Marble

Before we even bought the house we spent a lot of time on the CotedeTexas blog.  We really wanted the look of marble counters in our home but didn't want the hassle of living with marble.  We looked at Okite engineered alternatives, actual marble, and similar looking natural stone products from Brazil.  We finally found a stone we loved that had the look of marble but was granite.  The six times we went out to examine it, we were told every time it was granite.  When we went to purchase it, the name changed to "Dolce Vita" marble.  Too late, we bought it anyway. 

For our island we wanted an overhang for counter seating but to try and keep the marble from snapping off during table dancing we looked for a way to provide structural stability.  After exploring many options we ultimately went to the local steel shop and purchased custom lengths of 1/2" by 6" flat steel.

A local welder attached a tab to screw the center section to the island and we used PL400 to glue the steel sections to the island.  (The island is only temporarily "slate" colored.  We will faux finish later.)  We did careful mockups to place the steel in a way that it would not be seen easily but still optimize strength.

Next, we found some plywood the same width and put it all over the island with PL400 and wood screws.

Some of the marble arrived this afternoon and the rest comes tomorrow morning.

The first countertop is put in place....

We also worked on light selections this week.  We plan to go with an industrial looking stainless steel pendant for our 3 over counter lights.  Our designers want to go with 10" diameter lights but I thought they would be too large so Garrett and I mocked up an industrial pendant look with empty 6.5" diameter paint cans.

Turns out the designers are probably right.