We were so excited when
Michelle from 4 Men 1 Lady hired
us to fabricate & install her kitchen countertops!
The first time Michelle called me I was totally thrown off. I had asked her the name of her blog and knew who she was because I had been a reader for years....but she said she was in Utah and I thought she lived in Arizona.... So I was quite confused.
Long story short, after stalking her blog when I got off the phone with her I figured out she had moved to Utah and I didn't know it. Then I felt dumb for not telling her I knew who she was. :)
If you read
her blog you know Michelle has great taste, if you haven't seen her Arizona home be sure to check it out
here. It's colorful, unique and well designed. So I knew her Utah home was going to be even more gorgeous and I was excited to work with her.
She selected
Statuary Vein marble with a
Honed Finish for the perimeter countertops and grey
Soapstone for her island.
Marble and Soapstone are the two types of stones that I get asked the most about. I can talk about them until I'm blue in the face, but it means more when you hear from someone who is living with them. Michelle was kind enough to take some time and answer a few questions about her countertops.
Steph: What's your favorite part of your remodel so far?
Michelle: I've loved my kitchen so far! Definitely the best thing about it is the layout. There is so much to be said about having your living space be a great room. Everything takes place in the kitchen, living, dining room and as a mother of three busy boys it's great to be able to keep an eye on everyone. My favorite thing about my marble is the
Waterfall Edge. It is so dramatic. LOVE IT!
Note: The Waterfall Edge is on the end of her perimeter countertop. See photo below. We Mitered the panel piece so that it looks like a thick 1 1/2" piece of marble all the way to the floor. The actual thickness of the marble is 3/4". It's probably my favorite thing about her kitchen too! I'm glad she did it.
Our shop guys did a great job matching the veining of the marble perfectly on the panel. Here is a picture during construction...
Steph: Do you have any regrets using marble in your kitchen? Does the etching and/or staining bother you?
Michelle: Hmm. Good question. To be honest, I'm a little scared of it. I've been warned about how high maintenance it is that I try to avoid using it. I haven't had any etching since I'm SOOOO careful what I put on it. There have been a few times where I've found something like a glob of jelly on the counter and my blood pressure shoots up. But surprisingly it really hasn't stained. We did have a family party and a family member put a greasy spoon on the counter. When I found it I picked it up and noticed that there was a huge grease stain. No amount of rubbing or cleaning could remove it. I about wanted to disown that family member and vow to never have another party again. Stephanie did tell me there was a poultice that could remove it but a few weeks later it eventually disappeared. Thank goodness.
Would I use it again? The jury's still out. It is an absolute show stopper feature in my kitchen. Every time I see it I gasp at it's beauty. I knew what I was in for before it was installed and I had prepared myself and my family for the extra TLC we would need to exercise around it. But I do like to entertain and I don't want to feel like I want to disown a family member for leaving a semi-permanent grease stain on my counter and I'm definitely not going to be that crazy women who tells people not to breathe on my marble counters. That's just silly (and insane). I did put it on the perimeter instead of on the island so it doesn't get as much use just as a result of it's location which is great. I LOVE the look of marble. If I were to do it again I might use marble as a backsplash instead.
Steph: Any regrets using Soapstone in your kitchen? Michelle:
I absolutely love my soapstone and would do it again in a heartbeat.
It is also high maintenance in the fact that it needs to be oiled
occasionally but that is totally optional how often and if you even want
to do it at all. I sort of like that fact that it changes it's
appearance from different shades of gray and black as it dries out.
(Funny because I don't like my marble changing color at all!). It's
also a soft stone. My 1 year old has dinged it up pretty good in his
spot at the bar but for some reason it doesn't bother me. (Again,
ironic because if my marble had dings I might faint). I really fell in
love with soapstone when I saw it at the old
Restoration Hardware register counter which used to be at
Trolley Square.
The patina and character of the counter was so lovely. I asked the
manager about it and he said they never oil it or do anything to it
really. You could see it had a couple of chip marks but over time they
soften and just look like character. I was sold then and there.
Oiling
soapstone is really not that big of a deal. I only do once every four
months-ish- and I usually do it right before we are walking out the door
for a vacation. That way I don't have to worry about the oil getting
all over the place with my boys and it can sit and soak in for days
without any interference.
The Statuary Vein marble and the Soapstone were both purchased from
Italia Granite in Salt Lake City. Cory has a great selection of stone
and is fantastic to work with.
We (
MGS by Design) did the
honed finish on the marble. Not all shops do
surface textures on stone in their own shop. We do and we believe it gives you a better quality product and a better price.
I've posted pictures of a couple of other things we did for Michelle in
her home previously. If you missed it be sure to check out her gorgeous
Calacatta Gold Fireplace here and her
Carrara marble mid-century bench here.
A big thanks to Michelle for taking time to talk about her new kitchen! She was such a pleasure to work with. Be sure to check out
her blog for more pictures and information about the remodel.
Posts
7 comments:
I love the waterfall edge too and it proves that you CAN do the waterfall edge in a less-than-totally-contemporary kitchen.
Great frank discussion on the pros and cons of marble! One thing for sure is that it looks fantastic.
Wow---GORGEOUS kitchen! I love that statuary marble, the veining is stunning. She's a great designer and it looks like you guys are great fabricators too.
Well done.
Thanks Erin! I agree on the Waterfall edge. But I'm partial to it and think it goes in any decor so maybe I'm the wrong person to talk about it. ;)
Thanks for the kind words Julie. It was a fun project to work on.
I love it all. My fave is the tile from floor to ceiling. Great look.
I don't know how she does all the white with her boys but kudos to her!
Beautiful! I had seen this on Michelle's blog but I really enjoyed hearing in her words how she was liking the marble and soapstone.
Great work!
So pretty! Love the marble and tile.
I have marble in my kitchen also. Around my sink there are a couple of chips out of it, from pot handles. ;/
Is there a way to gt it fixed?
White theme is always a great choice for kitchen and other part of the house. I love white and would choose it every time we're doing a kitchen remodeling.
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