Hi Tom,

You should be seeing my question soon. Choosing the granite is proving to be more difficult than I thought! I am so glad to have found you!

If I might add one more thing - my son is telling me that I should go with engineered stone such as Silestone. He had that in his first home and now has granite. He is very strong on the engineered stone. He is very often correct about things, and given that he has experience with each and I don’t, I am a bit puzzled about what to do. Any thoughts? - Peggy

Hello Peggy,

Thank you for your patience. I never received the original posting so if I miss some elements of your question, please let me know.

First let me give you some comments about engineered stone versus natural granite. Specifically, you mentioned Silestone which is a trade name for an engineered stone made by Cosentino in Spain. It is widely marketed though Home Depot. Silestone is man-made and created by combining quartz with colored polyester epoxy resin. It is extremely stain resistant and scratch resistant as well. Since these are two very desirable aspects in a kitchen, engineered stone boast these benefits and claims that it is superior to natural granite.

On the other hand, granite is truly natural and created when the Earth was formed. It is sort of like comparing apples and oranges. Since sellers of both products know that the other is like a shark in their swimming pool, marketing and technical advances are being created to close the gap. Suppliers of engineered stone continue to develop more ‘natural-like’ colors but they don’t seem to be able to measure up to mother nature. Likewise on the granite promotions side, some new development of sealers are truly at a promising level now and provide an almost maintenance free surface. The bottom line is that you should take a look at Silestone and see if you like it. In my opinion, it only belongs in an ultra urban or contemporary decor.

Back to granite now and the color pallet you mentioned. By far my favorite with taupe cabinetry is Mascarello. If you have enough light in the kitchen, I would also recommend a dark tumbled travertine full height back splash in a tiny module, maybe even mosaic. If your light is limited, then you need to at least run slab splash 4” up with the same granite, above that you can paint or go with a lighter tile color in a big module.

The Colonial Dream is another great choice and the long thick veining movement is excellent in a galley kitchen. However, this is a little too light for your cabinetry and the selection of slabs would have to be perfect. There are just so many shades in this granite and a peachy tone would be horrible. By the way, there is no way you will like Silestone if these two granite colors appeal to you.

A stainless or bronze sink with matching fixtures is the right move. Try to match the knobs and pulls in the same finish. This is not always the requirement but Mascarello is so bold that you need to tie in everything around it so it doesn’t get messy.

My best wishes to you, Peggy! Thank you for supporting the Rock Blog’s World Vision kids!

Tom

Tom,

I am a commercial interior designer. I think we need a reference book. Is there a book or publication that succinctly provides information on the advantages and disadvantages of each type of stone - plus it’s correct installation method (grout line size, type of grout, sealing, maintenance etc.

Regarding Travertine - what are the disadvantages to using travertine (on the floor in a residence hall lounge - to be precise…) Thank you for your help.

Linda Kress, ASID

Hi Linda,

The Marble Institute of America has all the information guidelines that you needed. Check their bookstore and
consumer resources pages.

Regarding travertine on floors, it is widely used but there are some important considerations. For example, if the travertine is not properly filled, then high heel shoes can literally pop the fill right through the travertine, thus leaving pits randomly throughout the floor. To avoid this, you should specify “travertine which has minimal fill and all holes are adequate filled to avoid damage from foot traffic”.

Joints are important. The tightest reasonable joint should be 1/8″. However, if your tiles are quite large, then 3/16″ is reasonable as well. Grout at this width should be non-sanded and filled flush to surface. Grout and thinset should have a dry-polymer additive to increase strength. There are brands like Merkrete or Laticrete that are well known of strength and quality.

Best wishes!

Dear Tom, I am wondering what color backsplash and wall color would go well with Ubatuba granite. We have white cabinets with black hardware, ubatuba counters and are looking to paint our walls and install a backsplash, we were thinking something on the gold side. My husband wants red but I can’t picture this. There is a lot of green in the counters, so I am not sure which way to turn. Oh, yeah, and we have hardwood floors which are about to be stained darker if this helps at all. We could really use your help..

Thanks, Desiree Harrington

Hello Desiree,

I used Ubatuba many times with white cabinets. Usually, a lighter stained floor compliments this combination best, but just be sure that you tightly sealer the bottom of the cabinets to the floor. People love to look at the base of white cabinets for some reason and having a nice tight transition from the floor to the cabinet will make the contrast look clean and professionally installed. I know you did not ask about this, but I wanted to get that out of the way first.

Dark Ubatuba Granite with white cabinets makes for a very clean look. Adding the black hardware changed everything from simple to sophisticated. First of all, you can not do red in the splash, unless it is Christmas in your kitchen 365 days a year. You can go in a few directions, depending on your taste and style.

The tamest option is travertine tile in a 4″x4″ size, set on a diagonal and installed all the way up to the upper cabinets. The mixture of color tones in travertine will compliment the granite nicely. Travertine comes in shades from light ivory to a dark noce. You can use any of these as they will all looks great with Ubatuba Granite.

The next option is to install the same granite slab up to the cabinets. I would only suggest this if the room as good lighting. With dark granites like this, I also only recommend full height granite slab splashes with white cabinets. Otherwise, it is just too dark. Full slab granite on the splashes allows you to appreciate the granite in two directions, horizontally and vertically. You can only appreciate granite countertops when you are right on top of them. So consider how granite on splashes is nice to view from a distance.

Lastly, it is a little trendy, but glass tile would look amazing. Check out Board #8 and #9 on this website. http://www.sandhillind.com/conceptdesigns.asp#board8 I am really likely what these people are doing with designs - simple, yet sophisticated. There is even a little red in #9! Board #3 is also great with the black fixtures.

Regarding paint, it depends on the splash choice above. Pull a shade from the lightest color in the splash that you choose. Match paint to that. That will work very well. If you go with granite slab splashes, then a light yellow/gold would bring nice color into the room.

Thank you for supporting The Rock Blog’s World Vision children and best wishes!

Is it possible to retro fit a conventional stainless steel kitchen sink with an undermount sink. I have a granite counter top surrounding the 2 sinks. Can this be done and if so, is this a major undertaking? Thank you - Pam

Hello Pam. This might work but it will be very messy and probably not give you the best results. First of all, your top mount sink was most likely caulked around the edge, between the sink lip and the granite surface. When you lift the sink, you will see a caulking stain that will most likely be impossible to remove because it has been there for a long time.

Secondly, a fabricator will have to re-cut and polish the opening to the fit the new undermount sink. A topmount sink cut-out is usually larger than an undermount polished cutout so I doubt you will find a large enough undermount sink that will allow you to do what you want.

If you want to pursue this further, start by measuring the already cut opening in the existing countertop. You might have to get under the sink to measure how and where it was cut. Then look for an undermount sink that is bigger than the opening and still fits within your cabinet size. If you pass these two hurdles, go ahead and pull the sink up to see how bad the caulking stain is.

Hi Tom,

We are thinking about using overmount sink for our granite kitchen countertop for our new home, even though the trend is to use undermount sink. We think that the overmount could be safer after we saw the sealant used in the model home undermount kitchen highly visible. When I wash my foodstuff in my current overmount sink, I often have the water filled to the rim. With this habit of mine applied to the undermount sink probably will wear off the sealant fast and also induce some residue from the sealant to my food. There is some advice out there that overmount sink for granite countertop will make the sink surround difficult to keep clean. My question is: Will sealant wear off faste when constantly immerse in water? Will sealant leech out some toxic when immerse in water. Why overmount difficult to keep the surrounding granite clean as some advice stated? Thank you for your advice. Hope

Hello Hope,

Let me present the pros and cons for both types of sinks and you can at least make a well informed decision.

Undermount sink: It can be debated that an undermount sink allows the granite to present itself better because a bulging sink does not stop the eye from admiring the beautiful natural veining and minerals. The polished sink edge along with faucet holes going through the granite also enhance the high-end upgrade for which you paid so much money. Another benefit is that you can clean your countertop by simply sliding what you are cleaning right into the sink.

Now for the cons of undermount sinks! Undermount sinks do create a maintenance situation at the caulking joint between the sink and the underside of the granite. The degree of maintenance is measured by the method and expertise in which the sink was installed. I have seen the worse and the best. If you go with an undermount porcelain sink, insist that steel ’sink-spreaders’ are used to hold the sink up. Do not accept cleated wood or notched and screwed wood anchors. These will not last.

Furthermore, the sealant used is traditionally a latex or acrylic-laex caulking. Sometimes 100% silicone is used but because the messy application process of silicone, most installers opt for the water soluble latex caulking. This caulking is sufficient to keep splash water from seeping into your cabinet but it is not suppose to be 100% submerged. Therefore, if you are the type to fill you sink all the way up, don’t use latex caulking.

In fact, I would only recommend a special caulking made by Vulkum Products which specifically states that it is 100% submersible caulking.

Top Mount Sinks: I really don’t like the look but they do have functional purposes. You can get a much bigger sink with a top mount sink because they are not limited in size by the cabinet walls. I feel that is the #1 consideration for going with a top mount sink. If you are going with a soft countertop stone, like marble, the a top mount sink would protect the edge.

Usually you will save $150 to $200 by selecting a top mount cut, instead of a polished edge finish.

I have an all glass Sunroom. My problem is: a few of the ceiling seams leak when it rains. Is there a sealent I can apply myself to the seams to stop this?

Thanks,
Geri

Hello Geri,

You need a commercial grade silicone or polyurethane sealant. I recommend Dow Corning 790 Silicone or Tremco Polyurethane (dymonic). Use whichever you can find first.

Best wishes,
Tom Cordova