Carrara marble work tops.

[VenusClapTrap]

If you have these, and they’ve been in a while, do you still love them or do you wish you’d gone for something else?

I really want them, probably honed rather than polished, and I think it will be ok, because we are the sort of people who like a kitchen to look a bit lived in, rather than shiny and pristine (we’ve got brass taps in the bathroom and love how they’ve aged, etc). So I think we’ll be ok with the odd stain, and a few scratches. But it’s hard to know!

Anyone?

I have honed Carrara marble on my splash backs and an area of it on my worktop (rest butcher block).

I deliberately etched all of mine when it was installed. That way it would etch in a more consistent way. I then sealed it with multiple coats.

The splashback has been fine and in fact I’m now redoing the kitchen and reusing the tiles. The worktop area is also fine (I use it for pastry) but it doesn’t look the same as it did when installed. It is far more brown in the veined areas rather than the grey tones it once was and the white is yellowish in places. You also have to be really careful with it since some things will stain almost immediately and the marks will not come out.

It’s a very soft stone and so can chip and a knife would cut into it and leave a scratch if for example a child decides not to use a chopping board.

Lots of the rich and famous have it (I deliberately etched mine after reading about Reese Witherspoon doing hers) But they can afford to have their worktop replaced every few years. Unless your style is very “lived in” then I’d think carefully before doing it.

Thank you! Really useful to hear your experience.