i would not take the chance. my slabs look very different in person vs. photos. worth the drive. make it a day trip and have an adventure!

Well, what exactly is the price difference we are talking about? You need to place a dollar amount on your TIME as well if it is a 6 hours drive. Is it worth $100 to drive 6 hours with young kids to see stone in person? HECK NO! Is it worth several thousand-"Get your rears in the car, kids. mama's takin' a trip!"

My plan was to get prices from several different stoneyards and see which one might offer the best pricing for what I want (turns out there is not a lot of honed marble in stock at any of these places). Some of them are even farther away :-( The last stoneyard I visited had a 'no kids under 12' policy so I am thinking I'd leave the kids at home and get someone to watch them if I decided to make the trip.

Babushka - I've seen your counters and they are so pretty. Can you describe how they looked different in pictures? Did the pattern look different or the color or both?

I've taken my own pictures of marble and I can attest that the pictures don't do justice to the stones at all. I'm not a professional photographer, but even so I have a decent camera. What's lost is the depth of the color and even the color itself.

For example, this was a to-die-for slab of Calacatta Oro that looks ok but nothing special in my photo:

However, it's possible that these stone yards can take photos in better light, and that you'll end up with a spectacular slab. I agree with the others though, probably better to see it in person.

I did.

I had seen a tiny sample of Eureka Danby and could not find any slabs anywhere near here. I found two slabs online at Marble&Granite in Westwood MA. They said they could deal with one of the local fabricators. So I went to that fabricator, who agreed to bring both slabs here (even though I needed only one). They knew that there was interest in it and they could sell the second slab to someone else. So I had my choice, and good thing: the slab I thought I wanted would have necessitated a corner seam. The other slab was just enough bigger that no seam was required. So the take away is-- if you decide to buy a slab online understand how it would be templates for your installation before you commit to it.

I love the Eureka Danby and I love my particular piece of it in my kitchen.

I find the fluorescent lighting in most of these warehouses to throw off the color of the stones. There is a lot of carrara out there right now that is very gray, and I don't think the lighting/digital camera will give you a good idea of the stone's true color. PMIRock dot com has their inventory online. I went to their warehouse and their slabs are beautiful. Yet in the photos, they look dull and unremarkable. I would make the drive, but then I don't mind driving.

I flew from Florida to NJ to see my slabs of soapstone. Now... I did pair it with a trip to visit with my grown sons who both live in NY so it was a dual visit. Had such a great time...

I did.

I found a source for a stone that I couldn't source locally no matter how hard I tried. Loved the photos, had a sample sent to me that I could abuse to be sure I was happy with it, then had a second sample sent so I could see a bit more of the colour variation possibilities, then ordered two slabs which were shipped to me from across the country (several days drive or many hours of flights+car rental were both out of the question for me).

I had issues with the fabricator which is totally unrelated to ordering the stone without seeing it, but the supplier was excellent and the stone was exactly what I wanted, even better than I thought. It was risky, but necessary in order to get what I really wanted (a hard enough soapstone in a large enough slab with a dark enough base) I had no other choice. And FYI, I was relatively flexible about the colour variations that I couldn't see the details of, and my soapstone is quite dark - perhaps not as affected by different lighting. To me the hardness and the size were the most important features, neither of which was related to the stone in person.

I was on pins and needles waiting to actually see it, and had several "what the heck were you thinking" moments along the way. I think I'm pretty lucky that it was even more beautiful in person than I had hoped. If you can't take that kind of stress, and if the drive/childcare situation is feasible it might be worth seeing them in person.

Thank you everyone for the advice. Ann, when you said that slab of calacatta oro looks unremarkable in the picture... I think it looks good and would welcome it in my kitchen based on that photo. Unfortunately my quotes for calacatta oro / gold came back at $11k + and from another place $24k + so that is more than I am able to allocate for counters.

Gray carrera would be okay with me too as I am also considering gray stones like Jet Mist and Pietra del cardoso. But I kind of have my heart set on marble :-). I am glad to hear that at least some of you went by digital photos alone.

I am still torn...I know the best thing would be to drive out there but it almost brings tears to my eyes to think of 6 hours of my life wasted in a car.... hopefully no matter what I decide I can have some slab photos to share soon!

I think it would be ok. I did it with a Carrera piece for our upstairs bathroom. I have seen enough Carerra to know what it looks like and in our case at least I ok'd it online from my fabricator. Their picture was so good that I could see it wasn't gray and the veining was nice in it and consistent, no weird upper and lower looking completely different. When they installed it, it was actually more beautiful in person. The pictures did not do it justice. No regrets, it's beautiful.

I own a granite shop and I do not recommend marble for a kitchen. It scratches far too easily and the acid in things like orange juice will actually etch the polished surface. it is also far more porous than granite and thus more susceptible to staining even with a sealer designed for more porous stone.

Re: your question; we always recommend people view thier actual slabs. there is far too much variation to pick from samples. Pics are OK as long as you are not fussy on color as the color rendition in a photo is limited/