Dear Tom:

I have been gathering info on kitchen counter choices for over 2 months. There are so many options and then so many conflicting opinions that I’m worried I’ll never figure this out. Am doing a new kitchen with white (I call them white white meaning not off white) cabinets and 2 islands one matching the white cabinets and one black. It is a simple design somewhat farm or country style. We are doing medium to dark random plank floors. I want to do a large custom copper sink but am flexible if it wouldn’t work with the counters.

What i want is white marble (carrera or calacatta gold) for the island counters and something dark like soapstone for the perimeter counters.. it is a large kitchen so lots of counter. My husband does not want me to do soapstone so am looking for a granite to give that soapstone look. I was told honed absolute black would work but then I read many horror stories online about it. What do you think of honed jet mist or virginia mist? are they the same granite? Also what about all these different finishes? Honed, velvet, suede, brushed? Do you think marble is ok for kitchen? The fabricator we are thinking about using says they recommend it if honed and sealed properly. My husband drinks red wine every night and one of the islands has a raised bar height end which will get heavy use when we entertain. If we could get comfortable with marble I sometimes think we should do all the counters in it.

Someone told me Donna Sandra Granite looks a lot like Carrera marble. Do you know anything about it? Could you please give me some ideas for these counters and also try and clarify for me what is positive and negative about marble and or granite. I currently have polished ubatuba and do not want the shine and sparkle look in my new kitchen. Thanks for your help you are providing a much needed resource on such a confusing topic. I think you’re great sending the money from this to such a worthy charity.

Sincerely,
Cathy

p.s. I should have told you I’m open to looking at any suggestions — color or surface. I do love copper and pewter and my kitchen needs to work with both of them.

Hello Cathy,

I will give you the facts in response to your questions and some personal comments. From that you can make decisions based on your maintenance expectations and desired color décor.

First of all, Carrara and Calacatta are both white marbles from Italy as you know. Before mining technology allowed granites to be extracted, the most popular choice for a stone kitchen countertop was white marble. Carrara Marble being the most widely available and least expensive became commonplace in Italy. Fast forward a couple hundred years and Carrara Marble on countertops still draws an old world Italian charm yet because of the lower maintenance alternative (granite) it comes with sacrifice. Unlike granite, marble is softer than steel and made of mostly porous Calcium Carbonate; therefore, it scratches and stains easily.

Unfortunately, you can not just seal marble and use cutting boards to eliminate the maintenance issues. Because Calcium Carbonate is acid-sensitive, marble will etch from acid in fruit juice and wine. Wine spilled on a professionally sealer marble countertop will still be stained overnight. The only exception to this is a when a topical sealer high in silicone is applied but this will leave your countertop looking polished, not honed.

If you do choose Carrara or Calacatta Marble, you need to be either extremely diligent to use coasters and cutting boards, or you need to have the Italian mentality and just not care about stains or scratches. It is true that the Italians really feel that the stains and scratches just show the classic antiquity of marble and the old world it renders.

Regarding Soapstone, if Martha Stuart didn’t like it, I don’t know who would. This is a very dense, non-porous stone but extremely soft. Your fingernail can scratch it. Basic Soapstone maintenance involves sanding down scratches and using mineral oil to even out the variations after sanding. If you THINK you might like Soapstone, then you don’t. If you want a divorce, then this is a good choice. I rarely find two people in the same room that like Soapstone.

Honed finished granite is problematic if not professional sealed. Granite is hard but the orthoclase minerals and the microscopic gaps between then can be somewhat porous. That issue is successfully avoided after it is professionally sealed. However, honed granites love to show smudges from wipe cleaning and thumb prints. Dark colors are worse than light ones. If you search Absolute Black Granite on my blog, you will see how much I discourage using Honed Absolute Black Granite. That being said, I do know the Virginia Black Granite very well. It is the same stone as Jet Mist. This was very popular granite for government building in the early 1900’s. I never thought of this granite for a kitchen countertop before but it might be the perfect color for those looking for a honed black that does not create the ‘flat black’ maintenance issues. If you use this granite on the perimeter and ask you husband to keep the wine off the Carrara White islands, then I really can see this combination working in an old-world euro-style décor.

Ok, but here are some other options to think about. First all, Donna Sandra Granite? In 18 years, I have never heard of it. It is probably a fictitious name. Basically, select a white granite color that you like and have it professional sealed. I suggest looking at Bianco Romano Granite or White Springs Granite. If you can find White Springs in your area, that would be the best choice. These granite colors are from Brazil and you can see swatches of them at www.GraniteStock.com.

I do like the Jet Mist honed choice. I think that is a very good choice. Bianco Romano or White Springs would compliment the Jet Mist well. With this color combination and the described décor, a flat edge detail with minimal overhang would be best. A copper sink on the white granite would look granite. On the Black surface, I’d highly recommend white porcelain as copper won’t work at all.

My best wishes!

Hello Tom: Just discovered your web site. Its great. I have 1″ polished china white marble hex on my new bathroom floor. Before using the shower, I cleaned and sealed the floor with a Solvent Based impregnator/Sealer. Over a couple weeks I put three coats in the shower area (I was waiting on the glass panel).

Now after three days of use areas are turning grey (like the “White Marble Gone Grey” question on your site); however this was pretty much white to begin with. It seems like moister is getting to the thinset. Did I use the wrong sealer? Do I need to pour it on thick to get it in to the grout since there is so much grout with a 1″ hex? Do I know need to wait for the greying to dryout before I reseal? Secondly I too have the same problem as with White Marble Gone Grey question. My walls are a 5″x2.5″ Polished China White marble. I waited a couple weeks to let the thinset dry prior to sealing and resolved at the time that there was going to be some tiles greyish and some more white. I sealed the walls and now I’ve read your response to the “Gone Grey” question. Have I forever sealed the moister in? Will it eventually dry out, albeit slowly? Could I apply heat with a salamander to draw the moister out of the tiles even thought its been sealed.

Thanks, David.

Hello David,

Basically the sealer is not working effectively in the grout but it is working on the marble. The water is soaking into the grout and wants to wick out the marble; however, the sealer is blocking the moisture from evaporating. I am sure that you probably guess this by the way it looks.

The problem is two-fold. First all, the sealer is probably a high viscosity sealer that is commonly used to penetrate the tight pores of natural stone. With non-sanded grout joints this works well as long as the grout joints are sufficiently sealed as well. However, with sanded grout (common with joints over 1/8″ wide) the low viscosity sealer just wants to suck down in deep in the grout and leaves the grout surface unprotected. You can test this by simply wetting the grout and seeing if it becomes darker. If it darkens, then the grout is not sealed sufficiently.

Secondly, grout joints, especially in mosaic patterns, are difficult to grout because they are slightly concaved from the marble surface. As you wipe on the sealer, you miss the grout surface. Combine this with a low viscosity sealer and you basically have no sealer on the surface layer of the grout.

For the fix, here is what I recommend. First you need to see if you can pull the moisture out of the marble by using a salamander heater or equal. It could take several hours and a few tries. Given that you have applied several coats of sealer, this might not work at all. In that case, you need to effectively decrease the volume of sealer in the marble. Do this by cleaning the surface with Acetone, sponging it on the surface and letting it sit there for about 20 seconds before wiping off. This should allow you draw the moisture out with the salamander heater. If the tiles do not turn back to white, then you have probably sealed the moisture in before the thinset or the grout fully cured. If this is the case, you need to try Acetone again and heat until the moisture mark are gone. You need to wait a couple days after they finally disappear because they will dry on the marble surface first, and then deeper. If you think they are gone, wait a couple days to see if a little more moisture wicks to the surface.

Finally, you have to re-seal the grout. I’d recommend using a higher viscosity natural stone sealer like Miracle Sealants 511 Porous Plus or equal. Don’t be concerned with sealing the marble, just focus on the grout. The marble mosaic will get covered if you just worry about sealing the grout. Watch for all the grout to darken from the sealer as you seal it to confirm the sealer has contacted it. The grout color will come back to normal once the sealer dries. Let is dry for 24 hours before use.

Best wishes!

We have a carerra marble counterop and floor tiles in our bathroom. At the edge of the toilet, the marble has become slightly discolored–almost a yellowish verging on orangey rust colored. On the countertop, along the line where the backsplash piece of marble meets the countertop, we are having the same problem. Finally, there is now emerging a rust colored stain on the countertop, behind the faucet. The only thing I can speculate is water is doing the damage–could it be rust? The faucet is new and does not appear to be rusting. Any suggestions on how to remove these stains and prevent them in the future? – Terry

Hello Terry. Yellowing of Carrara white marble is very common due to the inherent iron in the particular stone. However, it usually takes a couple years for this to happen so I am going to assume your installation is not new and therefore this is the cause of the discoloring. The more the marble is exposed to moisture, the quicker and more pronounced will be the ‘rusting’ appearance.

There is nothing you can do to remove all of it because it is a very deep in the stone. You can try a product like ‘Iron-out’ and this will reduce the intensity. However, it will only work near the stone surface and there rust will eventually migrate up again. Also, this product will etch the marble a little and remove the polish. I would try it at a small spot at your toilet area first and see if you like the results. You can find ‘Iron-out’ at Home-Depot or Lowes.

My new marble countertop in bathroom has some cloudy spots in it. How can this be fixed and what causes this? Please help because I don’t know if it is my fault or if Contractor(stone) did not seal properly. I have only had them for a month. – Jerelyn

Hello Jerelyn,

The elegance of the soft deep brown background and while veining of the Imperator Dark marble that you have installed is truly beautiful. However, what you really have on your countertop is a metaphoric calcium carbonate based natural stone that must be sealed with a silicone/siloxane sealer in order to prevent acid chemicals from reacting with it. Common bathroom items such as hairspray, makeup, and even toothpaste contain small degrees of acids that react with Calcium Carbonate minerals. The result is microscopic etching due to corrosion of the stone. The only way to repair it is to re-polish it. The only way to prevent it is to seal the stone so that the acids are blocked. The dark color of the marble also accentuates the etching.

There are products that claim to ‘fix’ such dull marks and some are reasonable remedies if your expectations are not that high. Search, ‘Stone Care’ on Google and you should find a do-it-yourself product that you can order.

Hi Tom,
We are using polished white marble (I suppose it’s like carrera white with light grey vening) on our bathroom walls but facing some problems. Once we started mounting the tiles on the walls we have watched them change color. They were sparkley white to begin with but after they are up they start turning darker more greyish all over. All of the grey and yellowish/brown hues that were faint to begin with are really coming through on each tile. I could send you pictures if that’s helpful. I’ve waited 36+ hours and they are not changing back to their original color. I thought the water from the wet saw and adhesive moisture was doing it but they seem permanently changed. I tried getting one wet and it dried back to normal color so all I can think of is the concrete backer board (which is dark grey) and/or the thinset. Our contractor is using premixed thinset from Home Depot. It comes in plastic buckets. The color is called ‘white’ and looks white to me, not grey. So I’m confused and unsure if we should tear everything down and start over, or if even the ‘bright white’ thinset sold by some of the tile stores will do the same thing.

We have not sealed the tiles yet because I’m wondering if there’s anything that can be done to restore their original sparkley white color before we seal. Any recommendations on what to do (if anything can be done) and the best sealer to use before we grout then seal again would be appreciated!!

Jill (Denver, CO)

Hello Jill,
The marble is just really soaked from the moisture in the thinset and it is trying to dry through the tile. The marble tile is more absorbent that the subfloor so this is path of least resistance for all the moisture in the thinset.

Sealing the marble before installing it would have been a disaster and created and permanent problem. Basically, you just have to wait and wait and wait. The tiles will dry at the corners fist because they have the most exposure to air. Because the marble is rough on the back, the water enters easily. However, because the tile is polished on the surface, it struggles to penetrate the surface.

You can also accelerate the drying by renting a large commercial blow dryer which is usually available at equipment rental locations. Somethime they are called ’salamanders’. They usually run on propane but some may be electrical. You will notice results within a few hours. This works as I have done it myself. Otherwise, you need to wait a couple weeks at least for the marble to dry out before sealing it.

Best wishes and let me know how it turns out!

I purchased a bathroom vanity from HomeGranite.com a while ago and just love it. Hope you can help with a problem I am having with marble that I have in another bathroom on the shower floor with a honed finish & counters that are polished. There are some dulled spots on the polished counters where cleaning solution has left marks. On the honed shower, the finish has either come off or it is completely stained with white. Can you give me an idea of how to deal with this. May we call you and if so, a phone number please. Thanks for any help you can give – Bonnie

Hi Bonnie,

The marble in your shower and on your other countertop have been etched by the chemicals used to clean them. Marble is a Calcium Carbonate based rock which is sensitive to even mild acids and chemicals. You need to stop using those cleaners and have the marble professionally refinished if the damage is too aesthetically displeasing. Remember to use a penetrative marble sealer after the surfaces are refinished. My overall recommendation is to use a marble cleaner in the shower, then seal it after it dries. For the countertop, have it re-polished and then seal it.

Read my article about Maintenance and Cleaning for more helpful information.

Best wishes,

Tom Cordova