Ahhh Liriodendron you and I have the same ideas as to crazy-quilt kitchens that fit an old house. Our 1890 bungalow was just begging for a working kitchen with multiple surfaces that spoke to their uses and origins. On the sink and cooktop run I have teak. My cabinet maker called a friend who had 2 pieces left and was able to secure them and make them into a countertop for me. I have an antique soapstone sink mounted in the sink run. Don't know what kind of soapstone. It came from the salvage place I used in New Hampshire. That is 2 . The baking run is made of 2 remnant slabs of 30" wide soapstone from the salvage place I used in New Hampshire. I have no idea what origin. That makes 3. The coffee counter is Sylacauga Alabama marble. It has a lot of history. It was a piece salvaged from a building in Columbus GA, 45 min away from us. I found the piece in a field, in a pile of salvaged stone out in the country near our home. The man had purchased all that he could find at a GA salvage yard and let me pick out one piece I could carry home. I love it. It has the original beveled edge placed to the front. That makes 4. My movable island work table is a utility piece from Tabco tables and has a BB top and galvanized metal shelves. That makes 6. My adjacent sunroom/potting room seen from the kitchen , is where I do a lot of utilitarian cleaning up and prep of messy things when I am canning etc. I have a different soapstone, don't know what kind, that has a lot more veins but it looks wonderful with the huge Alberene soapstone sink. This sink has the metal makers-mark still affixed to the front. That makes 8. In the center of this room is a small antique work table that I purchased from a friend's flea market shop, it is made of oak and has a porcelain white metal top. So that makes 10. I too derive much pleasure from the collectedness of each piece and its history, although I don't have the wonderful personal history that you are so lucky to have. I look forward to seeing your kitchen and delight in reading your descriptions. c

No engineered stone is approved for UV exposure. It’s not an industry secret at all. None can go outside. Period. If your professionals that you worked with had done their jobs, you’d be an educated consumer and know that it’s not an exclusion just for Cambria. Direct sun from standard new windows shouldn’t pass enough UV to damage your floors, furniture, or e-stone. Standard windows already come with UV blocking properties, so if yours are so old that they don’t have it, you’ve got other issues about UV exposure in your house. Old windows need UV blocking film installed to avoid degradation to all kinds of interior finishes. Not just your e-stone. If it’s a relatively new window, that’s a conversation that you need to have with your window manufacturer. It’s defective. This is Not on Cambria. Or Silestone. Or Pental. Or Zodiaq. Or any e-stone manufacturer. New windows shouldn’t have issues with transmitting enough UV to damage your home.. Poop happens. This isn’t on Cambria. Talk to your window manufacturer.

I am almost finished renovating the kitchen in my 1910 home, so our houses are contemporaries! I'm in a traditional PDX bungalow house, and also tried to keep the overall look and feel of the period our house was built in. Inset cabs were too much $$ for my budget, but I did end up going with "mission" style (full overlay) doors from Medallion. They are being installed right now, and I think they do a good job of balancing budget with a period "inspired" look. They aren't period reproductions or anything, but they maintain the traditional feel of the house. The materials (Quartersawn oak) and finish (light hazelnut) do as much for evoking a particular era as the door style (inset or whatever). One of the things you can do is look at the rest of the trim and doors of your house. Unfortunately, there was no kitchen to speak of in the house when we bought it, so we had to look elsewhere. Our carpenter noticed that all of the interior doors in our house were original, and the raised panel on the doors and moulding on the windows were used to inspire the cabinet styles and type of crown moulding we eventually chose. We have 99" ceilings 8 1/4 feet, and we took the cabs all the way to the ceiling. Part of the reason we took the cabs all the way to the ceiling is that my husband is pretty tall (6'5") and we wanted more space between the countertop and the bottom edge of the wall cabs. But, our kitchen is also pretty small, so taking the cabs all the way up makes it feel a bit taller, or at least I think so.

There are different grades of Carrara Bianco. 90% of what is sold in the USA is the lowest grade. As the majority of consumers do not know the difference (and as long as you are not seeing the good stuff how can you tell the difference?) The industry has done a remarkable job in the USA keeping consumers in the dark and providing as little knowledge as possible, so they can charge the highest possible price, making a stone out to be complex helps that farce. The ridiculous supply chain of quarry to distributor to sub-distributor to retailer (who is spending a fortune to keep the store open with designers, architects, you will know these places when you go in them, they have sample boards everywhere and there are no prices on anything.... because if you have to ask........ not really good for saving money, but they appeal to certain clients that money is no object. They are happy to pay $60.00 a Square Foot for a product we sell for $11.75 a Square Foot, it is exactly the same product if they are selling the premium grade and it is from the same mountain in Carrara). It is rather like they would pay $15 for a gallon of gas. Same gas. Just a different natural resource. Why pay more? Then they have a sub-contractor price an installer price and so on and on. The pricing structure is so ridiculous. I left the industry over a decade ago (the corporate world with is massive inefficiencies) to create a business that was beneficial to the end user. To the person going through the aggravation of the renovation which is stressful enough!! To try and help them add value to their home from day one. Not go through a remodel and loose value. We simply took the very best grade of Bianco Carrara imported it in containers, which were purchased for cash (not terms to insure the best quality) and created the lowest possible price for everyone, irrespective of their position in the supply chain - no crazy pricing structure required. Just one price, online. The best price possible. $8.00 a Square Foot Bianco Carrara 6x12" 'C' Grade which is the best of the Bianco grade, with matching pencil trim and Herringbone which is $11.75 a Square Foot. All part of a collection of 60-70 matching mosaics and tiles. Another picture: Here is the lower grade Bianco Carrara the 'CD' Grade. This is what is sold by the "Big Boxes" because it is available in volume and again most consumers simply do not know the different. This is also sold through the elaborate distribution chain but this Bianco Carrara CD grade will be $20-$30 a Square Foot by the time everyone in the supply chain add their 100% mark-up. Perfect 'C' Grade Bianco Carrara 12x24" available in Honed and Polished coming down the production line to be sold on our website for $9.95 a Square Foot. Here is a really good picture of the difference, lower grade of the left, higher grade on the right. 'CD' Grade of the left, 'C' Grade of the right. For Italy the grading system for Bianco Carrara does not get higher than 'C' Grade. This is a bit late to the conversation but I hope it helps someone reading this. We have some great room scenes from customers on our blog here. Which shows more Bianco Carrara installed. These types of pictures are on our room scene blog: Love this 4x12" Bianco Carrara honed ($8.00 a Square Foot) installed in a Herringbone pattern with the brass finishes!! How can we sell for less, this video explains it better: Here. Are we good at what we do? You bet. The highest ranked Google Trusted Store in the United States 4.9 Stars out of 5 and over 1,000 reviews to back that up. Here. (along with a few other reviews). Fine Print: Prices subject to change but valid through 2018, could still be valid in 2020 but if this post is still up in 2030 things may have changed :)