Currently I live in a solid stone and brick Texas Hill country house. The exterior is 4 different types of limestone mixed together. It looks incredible, we get nothing but compliments and no, nothing in the world would ever look better then total natural stone. However, weight was a huge issue when we were designing the house and we had to beef up the foundation considerably to support the weight of the stone. Interior wise though I have nothing but Eldorado Stone. I love this product, I love the lower weight of this product and I think this company manufactures some of the most believable "man-made" stone out there. I am currently building my 5th new home in Canada and we will not only use Eldorado Stone on the inside but also on the outside this time. I have over 5000 sq feet of stone in the new project and I wouldn't trust it to anyone else but Eldorado. One a side note though, manufactured stone should be installed by a good mason, preferably a master mason, who has worked with the product and is trained to know how to properly mix the stones throughout the laying, who follows the recommended installation instructions, and who can make the stone come alive. It is a master mason who will transform a "man-made" product into a thing of beauty. If you live in an area where real stone is a sensible price then I would chose real stone. But, for those of you who have overly high costs for natural stone, Eldorado stone is a super alternative. It also has the benefit of being a "green" option and I am receiving a bunch of LEED points for choosing a product that does less damage to the environment, is manufactured close to where I will be using it,does not benefit from forced labor practices and is not mined in inappropriate ways. It also requires far less structural concrete and rebar then real stone would require.

Exotic natural stone from Bermar is unlike anything youÂve ever seen. This luxury natural stone features an array of vivid colors and patterns that are so symmetrical that you would think they had been painstakingly drawn out by hand. These exotic stones have been harvested from around the world, allowing Bermar to offer a vast selection of stone types, each of which is a unique piece of art. Bermar offers such exotic stones as Lapis Lazuli, Diaspro, Onyx, and various marble species. Here is a link that might be useful: TileLand

I am always just floored when I see something like a large mall or a commercial building being torn down. Just where does all of that debris go? It is such a tangled mess of materials of all kinds. How can materials be separated out? Then, there are natural disasters that require the tear down, repair and replacing of acres of buildings, such as a flood or a hurricane. Where does all of that plumbing, old appliances and plastic siding go? Reusing existing structures is commendable, but not really without it's environmental consequences, either. There is very little, if anything, that does not leave a carbon footprint. We need some really progressive ideas, concepts, and materials for building. And, we need them right now, not in the future. And, not just in CA! There is a small contingent of folks on the cutting edge of a new way. It is always exciting to read about them. My one regret in life is that I feel that I missed my calling and did not enter a field where I could have been instrumental in bringing this about. Maybe, in the not too distant future, there will come a time when we will be forced, by necessity, to embrace the constructive and widespread creative use and reuse of materials and resources. As is usual, we will react to a dire situation rather than adopting a change before that happens. Always, we are reactive, and not proactive. I, for one, am just totally uninspired and unimpressed by so much of the design and building that I see going on. There is so much boring and mundane repetition of the same old, same old concepts. In the meanwhile, why is something like Kerdi not widely available, if it is a preferred material for a professional job? Why is it not displayed in the tiling aisle of HD? If it is at the home improvement stores, it certainly is not on prominent display. So many of these materials require one to find a dealer in order to get these things. I would like a well built, yet simple house that does not require the services of a secret society of tradesmen to maintain and repair. I may not have an electric planer to plane down the face of a stud that projects too far out, or the skills to bed a new wall with that one expert pass of the trowel. But, that "swinging dk" with the power tools does not own a top of the line serger, either. And, he is not likely to be able to turn a double welted pocket on a vest, or know how to understitch a facing or baste in an interfacing, or apply a bias binding to a neckline. If he had to join a perfect circle to a flat piece of fabric, or place neatly stitched buttonholes in the exact same position all the way down a shirt, he would be stumped. He would make a mess of serged circle, even with expensive equipment and high quality fabric. I would be just as lost with his power tools as he would be with mine. He would be no more adept at my skills than I with his. Still, if he sewed a curtain panel and hemmed it with fusible facing rather than blind stitching it, I would respect that as long as it was straight and level. I use many of the same tools when constructing something from woven fabric that a builder/carpenter uses. I use metal straight edges, L squares, and calipers. I use razor edged cutting tools and joining techniques that are uniquely suited to the objective and materials. I use jigs and scoring and marking templates. I have several tools in my collection that came from Home Depot. I know how much tolerance in tension is acceptable when applying a bias piece to a curved edge and how much tension to apply according to the degree of curve, but I don't know how much tolerance is acceptable when creating a flat surface to tile, or if that tiny amount of give in the wall is going to cause problems even if it is high up on the wall and not likely to ever be tested. But, clothing and home furnishings can be easily bought and he is not likely to ever need these skilled things to be done. On the other hand, our houses require constant upkeep, repair and replacing of which all is expensive and could cause our homes to become flooded or walls to collapse if done wrong. I wish that it was all much more simple and homeowner friendly to do so. I would be OK with that carpenter with the fused hem on his curtain, as long as the curtain was simple in design. I want the same simplicity in my house and it's construction. I hate relating to one of those guys at Home Depot. I always tell them that some male person is doing the work. I like to find videos of women doing repairs. Women have a different approach. We will find creative and ingenious solutions to make up for what we lack in upper body strength, and oftentimes there is more than one way to do the reckoning. And, yes, I do know that there are limits to what I can, and should, do as an unskilled homeowner. Just as I would charge more to remake/resew someones bad job, I can understand why tradesmen would feel the same way. It is more work and expense to undo and then redo something than to just do it right in the first place. I understand that. I refuse to repair hems or resize garments, for anyone. But, I wish for the simplicity that minimizes the complexity that makes it all so darned expensive and complicated. It is time for a change. Past time..............give me some plug in harness sockets instead of all that pulling and joining of wires and please make shoe moulding downright illegal!

I think the last of the slabs listed above might be Van Gogh. I saw a slab very similar that I didn’t act quickly enough before it was sold. Sharon, I agree your counter does still seem neutral even though it has a lot of movement (I LOVE your stone!). OP, are you legitimately considering using a slab outside of your kitchen, like in an outdoor shower? If yes, I say go for it!! In the right house, with the right bank account, a slab could make a gorgeous feature wall, maybe even with lighting behind it. Or use it in a half-bath, as a buffet topper, in a basement bar, so many possibilities. What about finding a remnant you could use inside a cabinet, in a hidden coffee bar or similar. I used part of my slab inside a cabinet just for fun (and because I thought I’d put the coffee maker here).