marble floor in a kitchen & dining area

Dear Maurizio, I am happy to have discovered your website. I spent the weekend reading everything you have posted, and I have inferred that while you do not approve of polished marble for a kitchen floor, due to the acid etching from acid food & drink spills, a honed marble would not pose the same problem. Am I understanding correctly? We have found a honed selene marble that goes perfectly with the kitchen & family room area, and have not found any aesthetically acceptable alternative, but we have concerns about how well the product would last in the kitchen. We would be tiling our kitchen, dining area, and a corridor that includes the washing machine & dryer. Do you have any specific suggestions? Thanks in advance, PC

 

Dear Pauline:

Why, thank you for your nice words!

 

“ I have inferred that while you do not approve of polished marble for a kitchen floor, due to the acid etching from acid food & drink spills, a honed marble would not pose the same problem. Am I understanding correctly? ”

 

Yes and no. Technically the etching will still occur (you can't change the very nature of a stone by not polishing it!...) but will not be as noticeable.

However – and this will answer your question in its whole – whether the choice of hone-finished marble is a good one for the applications that you have in mind, it is no a matter of stone; it is rather a matter of collective culture of a certain community.

Let me explain myself better:

People buy blue-jeans for their practicality and, not only won't they mind when their pants will “age”, but most people actually look forward to that!

Within the North American culture, the same principle does not appear to be accepted and embraced when it comes to natural stone. In here, most people would like to have their stone – no matter what the original finish is – to stay brand-new all the time, and any sign of “aging” is considered a “damage” that must be rectified.

That is the difference between the collective culture of, say, the Mediterranean basin and other communities, such as North America .

Over there they just use and abuse (enjoy, that is) their stones and they only care for them with a floor stone cleaner. And… the “older” they get the better they look!

Over here, we're “slave” of our stones!!

In conclusion, as you can see, I can't answer your question objectively.

You are the only one with the answer!

 

May I ask you now to please read and e-sign our Statement of Purpose at: http://www.marblecleaning.org/purpose.htm?   :-)

Ciao and good luck,

Mauri z io Bertoli

 

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