Sounds great. I would only worry about whether or not the marble had been treated with something that wasn't food safe.

If you think about it, ALL marble is millions of years old, so your 'salvaged' marble really isn't any older than the 'new' stuff ;-)

The $7/SF is just the *materials* price, right? Not the *installed* price? Be sure you're comparing apples to apples... Because if that's materials only, it probably isn't much of a savings, if that's important to you.

I'd still stick with soapstone near the range, just for the fabulous convenience of being able to fearlessly set down hot pots & pans, and also soapstone's little-known ability to rapid-thaw frozen items.

I bought an old piece with a marble top. It needs cleaned and I assumed sealed. I had the name of a product from the kitchens forum but after reading about it, decided it was too much work and a bit iffy. So here I am with this piece of marble, likely will end up in the kitchen or for sure in the bathroom that I feel needs to be cleaned and sealed. I know it will absorb grease so am thinking about placement with that in mind. I'll be checking this thread to read what others have told you.

My mom took an old piece of marble from my grandmother's farmstand. It's been in her kitchen for 40 years and it's been wonderful. I know that she had it polished - not sure if they sealed 40 years ago?

I found that the stone is a relatively small fraction of the cost of the job. For our small kitchen, in San Francisco, $3,500 to fab and install a slab of granite that can run anywhere from $350 to $2,000 or more. Basically the same labor no matter the cost of the stone.

If you love the marble and have a fabricator willing to work with it, go for it. Potentially more work to resurface (for seams) and take the pieces out of possibly non-uniform remnants than it would be to a more homogeneous slab.

There are granites out there well under $10 per sq.ft. from reputable stone yards (San Francisco pricing) and I would be surprised if some of the more common marbles were not available at a similar price.

If the pieces can be used as they are -- just cleaned up and sealed, then it is a good buy. If you would have to have them fabricated to fit, it may or may not be a good buy for you. My marble slab was either $11 or $13 sq ft for the raw material. It is the fabrication and installation that jacks the price up and that does run the same for the same work on most any stone. And you will have to transport the stuff. That raises another set of issues.

We used a piece of salvaged marble for our kitchen island. The slab cost us $110 from the salvage yard, and $420 to have it fabricated and installed :-)

Although I think the fabricator said they put a sealer on it, we sealed it ourselves with Aqua Mix Sealers's Choice that I heard from a very reputable person was the best sealer on the market.

We love having the used marble - the cost was still less than half new marble, the fact it is salvaged makes us feel a little better and the existing scratches give it personality and history. Works with our old house :-)

Oh, I envy you. We had the opportunity to do our baking counter with a piece of marble from Independence Mall in Philadelphia (Danby Imperial) but it was in the beginning of our remodel and I procrastinated and then it was gone.:( Cost wasnt' the driver...I loved the idea of having it well patina'd already and that it was a piece of history. If you like the look of the salvaged marble, I'd go for it.

Is it uncouth to ask the name/location of the salvage yard with the marble? I think it sounds like a fantastic deal.

Sounds like something I would love to be able to do, and the cost wouldn't be my main motivation.

I also have a 120 year old house and think it would be great to get "used" marble that already had the patina and history.

Cathy

A friend did this in the kitchen of her 1920s bungalow. We found some slabs that had been salvaged from a local high school that had been torn down. I don't know what her fabrication costs were, and she only had a small area to do, but it looks fabulous. I think her kitchen has been done for 5-6 years now, and there have been no issues.

I have a 120 yr old Victorian Bungalow and found a piece of salvage GA quarry marble. It was part of a bldg that was torn down in Columbus GA. The piece was in a pile in a field. DH and I put in the truck and carried it home. It was $50. It cost me $50 to have it sanded and sealed. It looks wonderful and my only regret is that I didn't do the whole kitchen in the same stone...he still has piles of it in the field. Here is a pic....has the edge intact where the pieces were matched on the bldg: