Can you please tell me where to find those gorgeous pendant lamps?

My profession is selling stone- just want to add: White carrara marble is relatively inexpensive, however the calcutta gold pictured and Danby marble pictured are QUITE pricey! Also- I highly recommend honing your marble (this is a matte finish) as it will not show any etch marks that acidic things like orange juice , etc. will leave on a polished (shiny) finish!

Those are Tom Dixon, I think.

We also sell natural stone and are pleased to see it featured here. There are so many gorgeous varieties of pale marble available and with the new, 'honed' matte finishes available that cathidoherty mentions they really do light up a room. All that's required is a little extra care and a good sealant.

Stone Holding Company.

I LOVE the look of white carrara marble too!! So gorgeous but I am all about low maintanance. I also heard that they can break! is there a good subsitute?

Hm, I always thought carrara marble was really expensive. I know ideas of what expensive is can vary on here, so maybe someone can give us an idea or at least in comparison to other materials like granite, quartz, concrete.

I really like the marble look, but I think I would hate constantly worrying about stains and where I can set everything. I'd rather have a durable surface where I can just enjoy baking or prep dinner fast.

I have seen a couple of whie granites that are similar, but nothing that really captures the look of marble. I did see an ep of Bang for Your Buck where the guy remodeled his bathroom using porcelain tile made to look like marble and fooled the designer. Not really an option for countertops, but maybe someone can do it.

We've had white marble countertops for years and we love them ! We sealed them after they were installed, and haven't had a problem at all with stains, even tomato sauce and red wine. Marble can chip, especially around your kitchen sink, if you bang your pots on it, but that little bit of wear and tear adds to the beauty or patina of the surface.

White marble countertops are classic and beautiful. Big thumbs up from us. You can see our kitchen here.

http://www.centsationalgirl.com/2010/02/kitchen-refreshed/

Yes, general price comparisons please, buy square or liner ft would be great. I agree with HeyNowTex about the disparity in what we all think is inexpensive or reasonable.
On another note,
Are there stain removal options if you get a tough stain?
Thanks a bunch for the info.

After 4yrs I'm still absolutely in love with my marble countertop; carrara, honed, not polished, and not finest grade, so was less expensive than granite or great butcher block when I was pricing. No special maintenance or babying required -- I roll pastry but don't cut directly on the countertop and I'm watchfull about acidic substances or spills as I would be with any surface. There has been some etching, but I find that appealing. It's such a marvelous, sensous, yet cool material... I have been known to kiss it and rest my face on it for long, loving moments :)

Love the look, could not chance the upkeep. Quartz is practically indistructable. I have put pots directly from the stove on it, banged it around, left wine overnight (by accident) and this counter looks good as new. White marble is beautiful, but for the cost, I could not chance it.

HeyNowTex: We just got 3cm honed carrara marble and paid $39/ sq ft (included installation, sealing, & everything). Polished would have been $37. So for our whole kitchen, island, & cooktop backsplash we paid a hair under $2K. Many of the granites we were considering were quite a bit more. Danby marble and Bianco Romano granite were $44.50, and Kashmir White granite was $40. Hope that helps?

We love them, and don't "baby" them in the slightest. We're very low maintenance types and have little kids and are messy cooks, but with a good sealer they seem virtually impossible to stain. They do etch though, but it's hardly visible at all with a honed finish (may bother some people, but I think it just adds to the character).

I know nothing about this, so I apologize in advance for what may be a silly question... Is there anything you can do to buff out etches that accumulate over time? And if there are chips, do you need to reseal the newly exposed stone?

Seeing as I live in a home, not a museum or kitchen showroom, I love marble for counters, particularly in the baking prep area.

Speaking of museums, ever been to one? Marble has been used for sculpture and flooring for centuries, still looks incredible, even when etched by acid rain. ;)

I like the imperfections, but I can understand why some people wouldn't.

Is it just me or does all that marble look very outdated? We recently redid our kitchen and the guy at the store talked me into granite. If I had to do it over again I would pick silestone quartz in stellar snow. But the granite was cheaper and we already had white cabinets, so I didn't think a white counter would go.

Does anyone have a good source for white carrara marble slabs in the San Francisco Bay Area? I got an Ikea Varde freestanding counter thing a while ago with the idea that I would hack it and put a marble slab on it instead of the butcher block top it came with. I would need a piece that's 41 3/4" wide by 25 5/8" deep and perhaps an inch thick.

@Bemyescape: If anything is going to make your kitchen look dated, it's granite.

I love it. I'm also a fan of a just marble insert in a countertop if the kitchen owner is a baker.

I love marble, but we bought cacutta, which is so beautiful, against the stone people's advice and had a piece chip out right away. Everything was a problem, oils, wine, of course, pasta sauce, heat. We sold that house, but that marble was always high maintaninence. I didn't listen to the advice on the net.Yet, just today, the French Table from Crate and Barrel, was delivered today to our condo and I am willing to try all over again. I think carrara is denser and more impervious to staining and this table is beautiful, small and perfect for the space.

I cannot WAIT to have a house to re-do so I can cover the kitchen in white marble. thanks for the encouragement!

http://mylittleapartment.blogspot.com/

I had also assumed that marble was really expensive and therefore chose white Corian instead in our kitchen renovation two years ago. It is a huge regret and I wish I'd gone with the marble.

Great post. I think you've single-handedly cured my fears about upkeep of honed Carrera marble and changed my mind about whether it's feasible for a frequent, balls-out, messy cook like me. I'd tried so hard to like engineered quartz just as much as Carrera, but it never happened. Thank you!

I feel qualified to comment on this post. I'm an architect and contractor and renovate about 3 kitchens/ year. Every time I open a design rag, or go to a Phillipe Starck hotel while traveling, I see white carrara counters, but when I ask my stone guy, he simply states, "You don't want to do that". So, one time I went against his advice and did it anyway in our own residence. I have to say the counters were breathtaking. I have 2 'stain' stories. BTW, our counters were polished.

First: A friend set a Corona bottle on the counter (which inadvertently had fresh squeezed lime on the outside of the bottle), and it left an 'etch', or what I would call a scratch in the exact shape of the bottle bottom. There was no remedy for fixing this apparently. It simply looked like the etch was honed when the rest of the counters were polished. At the end of the day, not that bad.

Second: My wife nuked a bowl of Trader Joe's frozen blueberries to put on her ice cream. The juice ran down the sides of the blueberry bowl, and she set it on the counters. We freaked. After searching online, we DID find a remedy. If I recall correctly, we put baking soda (or was it flour?) & water (sort of a paste) over the spot. You then cover that with a very wet paper towel, and ultimately saran wrap. Then you tape all edges with blue painters tape to not let the moisture escape. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, you try to put the exact dish down in the exact spot with something heavy in it. This puts pressure at the precise location you need it, and provides better wicking. We left it there for at least a day, and it worked PERFECT. It slightly effected the polishing (maybe 10%), but we were thrilled that all of the color came out.

In closing, we would not do them again if there are kids in the household. If you're a bachelor (or bachelorette), go for it, but do honed, not polished. Then, you don't have to sweat etching as much, but do learn to embrace the 'patina' ahead of time.

www.pearltwo.blogspot.com

To Redbeard,

We just went to Sun Marble in Hayward and got a huge slab for around $600. The people there were great! There are also lots of other marble/stone places down there. One stone guy recommended we go to a fabricator (they cut the stones to size before installation) who will have remnant pieces for either free or at a greatly discounted price. Hope that helps!

arg! i must admit to a wee bit of frustration! we have been looking for the whitest of white stone/marble/caesarstone what have you for our bathroom (to line the floor of our 'nook' as well as line a frosted sliver of glass... our go to product was caesarstone's 'pure white' (product 1141) which is the most whitest of white. I was told that for 6 SMALL pieces (measuring: 4" x 23", 4" x 24", 50" x 6", 50" x 6", 4" x 6" and 3 7/8" x 6") that the LOWEST price would be $1100!!
And, for the 'medium' grde of white thassot marble/stone, it would be $600!
Is this just Brooklyn? We are merely looking for plain, solid white white stone (manufactured or not) that is sealed/doesn't stain) that won't cost more than $400!
*collapse*

personally I find these counter tops too noisy because although they are white the vains make a lot of eye noise, and becaue they are so noticeable they become tiring to me after a while. I prefer a much quiter counter top and walls.

I am renovating my 30 year-old kitchen this spring. I'm doing carrara marble counters, counter to ceiling marble subway tiles in a herringbone pattern and 5-foot marble shelves on giant iron brackets. I'm a baker and I want it to have the feel of a French patisserie. It's going to be my dream kitchen.

any specific recommendations for a sealer?

I've got honed creme marfil in a very contemporary kitchen - one year old.
my stone fabricator uses acetone to clean the marble before resealing. the stone has changed over just one year - one spot that we use a lot looks a bit like it has stretch marks (you know, those lines on a pregnant stomach).

So you do have to be willing to live with marks and color changes and be more careful than with granite I am told. Still, if that won't bother you, it is a great look.

Can anyone recommend reasonably priced marble sources in the NYC area?

I love love love marble. I think the character they get are great (not that I've ever had one in my kitchen...only laminate right now!). I love when I go to an old museum house or something and see the etched, stained, and smoothly worn marble tops...they just say "history."

I am looking for a reasonably priced marble/ stone source in Minneapolis.
Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Dansof: 511 Porous Plus Sealer was highly recommended to me, and we've been very happy with it for our carrara marble. We've only applied it once, and no stains yet!

@redbeard: Fox Marble down 3rd streets is amazing. Their installation guys are also beyond compare!

Good sealers try Dupont - Stonetech bullet proof or if you like the enhanced look try the enhancer sealer. You can get them at lowes or i bought mine at www.travertineexpert.com i also got my stones from this company. They will ship anywhere. Ask for samples!

Marble countertops:

Stains. Yes.
Scratches. Yes.
Etching. Yes.
Beautiful and Timeless. YES!

@Cassis I have a few slab yards in northern NJ that we visited a couple months ago when we had our installation: Arena Stone (Carlstadt), Everest Marble (Clifton), IGM (North Bergen), Dente (Cedar Grove), All Granite & Marble (Ridgefield Park).

Arena had the best selection but we fell in love with a slab from Everest. Good luck!

patrick, any reason why marble for baking in particular? I love baking (just made some cupcakes with mint, peanut butter and choc icing!) and want my future dream kitchen to have great counters for messy baking prep and rolling dough.

Oh, and thanks mckernanb for the price info, wouldn't have guessed it's that cheap.

Marble for rolling out dough.

A great L.A. source:

$45/sf Carrara Marble, includes stone, 1-1/2" edge, all fabrication & installation.

@ Valley Design Center, in the LA valley. Ask for Melissa- she's SO helpful, and always includes whatever coupons and specials they have going on at the time. Good Luck!

Missmizu-

I'm a designer and buy a LOT of stone. The problem your're running into is that if a stone shop has a remnant, they're not going to want to sell a fraction of a remnant. Otherwise they're stuck with an even smaller fraction of a slab that's taking up space, that they can't sell. What I migh suggest is:

1. Check around with different dealers, with your $400 offer. Someone might just be hungry enough to bite.
2. Ask about chinese pre-fab. You won't get your 6" backsplash. You'll most likely get 4" backsplash, but it might slide into your budget.
3. Have you considered Corian? It's a product that is sold truely by the square foot (as supposed to the slab) and unusally has no minimums

Good Luck!

How big are these slabs typically? I'm thinking about making a custom dining room table with a white marble top. Trying to figure out what the dimensions are typically for a single slab.

I am remodeling my kitchen and have gone through marble counseling, signing marble releases of responsibility, marble railing from my contractor, looked at Ceasarstone-honed-it was not what I wanted-persuaded and pleaded with to look at granite, told I was making an irreparable mistake and yet, I am still resolute to have the Carrara Mable counters, backsplashes and feel the cool, wonderful beauty that marble offers. I have had second thoughts about the whole thing due to the "barrage of counseling moments", but my Carrara Marble counters arrive in three weeks; three (3) centimeters thick, honed, beautiful carrara marble. I never dreamed I would be so blessed to have such a wonderful kitchen. Thanks so much for these posts. It gave me such courage through it all. I will let you know how it goes. My advice--"to thine own self be true."

My fathers been a marble mason for 35 years. And now I work for him selling stone. I can honestly say that marble & soapstone are by far our biggest sellers! The cool thing about them is when they're honed, that you can remove scratches and stains yourself with comet & water! You mix them both into a peanut butter consistency, apply a glob on the stain w/seran wrap over the top. And over night the poultice will suck up any impurities! To remove light scratches: Rub comet and water in a circular motion over the imperfection. Because its a light abrasive it should disappear without a lot of elbow grease. You only live once. Choose the marble you've been dreaming of. You'll only be sorry if you hadn't!!

For gorgeous materials, check Crocodile Rocks out in Kenmore, Washington.
http://on.fb.me/ez0T7D
Or for immaculate stone fabrication & installation, check Michael Homchick Stonework's out! http://on.fb.me/eGczAy

Blessings to all you beautiful inspiring souls!

Cheris Homchick

I own a company selling marble, granite and engineered stone tops.
Like most stones, but love marble.
Have white marble (A Carrara called Calacatta Oro) in my own home.
You should install it "honed" or matt finish to help disguise etching from wine and acidic materials.
Once sealed well (use Lithofin or a similar penetrating sealer) staining is a non-issue
and re-seal every 6-12 months if you are very anal.
Ours has been in 8 years and should see anoth 100 without an issue.
While travelling thru Italy, have also had older Italians tell me they simply rub good quality olive oil into their benchtops to seal them - a light coat weekly. Haven't had to try this as honed and well sealed has been great.
Like us, in the words of billy Connolly, benchtops should be allowed to grow old disgracefully !!!
Anyone interested I can send a pic...have used Calacatta for splash-backs also.

Hi Wayne at Abosolute:
I was wondering where you would recommend buying some White Carrara Marble in the Chicagoland area? I need it for both my master bathroom and hall bathroom. I would also like to replace my granite countertops in my entire kitchen including my Island. All of your help would be greatly appreciated. Or, Would you sell directly to me? Thank You, Joyce Novak

I love white coverings, especially Carrara Marble and of course, the Calacatta Gold which looks gorgeous, however as it was mentioned on the comments of this post, it is pricey. For someone who likes a plain white look, the Thassos - a Greek natural stone, is the whitest marble in the world.
Be aware that because Thassos is a natural stone, variations in color occur very often and it is very difficult and expensive to find a clean batch.
At our store, as an alternative to the Thasos marble, we have an engineered thassos marble that is made out of crystallized glass, making it impervious and maintenance free. They are available in slabs for counter top and even in form of a tile for flooring and wall.
I hope this helps someone who loves white in their current and or future jobs.
Adriana