. A typical drive from Chaffee Road in the Fort Bliss Exchange will take about 20 minutes. If you've already arrived at Fort Bliss, you'll know the first thing you do is take Chaffee Road south and exit at the Robert E. Lee Gate. After you exit there, you can make your way on to US-54 South (Patriot Freeway). You'll take US-54 to where it transitions to Gateway Blvd East. Make sure to note Bassett Place on the left side. Our building will be on the right, and look for the stone yard in front of us.

The Patriot Freeway (US-54) can get pretty backed up during morning rush in the Dyer Street corridor, so we suggest leaving the post after 9 a.m., or even on a Saturday morning when you'll hit almost no traffic. We do a lot of business from Fort Bliss and we see a lot of military folks who come on Saturday mornings when the Fort Bliss Exchange gets too crowded and would prefer to do something a little more productive with their time.

Here's something you may not know: in our showroom, you won't just be viewing photos of granite on an iPad. We have full granite slabs we bring directly from Brazil that you can see, touch, hold your cabinet sample up against, and really look at the patterns and textures. You'll probably be surprised at how much a countertop in granite can look different in person compared with the small samples you typically see. At COMAF Marble & Granite, we're still a family business, so the person that you'll interact with in choosing your granite slab will be very familiar with the granite slab that's then used to build your granite countertop. We've owned this business since 1985.

If you're in the Fort Bliss housing community that lines Constitution Drive or the neighborhood that extends out from the post east of Gruber Road, you can also take Fred Wilson Ave. south to US-54 to the Patriot Freeway. This means the same amount of driving time, just slightly different directions. Either way you go, you'll just go straight down the Patriot Freeway to our part of town. It's easy to park here. There's plenty of space right in front of the building, no meters, no parking garages. Pull in, walk in, and we'll take it from there.

One thing we hear from people in Fort Bliss is how they expected to spend an hour in our showroom but found themselves there for two hours. We don't mean this in a bad way — people often don't realize how many granite options there are until they start looking at slabs. They might only think of granite colors like black or white, but when they see the natural patterns that originate in Brazilian quarries, you'll know why no two granite slabs are alike. And while we might talk about the different color choices that you might enjoy in your new El Paso kitchen, we also offer expert knowledge on the kinds of granite that will hold up best when the morning sunlight shines on the kitchen countertop. Please call us first at (915) 345-3774 so we have someone available to walk with you through the yard, or just come on in, we're used to it.

Common Housing Attributes Impacting Countertop Selection in this Market

Fort Bliss area kitchens near the Exchange typically follow a theme. A lot of homes here sit in decades-old neighborhoods, and the counters tell the story. We have removed laminate, chipped tile, and beat-up countertops from kitchens throughout this section of El Paso. Because the footprint can be limited, granite countertops must be cut to perfection on the first go.

Much of the surrounding housing inventory in the Fort Bliss neighborhood falls into several categories: ranch homes and single-family homes with galley or L-shaped kitchens; duplexes and other small multi-family homes with small vanity space in the bathroom; newer constructions on the perimeter of the installation with open floor plans; and renovations, where the previous homeowner changed the cabinets but not the counters.

We take these distinctions into account with granite countertops installation. The galley-style kitchen in a 1960 ranch-style home in the Chaffee Road area has a different footprint than a newer construction off Patriot Freeway. We never measure for granite countertops using assumptions; every measurement is taken from the exact location in the room.

We have some specific challenges in the surrounding neighborhoods. Military families move in and out. This constant flow of activity takes more of a toll on kitchens than many other surfaces. Granite countertops can withstand the high turnover rates of these homes better than others. In fact, sellers typically see the return on their investment in granite countertops in a family home as a high point of resale value before their PCS, as this is usually the one feature that first catches the eyes of buyers on their first walkthrough.

Then there is the heat of the Borderlands. There are few mature trees, especially around the Fort Bliss Exchange, unlike many other areas of the city. South-facing kitchens receive the brunt of the midday desert sun from the time of the spring equinox until the fall. In the heat of summer, the sun bakes on these homes in the afternoon. Heat warps laminate. Tile turns grout yellow over time. Granite countertops from Brazilian granite quarries take in the sun's rays, holding strong against UV exposure. We have sourced from Brazilian granite quarries for as long as we have been here, and for us, it means more in this neighborhood than many others.

We also install lots of bathroom vanity tops in this neighborhood. Bathroom vanity sizes tend to be smaller, often 24 inches, or in even smaller sizes. We get many opportunities like these with the bathroom vanity tops near the Fort Bliss Exchange.

In this particular corner of the El Paso region, we often run into homeowners who had updated their cabinets just a few years before calling in COMAF Marble & Granite. The difference between a new maple or white shaker-style cabinet and older, dated, and stained laminate counters shows in any home. Granite countertops make those newly updated cabinets shine.

If you have a home in a neighborhood around the Fort Bliss Army Base Exchange, your kitchen may have the same age as your car. There is no shame in that; it just speaks to what countertops were available at the time. Granite countertops were not the standard 20 or 30 years ago, but they are now the most impactful countertop upgrade per square foot. But layout matters. We often work with a kitchen that fits around a column or up against a window, both common in the surrounding El Paso area. Precise fabrication is necessary to get the layout right. With countertop fabrication and countertop installation, we handle all the steps at our Gateway Blvd E shop, so your stone countertop is guaranteed to fit your space.

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about granite countertops near Fort Bliss Exchange in El Paso

Need granite countertops near Fort Bliss Exchange El Paso?

Call (915) 345-3774 now for a free estimate — or stop by our Gateway Blvd E showroom.