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Could Carrara work in this scenario or too cool toned?

8 years ago

last modified: 8 years ago

Hi everyone. We've been trying to nail down our countertop choices for quite a while now and we are going to need to pull the trigger ASAP. The two types of the counters we are going to have in our house are black soapstone and (fill in the blank with a whitish surface).

I was going to get a white solid surface as a placeholder since we couldn't decide on the material for the island and the master vanity. My husband however is very much against having anything plastic in the house. So he wants to go with Carrara since it is the least expensive marble. We found a nice one that is pretty white by today's Carrara standards. I'm a little worried however it's too cool toned to go with the vibe in our master bathroom. I've attached an inspiration picture. Do you think there could be worked into that scenario? Our tile is a slightly whiter white than this, but the black slate and black and wood accents are pretty representative. We also don't have brass plumbing fixtures because they were too expensive, so we went with stainless (or satin nickel?). We will probably work in some brass accents though:

The Carrara isnt THAT good of a deal. It's a tough call!

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Comments (13)

lascatx
8 years ago
Photo is not attached. Soapstone would be more worry-free in a bathroom, if that is a concern.
kiwi_bird
Original Author
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Can you see the image now? I think I fixed it. Soapstone is too much black with the floor I think.
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You could, but it's a checkerboard for lack of a better word... I don't see it in your space at all. Your kitchen floor/cabinets are warm, your counter is cool even though beautiful. You don't need grout, "jumping" out from the tile.... "popping" out from the tile color. Too busy in my opinion for what I think you want. Herringbone in that size would take a TON of cuts and you would need a person to install that is STELLAR and well versed in doing herringbone with such a large tile. You may want to look for, "herringbone" there is a lot at tile bar. Not going to be as large in scale though. Given the width of the space between your counters and cupboards that size would be a ton of waste going with 12" even if you found a stellar well versed tile person. If you lean herringbone you might look at their samples at tile bar or even a chevron which is not to terribly different. Not just tile bar, but fire clay is another site or Zanger. This is from the Zanger website... it's chevron. Remember, your cupboards and floors are warm and you chose a cool tone counter. I don't know their sample program at Zanger as well. http://www.walkerzanger.com/collections/products.php?view=style&mat=Zen&coll=Shift
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Bunny
8 years ago
I'm pro carrara for counters in a bathroom, and I think it's a neutral. Love the floor.
nini804
8 years ago
I think Carrara would look fine in that bathroom, especially since you won't be using the brass fixtures (those would look awesome with Calacatta! sp?) My Carrara is pretty grey, but you can find whiter ones. The grey veining would look great with those floors. Definitely get it honed if you go with Carrara...I have both types in my house and I think the polished looks darker. All this said, I think solid white would be a great, more modern choice that would let the other elements stand out. Plus much less maintenance!

Really cool bath!
busybee3
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
we replaced the polished crema marfil marble counter in this master bath (which was only ~4 yrs old) because it was quite etched with rings from drinking glasses or cans or something, etc... also had a little staining that I could not remove.... didn't look good, couldn't be repolished on site- it was easier (and probably cheaper in the long run) to replace with quartz...

I would be much more inclined to look into white granites or quartz...
sjhockeyfan325
8 years ago
We have white carrara on the floor in the bathrooms, and went with quartz for the countertops -- definitely too much chance for etching and staining (I refuse to have to be that careful with soaps, toothpaste, makeup, etc.)
lascatx
8 years ago
Not sure where you plan to put it since that photo looks pretty complete, but it looks like it would work.
kiwi_bird
Original Author
8 years ago
lascatx, that's an inspiration pic. Hmm.. better go check and make sure it's clear in my OP. Anyway, it's going on the wood vanity top.
User
8 years ago
Not a big fan of Carrara so I would vote no. Especially not one with a lot of gray veining.
baa85
8 years ago
Not sure how adamant your husband is against solid surface, but FWIW, I think a solid white Corian or similar would be fantastic with the soapstone and give a really modern vibe.
amykath
8 years ago
I think it depends on how clean you guys are. Also, would it be polished? If you are ok with babying the marble then go for it! I was going to go with carrara but found it didn't fit in with the warm tones of our kitchen as well as the granite we chose. I am also not the best at constantly cleaning up every little bit of water that drops on the counter etc, so for me I would not have been happy. It is definitely a gorgeous stone though!
kiwi_bird
Original Author
8 years ago
I am definitely comfortable with the maintenance. Our slab is honed and I've abused the unsealed sample something fierce. I been able to get all the stains to fade and I even have found that Comet with bleach and a green scrubbing pad fade the etches to nearly indiscernible. My only hold up is the color.
clt3
8 years ago
I would just remind you that there are no regular grocery store type bathroom cleaners that are recommended for marble. Too high maintenance for me.

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