Why I Chose Marble Countertops & What I’ve Learned

After four years of saving I recently got to purchase my dream countertops! But let’s first take a look back at where we started.

A little over four years ago we moved into our home with a kitchen that was too dark and contemporary for my taste.

After several inexpensive DIY projects I was able to get our  kitchen to a point that felt light, bright, and airy (the way I like it).

One of the first projects in our home was replacing our dark laminate kitchen countertops with some light “faux stone” IKEA countertops.  They have held up pretty well with just a couple of small light stains.  They were super inexpensive so even though I have only had them for four years they were worth every penny!

But I’ve been in love with the beauty of marble and marble looking countertops for a long time!   And since I knew that the kitchen is a place in the home definitely worth investing in I began saving for them soon after we moved in.

For some reason I had it in my mind that marble was just as expensive if not more expensive then granite and stone marble look a-likes so when I contacted The Granite Guy for quotes I just asked about the marble granite/quartzite look a-likes.

Here are the quotes given to me based on the measurements of my kitchen that I provided to The Granite Guy.

1. Hanstone: Tranquility– $4199 – ($200) cash/check discount = $3999

2.  Silestone: Lagoon– $4399 – ($200) cash/check discount = $4199

3. Princess White Quartzite (Mont) = $7199 – ($200) cash/check discount = $6999

  4.  Super White Quartzite–  I didn’t ask for a quote for this one but I saw a beautiful slab of it at their showroom and it was even more expensive then the Princess white quartzite.

I had only saved $4000 for the countertops so I went into the showroom hoping that I would love the Hanstone Tranquility or Silestone Lagoon.

I was unfortunately very disappointed with the two choices.  They were fine but looked nothing like marble to me.  The Princess White wasn’t in stock and the Super white was very pretty and “marble-like” but way out of my price range.

They had about 8 slabs of carrara marble and it was exactly what I wanted but I assumed it would be too much money.

After I went home I couldn’t stop thinking about the marble I saw so I emailed them asking for a quote just to see.

I was shocked when the following quote came back!

Carrara Marble– $3499-  ($350)Angie’s List discount= $3149 – ($95) cash/check discount= $3054

I was surprised to find out my dream countertops were in fact well within my budget!

My Kitchen Now

Now I know what you may be thinking…But Tamara you have 4 young kids why would you get countertops that stain so easily?

Well a few reasons (other than that I think they are beautiful and were comparatively a great price)–

1.  We have a butcher block kitchen island/ table that we usually do all our food prep on so we weren’t as worried about stains on the countertops from cooking.

2.  The Granite Guy seals it with dryseal before installation which is suppose to protect it for 15 years.  Which will not protect it perfectly but at least helps.

3.  I have a few friends with marble countertops and children and they haven’t had any problems with stains.  I was sure to have my friends give me the dirt on them and as far as stains go they hadn’t had issues.

 

I hope you found this post helpful especially if you’ve ever considered carrara marble countertops!  As always please let me know if you have any questions!!  Have a Happy and safe July 4th!!

**Disclosure- I received a small discount on my countertops for mentioning The Granite Guy which I would have done anyway. They were wonderful to work with and highly recommend them if you are in the Central Ohio area.