We are renovating a Walnut Creek home and installing beautiful white Crystal cabinetry. The countertops went in this week and they are a fabulous white marble. We stopped in today to see how the cabinet installation was going, and we were absolutely knocked out by the marble countertops. Really striking! I have to admit that we tried very hard to dissuade the homeowner from this choice. We told her about marble absorbing oils, water staining, etching, scratching and all the other things that will patina the stone over time. We explained how polished marble countertops eventually look honed over time.
If you keep an impeccable home, don’t drink red wine, don’t allow oils and acidic food on your countertop, don’t set colored paper on the top, never slide anything abrasive on the top and always use coasters, marble may work well for you. There are people who can make marble work, and marble was made for them. Our client has impeccable taste and already loves her marble countertops. If you treat your marble countertop like a piece of fine art it will, in fact, be art.
As designers, we strive to meld function and beauty into the perfect balance for our clients. We are excited by textures, colors, shapes, patterns… you get the drift. We are experts at helping our clients avoid the pitfalls that we know about, and the ones we suspect. That being said, there are times like today, when I see a stunning project, where the client chose beauty over function and I am thrilled to be a part of the design. Whether your kitchen is a precise, economically efficient, finely tuned machine, or a delicate work of art they are both worthy of appreciation. As long as the designer finds the balance that best suits the client, they have created art.
Pictures to follow next week!