In our very first home we were lucky (or unlucky depending on how you look at it) to have beautiful marble countertops in the kitchen and both bathrooms. It was definitely a selling point when we bought our home and we really love how they look however, over the past two years we’ve noticed that they aren’t just good looking. Marble countertops have a lot of pros and cons and I’m going over all of them in today’s post. If you’re remodeling or thinking about making the switch yourself, I hope this post is helpful to you!
PROS:
Marble is absolutely BEAUTIFUL! It instantly adds a level of luxury to your home and even though you can find quartz with similar veining, it’s just not the same. I get messages from y’all on Instagram all of the time about our countertops and I agree- they are SO pretty.
It can be less expensive than quartz or granite. I was shocked to find this out! We didn’t install the marble countertops in our home (the previous owner did), so when my sister-in-law told me this while she was looking at slabs, I was surprised! I think it’s something you just assume is the most expensive option, but it turns out that sometimes it’s not!
Marble is widely available at most stone yards. Carrera marble (what we have in our home) is one that you can find at a lot of places.
If you have outdated cabinets, or cabinets you don’t really love, the marble countertops kind of make you forget about them. I absolutely hate everything about our cabinets other than the color. The arch detail on them, the knobs, they’re just blah. However, until I look at photos of our kitchen, I honestly don’t really pay attention to the cabinets because I like the countertops so much. I feel like this is something that distracts home buyers as well. I know I didn’t even look at the cabinets when we initially looked at this house before buying it!
CONS:
The upkeep of marble countertops is not easy. They need to be cleaned all of the time at our house, sometimes 2-3 times a day depending on how many times I’m cooking. You have to seal them ever so often in addition to keeping them spotless so that they don’t get stained.
If you do get spots and stains, you can have them refinished but the cost is not cheap. We had to have our small bathroom countertop refinished because the flooring installers scratched it when reinstalling our vanity. The countertop in our smaller bathroom is tiny and the cost to have it refinished was $250 and it needs another round of refinishing because of the previous home owner using hot tools on the countertop. So to get it back to shiny and new looking, it would be $500 for a TEENY TINY countertop. Now, this was the price per hour and we also live in California where it seems like everything is more expensive, but that’s still something to keep in mind. For our kitchen which is also small compared to a lot of homes, it would be $500 or more to refinish since it would take longer than 1 hour. Also keep in mind that refinishing is a dusty mess!
Marble countertops scratch VERY easily. In fact, for my baby shower we cut roses on the countertops and the thorns from the roses scratched the countertops terribly. Since we had never owned or rented a home with marble countertops, I had no idea that something like this could happen! After that happened, I’ve been SUPER careful but it still gets scratches on it here and there because it just isn’t as durable as a granite or quartz countertop.
Marble countertops can also get stained easily. A drip of red wine left on the countertop longer than 30 minutes to an hour will be there for the rest of time (even if you have the countertops refinished depending on how deep the stain is). Marble can also get water spots which is why I would absolutely recommend not having it in a bathroom! We have to use coasters at all times and that can get tricky if you have a party or a lot of people over. Not everyone knows how easily these countertops can get messed up, so that’s something to think about if you entertain a lot! Some people might tell you that water doesn’t spot the marble- I have seen water spot our countertops with my very own eyes on multiple occasions- it can happen!
Just in case you are wondering, we do have polished marble countertops in our kitchen and bathrooms but it kind of looks honed because of how the sealant disappearing overtime. The honed finish appears more matte and is supposed to be a little bit more durable and show less imperfections, but I wouldn’t say that’s necessarily true in all homes. We have a honed dining table and it looks a little bit cleaner, but it’s still easy to stain and scratch! Since we get a lot of natural light in our kitchen at all hours of the day, you can pretty much always see the imperfections in the marble- it drives Mr. Jones and I nuts. Our smaller bathroom countertop was refinished with a polished finish (long story, but the guy didn’t ask what we wanted) and while it does look beautiful, I worry that if it gets scratched that it would be super noticeable.
So that’s my personal experience with marble countertops in both the kitchen and bathrooms! If you decide to install marble, just know that you have a lot of work ahead of you. I’ve also told a lot of people- it’s not you who will mess up the countertop but someone else who doesn’t know how sensitive they are! So definitely keep that in mind if you have a lot of guests come through your home. I hope this post was helpful and happy remodeling/home building!
Xo,
Haley
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SOURCES:
Floors: Coretec Hayes Oak LVP
Wall Paint: Sherwin Williams High Reflective White in Flat
Dishwasher: Samsung
Microwave: Samsung
Oven: Samsung
Refrigerator: Viking
It’s that time of year- back to school! I’ll be honest, I get a little sad and nostalgic when it comes to BTS. Another school year means our kids are growing older but it also makes me think of those first day of school jitters and excitement. What it also makes me think of is all of the back to school supplies! I LOVED shopping for school supplies and checking off my list. Filling my desk or locker with all of the goodies- it was so fun! This year I thought- why have I stopped doing this for myself?! I don’t need a whole list of items but it’s a great time to stock up on some home office essentials and re-organize my space to meet the needs of my growing business! So that’s exactly what I did at Walmart!