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How to Live with Carrara Marble

Carrara marble is a classic material that holds timeless appeal. Unfortunately, it has some challenges that require careful consideration. Read on for some thoughts on this beautiful stone.

Jeff Pelletier is the Managing Principal and Founder of Board & Vellum, an architecture, interior design, and landscape architecture firm in Seattle, Washington.
Jeff Pelletier
November 7, 2011

Carrara marble is one of those classic materials that has been used for centuries and tends to look great no matter the time period it is used in. Having veins of gray going through it, the classic white marble has a timeless look that looks great in traditional or contemporary homes. It is one of the more common marbles, though, and you have to be careful to make sure you get some quality stone with a veining pattern that you like.

Having loved the timeless look of Carrara, I used it in a bathroom remodel some years ago in my own house. After having lived with it for three years, however, I've come to wish I had used something else.

Carrara marble looks great, but really requires at least annual upkeep with a sealer. Marble, like many stones, is porous. Very, very, very porous. If you're a busy person, it is easy to forget to keep up the annual sealing and you end up with a countertop that looks like this from soap:

Not so great. I should have stuck to my guns and actually embraced how lazy around the house I actually was / am. Next time, a man-made countertop is probably in my future.

Secondly, marble is such a soft stone that it ends up not being perfectly flat. This particular slab has enough little peaks and valleys that water tends to pool in different areas. It has only reinforced the staining issues.

Overall, I still love the look of Carrara marble but think it should only be used by homeowners willing to maintain the sealing schedule needed to keep out stains. It can work great as a surface for baking prep in a kitchen (again, as long as the homeowner is willing to keep up the sealing and is OK with occasional stains) but I'd shy away from it in wet environments.

We have White Thassos marble on our shower walls and that has worked out much better, primarily because water continually sheds off of the surface.

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