carerra marble/venentino marble as kitchen countertop

Dear Maurizio, we are purchasing carerra marble for all our kitchen countertops and want the old world look. I hate the shine, so we want to hone them. We have been running into resistance and fear with all the installers on this. Are the risks really that great in damaging the slab in the honing process. I read in an article that Meg Ryan spread tomatoes all over her counter tops after they were installed to take the finish off. Any thoughts on that?

 

Dear Barbara:

 

“ We have been running into resistance and fear with all the installers on this. ”

 

It is called the fear of the unknown!... J

 

“ Are the risks really that great in damaging the slab in the honing process. ”

 

No risk whatsoever – not even if you try to damage it.

 

“ I read in an article that Meg Ryan spread tomatoes all over her counter tops after they were installed to take the finish off ”

 

Meg Ryan simply acid-etched her countertop. (I've heard that she wasn't scared, either!...) She used a tomato, but she could have used any other acid, like white vinegar, lemon-juice, phosphoric acid, muriatic acid, etc. through a virtually endless list.

Personally I like much better mechanical honing: it is smoother, it does not tamper with the chemistry of the stone, and you can finish it low-honed, high-honed or anything in between as your heart desires it.

How?

How about some good old metal grade sandpaper and an orbital sander? (Don't even think about a belt sander!) You can do it wet if you want to avoid dust.

Easy enough for you? How scary is it now?!...

And if you accidentally etch it over use and you don't like the sight of it, refinishing it with the same grit of sandpaper you finished the job with will be a chinch and a perfect blend all the time!

Applying a good-quality stone impregnating sealer like MB-4 to help prevent staining is a good idea.

Now remember, it's never too early to think about the proper maintenance of your stone. The issue of what you'll be doing day in and day out to your stone is – as it should be intuitive – vastly more important than its sealing (if and when possible and/or advisable) and it's all too often neglected. As you can tell by reading many of this site's postings, you're not likely to get good information about routine care from your dealer or installer. Don't become another statistic! By logging into the Helpful Hints section of our website at:   http://www.mbstone.com/HH_promo/helpful_hints.htm , you will be able to get the short version of our maintenance guidelines at no charge. The full version of it – a 7-page document considered by many as an industry benchmark – is available in pay-per-download format in our Educational Literature section at:   http://www.mbstone.com/literature/literature.htm .  

And remember, every single penny of the cost of the literature will be used to support this site and its cause: your cause.

While you are in the “Helpful Hints” section, do spend some time reading all of the interesting FREE articles you'll find in there!

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Thank you  

Ciao and good luck,

Mauri zio Bertoli

 

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