I picked statuary marble for my master bath counter, it had the whiter background I wanted, with a good mix of grey and brownish veining. We went to the supplier that has the most slabs in stock in Montreal, which is also the one with the longest delay, took 2 months from order to install.

Oh tantadoodles -- I can completely empathize! It took me six months to find the right marble, dragging my two toddlers down to Denver every time I heard there was a new shipment of any white marbles. Six months. But I had a specific vision and I didn't want to spend any money if I wasn't going to achieve it. I honestly thought, "well, we'll just get laminate until we find the right marble." And I was so discouraged. So discouraged. It'd even come to the point where my fabricator, only half-jokingly, suggested I go to Italy to check out slabs. If I'd done that then I couldn't have afforded the slabs.

I do remember driving home from nursery school one day -- I can remember exactly where we were, turning past the market -- and thinking "maybe I should just settle and get whatever." I felt that defeated. When I mentioned this to my husband he, who wasn't the marble advocate (it was my dream), was unusually passionate in his response, arguing that since I wanted this so much it was better to wait for the Right Marble.

I may have had an easier time than you, though, because I have pure white cabinets, not cream, so I didn't have to worry about the countertop and cabinet color potentially clashing.

Anyway, I wanted the movement of a Calacatta with the coloring of a Carrara -- no gold. And finally, one day while my younger son was napping (and my older at nursery school) I opened the yellow pages and looked up "tile" (to find a slab yard) and started calling. Finally one of them said "you bet! we have a lot of white marbles." So when my son woke up I bundled him up (it was winter) and down we went and I hit pay dirt. (Calacatta Extra) It was exorbitantly expensive (significantly more than any other white marble) and extraordinarily beautiful. It was truly the marble of my dreams.

mindimoo has that delicious Calacatta Carrara (she's in Seattle), and I think she had a search as well.

I have no advice for you other than to keep looking. Persevere. Your marble will appear, but it might take awhile. And I can tell you it'll be worth it: our countertops / backsplash (we used the marble for both) look so wonderful and I LOVE them! I can say now, on the other end of the project, it was worth it. All those drives, all I asked of my toddlers, all my frustration and disappointment were okay because I have the perfect marble (for me).

It could take awhile but I feel confident that ultimately you'll find it. I wish you the best of luck!

Try looking at Danby, maybe new imperial?

I have off white cabinets and went with Imperial Danby. My island is dark brown and I felt the browns and grays of the Danby looked better with my cabinet colors than the grays only of the carrera. I like the Calacutta but it was more expensive.

lissa, I'm in love with your marble! Do you mind me asking about the price? And how has it held up so far in your gorgeous new kitchen?

lissa, I agree with erikanh, that is gorgeous marble! What is the countertop material on the perimeter? Also, who made your beautiful cabinets and what color are they painted?

Thanks Erika & Pluckymama...I love the marble to but have to admit to being a bit worried about the day to day use of it. Hopefully I'll be happy with the "patina" it develops. We haven't really started using it yet as our floors were just finished. We should be moved into the kitchen by this weekend.

Erika: The island is 4' x 5.5' and the Honed Imperial Danby with an Ogee edge for it was $1470. We also did the same marble in the butler's pantry counter which was about 5' and this was $1350.

Plucky: The perimeter counters are honed absolute black granite. I used this in my last kitchen and was relatively happy with it. I like that it's very neutral.
The cabinets are Crystal Cabinets and are painted Frost White with Van Dyke Brown glaze which basically turns them a cream color.

Hi Tantadoodles!

It's supposed to be a search of many months to make you fully appreciate the perfect slabs you will eventually find! Cough, cough, then you get to pay for them :-)!!!

What part of the country are you in? I looked at every slab yard in Seattle - more than once, and I do know what you are talking about! We wanted the heavy veining, greys and blacks and white, but I did see some lovely creamy brown veins as well out there. Here in Seattle, Meta, Michaelangelo and Pental had the best Calacatta's (golds, Cararra's and Classics) at the time and OTM was getting in some new stuff - more Statuary (grey) that was looking good. There was also Calacatta Uagli at Michaelangelo that had some interesting earthy tones, but was a little more splotchy like some granites.

I would keep looking, you can wait up until about two weeks before install to pick your slabs in most cases, that should give the ships enough time to bring in a few more loads from Italy, however, with diesel prices being what they are, they aren't going to be any less expensive!

Good luck to you!

Thanks everyone for the responses. Sorry I've been away on vacation and haven't had access to my computer. Thanks, also, Rmkitchen - just hearing reassuring words from someone who's "been there" makes a HUGE difference in the stress level!

Incidentally, Dollymibella and Lissa711, the fabricator that I'm working with just sent me a picture of an Imperial Danby slab that I'm strongly considering. It should be in by next week. I'm worried that it might be too busy. If it looks as pretty as yours I'll be so happy.

Here's the pic they sent of the Imperial Danby marble slab:

Hopefully the background will be more creamy white than gray and the veining softer and warmer. It will be honed so hopefully that helps soften things up a bit color wise.

Lisa - is your marble honed or polished?

Thanks again everyone!

tandoodles -- I too want to encourage you to wait until you find what you really love. It will be worth it in the end.

rmkitchen-- Your DH is a jewel!

My dream was for Statuary with the dramatic veining. But in the end I chose a Calacutta they had in the yard because we couldn't afford the Statuary. We did get mitred edges which added significantly to the cost, but it was money well spend because I LOVE the edges. And even though this marble wasn't the marble of my dreams, I am coming to love it more and more and think it works perfectly with our soapstone counters.

I too am searching for white marble for my island. I'm leaning towards Danby Calacutta as it has just enough grey veining for my tastes. If you google it you should find some sample pics.

It's the closest marble I could find that reminds me of the antique sidewalks in Dorset VT (one of our favorite vacation spots).

Here is a link that might be useful:

Tantadoodles - my imperial danby is honed. It looks just like the picture of the slab you show. The honing softens the veining a lot.

Was Colette - I love your kitchen and the Calacutta works pefectly in there. It looks fabulous with the blue island.

Ndvweb - the picture of the danby calacutta looks like what I have which they called imperial danby. Not sure what the difference is.

mindimoo (I don't how I missed your post before) and wascolette - Thanks for the words of encouragement. mindimoo - your kitchen is strikingly beautiful! And wascolette - your kitchen has the vintagey feel that I am trying to achieve. I love the hood, blue island and schoolhouse lights which are a little different from what I've generally seen which is nice.

ndvweb- I'm starting to get the stone business a bit - at least in terms of their naming conventions. I think adding "calacutta" to danby is just a way for them to charge you more. I would compare "danby calcutta" with other danby marbles such as danby imperial and danby royal.

lissa711- seeing your beautiful marble and what you say above gives me lots of hope!! I can't wait for this slab to get here already!

I will try to post pics (if I remember my camera) when it comes in.

OK - now I'm off to pick mouldings (another unanticipated difficult decision).

Ciao!

wascolette - WOW!! I LOVE those mitered edges. That would be perfect for me. Wonder why they add "siginificantly" to the price. Would you be able to share how much of an upcharge they were? Thanks