Discuss How many of you have marble countertops? on IKEAFANS.com. We're Personalizing the IKEA Experience. How many of you have marble countertops? - PAX units, Billy bookcases, Ektorp sofas, Effektiv office furniture. Any and all IKEA, inside and out!.
Ok, so I took the big plunge. I was going to get granite, but then I found this lovely marble slab called "CafeRainforest" that is absolutely stunning, and I've NEVER seen it before so that made it even more attractive to me. Out of the 5 local slab yards, only one of them even had it.... I'll send some pictures when I get done with my kitchen so I can show off the whole finished product.
In the meantime, who else here has gone with marble and why? Was it the fact that you liked the look better? Everyone tried to talk me out of marble, but I decided that it looked best in my kitchen, and it matches the Adel medium brown just perfectly!
So, with that said, I'm WORRIED. They warned me, they tried to talk me out of it, and now that I have it, I'm ultra paranoid of cracking my counters or damaging them.
Is the care for marble any different? Will I use different cleaning supplies to wipe my counters down? How do I keep from scratching them? And last but not least, I dropped something today and it put a chip in the counter. Thank god it didn't crack the whole thing... but I hit it pretty hard, my fault, I dropped a vice grip when I was trying to hold the plinth down to the cabinet so I could screw it in fron underneith. OOPS!
I used to have marble countertops in my previous kitchen. They came with the house, so they were 30 or so years old but still looked OK, except acrack near one of the corners.
I found cleaning them easy and I loved the fact that Ididn't have to worry about placing hot pans etc directly on them. The only thing that you should be very careful about is acids (like lemon, vinegar etc) becausethey will damage the finish. I once cut a lemon directlyon the countertop and the few drops of lemon juice were enough to cause a permanent spot
I haven't heard about "cafe rainforest", but most of the "marbles" with rainforest in their name are actually a type of rock called serpentine. Most serpentines do have calcite in them (which is the mineral in marble) but they have a lot of other stuff in them as well and are generally considered pretty durable and more low-maintenance than most marbles.
Do you have a chunk left over that you can test on? With white marble countertops, the worst I've heard of is actually not from lemons, since those just etch and leave a non-shiny spot, but from red wine. Probably your best bet is to play with stains on a test piece or on an area that doesn't show, so that you know how careful you have to be with different food and cleaning products.
(Edited to "yeep!" in protest to the limestone/marble description at the base of the thread. Although then I'd have to "yeep" everytime "granite" was mentioned. Too many years of TA-ing petrology class.....)
That's a great idea. I still have a lot of material left, in fact one piece is like a 12x12 tile, and they actually polished the edges of it for me. Not sure what I would ever use it for, but it's kinda cool, I guess I can use it as my test surface to see how different brands of sealers work, and how things react to the material.
I'm very interested in what you learn- I am in love with onyx, which is actually onyx marble, apparently. Real onyx is a semi-precious stone...although I have yet to get quotes....
You have to be careful with laminate too, and while the cost differential is substantial, we all dealt with never cutting on it, or putting hot pans on it or spilling red wine on it for years!
OMG Kelly....I ADORE onyx. However, while I *might possibly* be able to afford a countertop or two in that beautiful stone, I couldn't afford the hospital stay that the sticker shock would require.
For those of you who love marble and onyx, you must visit Maestro Mosaics. Don't let the lack of prices scare you...they are actually not completely out of this world. Don't get me wrong....it's not cheap stuff, but not as expensive as some.
Oh, how I love their stuff. I have the Calacutta herringbone as well as some subway tile in Calacutta. Still haven't decided how to use it, but I have it. At this point, it's more of a hoarding thing. I also have some sea green glass tiles in 4x4, 8x8 and 4x8. I'm looking into copper....
Susan
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I'm very interested in what you learn- I am in love with onyx, which is actually onyx marble, apparently. Real onyx is a semi-precious stone...although I have yet to get quotes....
You have to be careful with laminate too, and while the cost differential is substantial, we all dealt with never cutting on it, or putting hot pans on it or spilling red wine on it for years!
Wow, you're good at Google! This is exactly the stuff, but that slab in this link does not have nearly as many color variations in it as mine does. I'll send pictures soon, I promise!!!
BTW, has anyone used the Zep Marble, Granite and Quartz cleaner from Home Depot? I bought some today and thought I'd try it, I'm assuming it's good... But who knows.
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