06/05/2026
Okayyy pals, we need to talk about natural stone because I think there's a LOT of misinformation out there and I want to set the record straight!! Here's the thing: not all natural stone is high maintenance, and that reputation mostly belongs to marble, and even then, I will choose it every single time. Marble etches, it absorbs, it will pick up the lemon you cut last Tuesday and the wine ring you forgot to put a coaster under. Buttt that is not a defect, that is the material doing what it has literally been doing for thousandssss of years!!
Remember when we stained the marble countertop in our office?? A cutting board trapped moisture during demo and I went full Tik Tok scientist trying to fix it. Baking soda poultice for 48 hours did the trick because marble is porous, what goes in can also come out. So yes, marble stains, but it also forgives. We've used it in kitchens and baths across so many projects, and nothingggg else compares to the character it brings. But marble is just one chapter of the natural stone story!! Granite (hello, Mesa Verde bar) is basically bulletproof. Green quartzite? Also natural, also not porous. Limestone brings this incredible softness, we used it on the fireplace in our Costa Mesa project and on the main bath floors at Lido Isle, and it sits in a totally different maintenance category than marble. The point is: know your stone, know your life, and make the right call for both.
And the other thing no one talks about enough?? Edge profiles!! The same slab of marble with an ogee edge feels completelyyyy different from that same slab with an eased or mitered edge. It changes the entire personality of the counter. We spend more time on edge profiles than most people would expect because it is one of those decisions that looks small on paper and changes everythingggg in person.
Not every stone is right for every kitchen or every family. Some are for a home you actually cook in. Some are for a home you stage. In myyyy book we are always designing for the one you cook in. Natural stone is not low-maintenance, it is worth-it maintenance. And for the ones that aren't even high maintenance to begin with?? That's just a bonus.
