Kitchen Countertops - Marble and Look-alike Alternatives

*****  CLICK FOR OUR RED WINE TEST ON MARBLE  *****

*****  AND OUR NEW KITCHEN COUNTERTOP REVEALED  *****

Hope you had a fantastic holiday with your friends and family.  We're just starting to get back to the groove of things after a long hiatus.  December seemed to have zoomed past, as we squeezed in tons of work before our one week cruise vacation, then came back in time for Christmas. And now, we're almost into the new year!  That also means we should start looking at stuff for the house.  

We have a list of home projects to research on even before we move in.  As mentioned in the kitchen trendspotting post, there are some trends that we would love to incorporate for our new kitchen. We've contemplated a lot through the months and have decided we really love the look of marble countertop and backsplash.  Instead of braving the malls during Boxing Day weekend, we went to check out stone slabs for kitchen and bathroom countertops.  It was just a preliminary researching phase for us to look at the different types of marble and how they differ in veining and colouring.  We also wanted to see if there are any marble alternatives for countertops.  

Just so we weren't looking at every single kind of marble at the showroom (with a constantly whining little man - "Mommy, I only want to look at 5 more"), we turned to my Pinterest Kitchen board for inpirations.  

Marble looks that we love - more white background with soft grey veining:

image via http://dustjacket-attic.com/

image via smitten studio

Marble looks that we're not too hot about - grey undertone, less white, busy pattern, dark grey veining

image via Domaine Home

image via cynthiacarlson.com

If we didn't narrow down our preferences, this marble selection at Ciot would've been quite overwhelming.

wall of marble selection at ciot | Classy Glam Living

Before arriving at the showroom, I also considered Carrara marble.  However, it looked almost grey with no whites, as in the piece in the second row, third from the left.  It's lost its appeal to us, as it would just blend in with our grey kitchen cabinets.  From the marble selections, we narrowed down to Statuario, Statuarietto, and Calacatta.  They all exhibit a more white undertone with grey veining.

Nothing is more intriguing than looking at slabs of marble!  This is a slab of Calacatta marble we saw at the showroom. 

 It's beautiful as is, but it has too much of the brown veining in it, which Calacatta is known for. 

Calacatta marble | Brown and gold veining | Classy Glam Living

It would go nicely with a wood tone kitchen, just as how Jennie Garth used it in her new home's kitchen.

Jennie Garth's kitchen with Calacatta Gold Marble

For our grey cabinets, we would need a slab of marble with more grey veining.  Statuario and Statuarietto marbles both have a white undertone with grey veining, but Statuarietto has a busier fine grey veining in its white parts.  So it's no wonder that Statuario marble is the most valuable of all marbles - the whiter a piece of marble, the more valuable it is!

Then the stone expert showed me a slab of gorgeous looking Statuario marble...  or is it?

It's not real marble!  It's a huge slab of marble look-alike TILE!  The stone expert said to fabricate this into a counter would cost slightly less than Caesarstone.  However, the cost savings would be more dramatic without a complicated installation, eg. a slab of kitchen backsplash.  Unlike regular porcelain marble imitation tiles, the printed veins aren't pixely nor fake looking.  The best thing is, this is heat resistent, which eliminates my fear of discolouring a slab of marble backsplash at the stove!  There're so many applications for this product, we're so excited about it!

Another marble alternative that is very hot right now is the new Caesarstone, Calacatta Nuvo.  It's the first piece of Caesarstone with such a white background to imitate marble veining.  Unfortunately, the Mr. has had his mind set on the more authentic veining of marble, and nothing can replace its natural beauty.

If we were looking for a piece of Carrera marble alternative, then this piece of Super White would be a great choice.  It's more durable than marble, and its colouring and veining closely resemble that of the Carrera marble.

If you're shopping for a slab of marble, then I hope this post has showed you how to navigate through the differences between the white slabs of marble and alternatives.  Going to a slab showroom can be overwhelming, and knowing what you're looking for will help you focus and make it a more fun experience.

***CHECK OUT OUR RED WINE TEST ON MARBLE***

To leave you with something simply stunning...  an amazing slab of geodes:

Slab of Geodes | Olympia Tiles | Classy Glam Living

The crystallization withinin the slab is just mesmerizing.  I can stare at this for hours...  but maybe not with the little man around.

How do you protect your marble countertops?  Do you know of other marble alternatives?  

New House - Inspirations for Transitional Living Room

The myriad halloween activities are finally over, and it certainly felt like a marathon with pre-Halloween parties and preps for class treat bags.  Friends are now starting to schedule their holiday parties.  For us, we'll skip hosting parties this year, since the rental isn't the best space to hold gatherings.  All this party planning reminded me of how the Mr. and I have designated areas at the new house that will make an entertainment hub.  One such area will be our living area opposite to the kitchen. 

The builder's floorplan has an eating area parallel to the kitchen, with an adjacent living and dining area at the back of the house.  We decided to do things our way...  

Forget about that eating area.  Who needs 2 tables that are practically in the same area?  In place of the eating area, we will have a sitting area/ living room there.  The builder's living/ dining area would become one large dining area (we'll talk about the dining room in a future post and leave it spare for now).

One of the advantages of having an open floorplan with the same flooring material throughout is the option to designate areas without worrying about them spilling over each other.  Without a typical builder's tiled eating area, we were able to take advantage of the new trend of an open living kitchen area, such as these:

image via Style at Home

image via nobswall.com

Back at our old house, guests would spread themselves around our open ground floor, snacking at the dining room or chit-chatting in the family room.  I think the open space floorplan at the new house would make another great entertainment hub.  The living room becomes the focal point through the entrance from the hallway, while the kitchen is tucked away on the right side.  Hence our design plan to keep the kitchen muted and let the living room take the glory.  

We had planned for a more formal living room at our old house, since we had a more casual family room for us to put up our feet.  However, there wouldn't be a family room on the ground floor at the new house.  That means, while we still want the living room to be an elegant focal point, we'll keep it a bit more transitional so that it's also a comfy spot for plopping down.  Here are some photo sampling of my vision:

image via Sarah Richardson Design

image via Joss and Main

image via olystudio.com

image via horchow.com

Our living room space is narrow, so the furniture placement such as those above would be ideal to maximize seating.  Large art piece above the couch, pair of side tables flanking each side, and some extra seating on either side of the couch create a simple symmetry suitable for a small space.  It would also be a nice setup for us to participate in our guests' conversations while working in the kitchen.

I've been doing some virtual window shopping for the living room.  Can't wait to finally be able to "check out" my carts when it's closer to move-in time!  I'll be sharing some of my finds for the living area soon.  Remember to check back to get a glimpse of our living room in transitional style!

We're not usually rule breakers, but when it comes to design, it's ok to set our own rules that work better for us. Which room in your house is not done in a layout as suggested by the builder's floor plan?  

New House - Range Hood and Minimalist Kitchen Design

*** CHECK OUT OUR NEW KITCHEN! ***

So far, we've talked about kitchen design trends that we're contemplating for our new kitchen, and also some appliance choices that will help free-up our counterspace.  In choosing our kitchen appliances, I also emphasized how we wanted to hide them from view to achieve a more streamlined look.  Maybe this idea of hiding appliances came from the daily HIDE and seek games with the little man at around the same time we were researching for appliances.  I'm almost certain about that.  But one thing that started our design of a streamlined kitchen was the want to hide the range hood.

Here's another look of our kitchen layout.  

As you can see, the island faces the stove.  I pictured myself looking into the kitchen from the island.  Do I want the range hood and stove to be the focal point of the kitchen?  Not unless it's an immaculate setting.  So my first design attempt was to hide the range hood, using a hood liner with custom cabinetry, in similar designs as these:

image via houzz.com

image via houzz.com

image via houzz.com

Notice the red lines along the bottom of one cabinet, to the higher line at the range hood, and then down again to the adjacent upper cabinet.  The more I browsed through photos of beautiful kitchens on Pinterest, the more annoyed I got by these up and down lines.  I mean, it's a normal look for most kitchens, and we've all grown used to it.  For our new kitchen, where the direct view of the stove is open to the rest of the floor, I would rather have a nice quiet background that is the stove area, without the distracting "up and down" lines.

I had an idea, but I wasn't sure if it was possible.  Can I just hide the hood in a cabinet?  Similar to a hood cover, but in place of that would be our existing cabinet doors.  I forgot what keywords I used to google my idea of "level range hood with cabinet" or "hidden range hood ".   I was beyond myself when I found these possiblities, and I immediately showed them to the Mr.!

image via timturnerphotographer.com

image via deroseesa.com

image via domainehome.com

It only makes sense that minimalist design is best suited for small kitchens.  Hiding the hood may be much ado about nothing, but this streamlined minimalist look will work well for our open concept floor plan.  The design of a muted open kitchen will bring the focus to the kitchen-facing living room and the adjacent dining room.  

If these designs exist, then there must be hoods manufactured to be hidden away.  For that, we turned to our appliance expert, who we had been bugging since the week after we bought the new house.  

She quickly found us the brands that make these INTEGRATED hoods and gave us some options.  Not surprisingly, they're mostly made by European companies.  Modern living quarters in Europe/ Asia are in abundance, and streamlined kitchen designs are most popular with their small kitchens.  A built-in hood would do away with the bulky look of a conventional hood range, streamlining cabinet design for a clean look.  We're not going the modern route, but a minimalist kitchen is exactly what we're after!

Here are several options she recommended with at least 600 CFM (cubic feet per minute, a measurement of the volume of air extracted by the range hood):

Faber Jewel Tilt Out Range

Miele DA3596 Flush Fit Hood

The design of our kitchen will have the upper cabinets installed a bit higher than normal, to accommodate for the minimum distance between the range hood and the stove.  Here is a rough rendering (using the IKEA Kitchen Planner Tool) of how our kitchen will look like, incorporating some of the trends and appliance choices we talked about in the previous posts.  Sorry for my attempt in creating the marble slab backsplash...  yikes!

The upper cabinets are level across the kitchen, to avoid that "up and down" look at the stove area. I love the open feeling brought about by the glass doors and the light that's reflected through them. The fridge and freezer drawers on the side wall frees up the counterspace that would have otherwise been taken up by a conventional fridge unit.  The microwave drawer and dishwasher are located on either side of the sink at the island.

The kitchen is the heart of our house.  Like most families, the kitchen is the last room we're at before we begin a busy day, and the first room we head to after coming home from work.  A well designed kitchen and one that functions well would make our lives that much easier!  We hope that our minimalist design will give our kitchen the efficiency that's crucial for a small kitchen, while feeling roomy.  We very much look forward to starting our daily mad dash in our new kitchen, and ending a busy day prepping some yummies on the mile-long counters.