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[Nhbelle]

Looking at Carrera marble, but I understand it needs sealing and can stain and chip. There are Quartz that looks like Carrera without the issues. Does anyone have experience with either? How do you like it?

[PINKdogWOOD]

I have friends who opted for quartz and LOVE the choices they made for their kitchens.  I've seen them many times and they are gorgeous.  I've never seen any problems with their color choices and one of them is an ivory with beautiful colorful pieces of quartz.  When owners were looking in showrooms for the colors they wanted, they all said they saw TONS of choices, all were beautiful.

[chi5925]

I have my toilet and shower in an area segregated by pocket door from my vanity so the area is relatively small.

I had my shower done with carrara - same tiles on shower walls, shower floor, and floor of the segregated area.

Pros:

1. LOVE the look:  classy, luxurious

2. easy maintenance on area floor.  I found a marble cleaner (you mix with water) and I use that to clean the floor.

3. easy sealer for shower: found a spray Marble and Granite Sealer that you spray and wipe after you clean the area.  Gives a nice shine.  Works great on my kitchen granite counters.

Cons:

1. marble is a natural stone so you can NEVER EVER use anything acidic to clean it.  Use ONLY soap and water and then rinse. So you are limited to using products specifically for marble.

2. for some reason, I had a water leak at the base of my toilet.  I didn't see any water but the 2 marble tiles that were there turned almost a very dark grey.  Had to have my handyman remove toilet and re-seal the toilet surround to stop leak.  The tiles turned back to their original state after about 3 months.  Again, due to marble being natural stone.

3. make sure you get an installer that KNOWS how to install marble tiles.  With marble, you need MINIMAL space between tiles and not the regular space that you do with porcelain or other tiles.  Although my tiles are carrara, looking at them you'd think they were porcelain because of that install.  Lesson learned too late.

4. My bath vanity is slab of carrara that matches the tiles.  I live by myself so there's minimal wear-and-tear but, I have found that the countertop has scratches on it.  When purchasing it, I was told by the retailer that marble is very sensitive and prone to scratches and indiscrimmate use.  Again, lesson learned too late.

If I had to do it all over again I would NOT do real marble.  I would go with the porcelain that they have now that looks like marble.  They did not have this product 6 years ago when I did my bath.

Here is photo of my shower and toilet

[Nhbelle]

Thanks so much for the info. Marble is so beautiful but I will probably look at Quartz and porcelain.

[novamc1]

We did a complete master bath remodel a couple years ago and both the floor and shower tiles look like marble, but are fairly average-priced tiles that are much less high-maintenance.

   I can't imagine choosing marble for any frequently used  surface, having seen some marble-tiled foyer entries that looked pretty bad after some years go by.

We have a new home under construction where the builder offers either granite or quartz counters in the kitchen.  I opted for the quartz without even blinking or thinking it over.  My son and DIL have a four-year-old home and the granite has chipped around the sink edges in the kitchen already. 

There is also the periodic  need to seal granite  and any natural stone.  The quartz I chose is gorgeous and I look forward to living headache-free with it. (Knock on wood).

[granddi]

We used man made marble in a small bath. It looks good and is affordable. After a few years the counter top has pitted in the area where I lay down my curling iron. Guess this material is soft. It does not stain but the sink is beginning to show some crazing around the drain. Would not recommend

[violann]

I always hate to bring this up, because it sounds horribly Un-chic, but I have fallen in Love with Laminates!

SEVERAL years ago we did a kitchen freshening up and used Wilsonart surfaces as a "temporary" fix, thinking that we'd go to a solid mineral surface, whether quartz or marble or whatever when we decided what "permanent" finish we wanted.

Well it's still here. With very minimal protection, it honestly DOES look as good as the day it was installed.

Also, unless your intent is to defuse a '40s-'50s-'60s vibe (I prefer retro in a retro house), stone finishes may actually not look as accurate/appropriate in your older home, and can even be rather jarring.

At very least, laminates are VERY low in cost for materials AND installation compared to natural finishes, so if you're not able to decide, they can be a great interim/temporary/vacation home choice.

I recently saw a '50s home that hasn't been redecorated (ever once) in THIRTY FIVE YEARS, and the laminate vanity still looks "right". Go figure!

[Ms X]

I have mostly Formica countertops, violann.  In fact, they are faux Carrera marble.  I didn't know that's what they were when I picked them, though.  I just was looking for something that was lightish in color but not so light that it would show wear and tear.  That finish fit the bill because it wasn't too white and had all that brownish veining mixed in.  Twelve years later, they are pristine, so they've held up.  That said, the cabinet under the window on which I put granite looks much better.  I thought granite was too shiny and modern looking.  I now regret not getting it because it's durable and I really like it.  Oh, well!

[151949]

I have no experience with them but when we were considering marble caps for 2 half walls in our house my housekeeper said not to get marble as we would not be happy with it because it does stain. She cleans a lot of homes and sees a lot of various materials so we took her word for it.

[151949]

I went with the laminate counters too in my home to keep costs down and I'm perfectly happy with them.They look exactly like real stone - these laminates have really improved over the years. In our camper we have corian and it too really looks like real stone and people have been surprised when they see it, and I have to tell them it's corian.