Marble is a timeless, natural stone that provides real “WOW Factor” to your home. Due to being a natural stone each slab is unique so you’ll have a completely bespoke work surface to compliment your space. Marble has been used in bathrooms for many years and is considered a luxury feature enhancing your space while adding to property value. Check out our top 5 tips when designing your Marble Bathroom Worktops!
Why choose Marble for your bathroom?
- Marble is a soft natural stone which can be manufactured to show various edge details and designs (especially when it comes to splashbacks)!
- It is seen as a luxury material which enhances your home in more ways than one. As well as being aesthetically beautiful it also adds value to your property if you come to sell your home.
- This material can help to brighten up small spaces lacking in natural light. The high reflectivity of polished marble reflects artificial lighting well helping smaller or windowless bathrooms feel more light, open and airy.
- There are plenty of colours and vein patterns to choose from enabling Marble to compliment various other materials such as wood, and stainless steel- helping you create your dream bathroom!
- Honed Marble is more suited to bigger bathrooms than smaller spaces and are better at hiding scratches or dust until you have time to clean the surface.
- Most importantly Marble withstands moisture and heat well, it will not change when exposed to bathroom humidity and hot steam from daily use.
What you need to know about Marble
- Marble requires yearly maintenance and re-sealing of the surface to ensure liquids don’t soak through, causing it to stain and mark.
- It is a much softer material which can scratch quite easily and you need to be careful with acidic substances keeping them far away from the Marble. They can leave dull, cloudy spots known as etches in the material.
- It is a suitable material for bathrooms but is far less suited to kitchen worktops due to being less resilient to scratches and stains than other materials. Bathrooms receive significantly less use than kitchens and are generally better looked after because of this.
- The cost of Marble heavily depends on the size of the slab, colour and vein structure. Something more simple like a Carrara Marble will be more cost effective than Arabescato Marble or Emprador Marble.
Our Top 5 Considerations for designing beautiful Marble Worktops for your Bathroom
Colour Scheme
Choosing the right colour and patterned Marble worktop for your bathroom depends on what mood you’d like to have throughout your room. A lighter and soft stone keeps the room open, calm and spa like where as a darker, bold veined Marble becomes more of a statement piece.
Consider the size of your bathroom and the amount of light coming in, if you have plenty of natural light coming through it allows you to have more freedom when choosing colours. If you have a small amount of light or no windows you may want to consider a lighter coloured Marble to avoid having an already dark space made darker.
Classic white and grey Marbles pair well with crisp whites, wood effect cabinets, soft grey paints or even cool blues typically found in a bathroom. A popular classic white and grey marble would be the Carrara Marble pictured above. Many Marble slabs also have plenty of undertones when you look closely. These can include blue, green, and beige which can often help you choose what colour to paint the walls to pick out these accents.
Budget
When designing your Marble Bathroom Worktop budget will play an important factor and may help in your material decision making. More common Marbles such as Carrara are much more affordable than other varieties with a bold colouring or dramatic veining such as Calacatta or Arabescato.
If you are just looking for a small piece of Marble for a vanity top or a window cill then it may be worth trying to use an offcut. We have a small range of Marble offcuts suitable for smaller projects with smaller budgets. You will receive a more limited choice but the cost will be far more affordable for a smaller piece and worth the saving!
What edge detail you choose will also affect the cost. At Eaton Stonemasons we provide either a chamfered edge or pencil round edge detail as standard. For halfbullnose, bullnose, sharksnose and OGEE there is an additional cost involved due to the increase in time that it takes to create these edges.
Usage
When designing any room in your house, especially a bathroom or kitchen it’s easy to loose sight of functionality and run away with the design and decor. Remember you want your bathroom space to be used as a bathroom first before considering aesthetic appearance.
For example making sure that you choose the right material is important, if you had Marble in a kitchen it might look beautiful at the start but the reality is it wouldn’t be practical and would scratch and stain easily due to the nature of being the hub of the home. You would need a material such as Quartz or Granite that could withstand busy family life in the kitchen much better.
Easy to Clean
To maintain Marble we advise you wipe clean with warm water and soap or any other mild cleanser and a soft cloth. Make sure you stay away from harsh cleansers such as bleach or vinegar which will damage the polish and stain the surface.
The most common culprits to stain Marble Bathroom Worktops are toothpaste, deodorant, perfumes and sprays, oily cosmetics and hair dyes. Make sure you keep these clear of the worktops or wipe clean after use. By annually re-sealing your Marble worktops you will help prevent liquids soaking through the surface causing stains.
When considering different edge details make sure you consider entrapment spots for dust. For example if you had an upstand with a full bullnose edge detail there would be a small dust trap behind the top of the upstand and the wall which can become noticeable over time. It might be better to choose a chamfer or pencil round edge for the upstands so you can wipe the top thoroughly.
Worktop Thickness
Marble typically comes in 20mm thickness or 30mm thickness allowing you a couple of options for your worktop. 20mm thick worktops are more modern, slightly better priced and aren’t too heavy for popular floating vanity units. 30mm thick worktops can be too heavy for floating vanity worktops and are slightly more expensive, but they do bring more character to the space with their chunky design!
20mm Material still provides enough structural support and strength for sink cut outs even though the profile is more elegant. 30mm can provide a more luxurious and traditional look in bigger bathroom spaces, but for average or smaller sized units it can look too bulky.
Certain edge details can only be manufactured on 30mm worktops in our workshop. Please ask one of our team for more information about this when designing beautiful Marble worktops for your bathroom!
How does Marble compare to other materials?
Quartz
If you’re looking for a stand out natural stone for your bathroom, Marble is the perfect choice for you! If you’re looking for something with similar qualities but less maintenance then we would advise a Quartz option. Quartz is a man-made material which boasts similar qualities to Marble however it doesn’t require any maintenance or annual re-sealing.
This material is easy to clean, naturally non-porous with no re-sealing required. You can wipe clean with warm, soapy water or your classic kitchen sprays (avoiding acidic or harsh kitchen cleaners)! Quartz is available in a huge variety of colours and patterns to suit all budgets and we have over 350+ different samples in our showroom to view. It is also scratch and stain resistant and much easy to maintain than Marble.
Granite
Granite is also another option but is typically darker in colour. Like Quartz it is naturally scratch resistant and like Marble it requires re-sealing to ensure the surface remains non-porous. Granite is a natural stone so each slab is unique, creating a completely bespoke worktop! Like Marble the cost of Granite varies depending on the colour, pattern and slab size. Granite is one of the only materials you can have outside.. perfect for outdoor kitchens too!
Laminate
Laminate itself is budget friendly with a huge amount of designs to mimic real stone materials. It is low maintenance, doesn’t require re-sealing and can be cleaned with soapy water. Laminate is sensitive to heat damage and can scratch overtime. If water gets into unsealed seams and edges it can cause the tops to swell damaging the material.
Typically Laminate isn’t as durable as Quartz, Marble and Granite and will need replacing. Stone only get changed when homeowners update kitchen or bathroom designs, otherwise they will last 20+ years when looked after.
Corian
Corian is another popular choice for bathrooms as it has a non-porous surface and is resistant to stains, preventing mould and bacteria from growing in damp environments. If the surface gets scratched or suffers impact over time it can usually be sanded and polished by a professional. It is heat sensitive and can burn or warp if you place hot hair straighteners or hairdryers on.
While it is impact resistant it can scratch more easily than Quartz or Granite so abrasive cleaning cloths should be avoided. Although the material mimics real stone there’s nothing quite like natural Marble and Granite!
Wood
Wooden worktops bring warmth and texture to your bathroom design. However because of the high moisture environment they require careful selection and rigorous sealing to prevent rotting or water staining.
How to create a Spa like Bathroom
- Use stone surfaces as they bring elegance, luxury and a create a look that feels premium.
- Incorporate suitable wood accents for vanity tops or flooring as this brings warmth when paired with the perfect lighting.
- Add high quality bathroom essentials such as thick textured towels and bath mats.
- Lighting creates ambience! Hide LED’s in shower niches and around vanity units so they’re out of sight while creating a glow throughout the room.
- Swap your showerhead for a rainfall showerhead to give that natural rain effect.
- Add a stone bath surround choosing a stone that includes accents of your bathroom colours to bring the room together.
- Diffusers with essential oils are calming, and can influence your mood, sleep and focus depending on what you choose.
- Moisture loving plants also help provide a relaxing and earthy vibe to your room. There are so many to choose from that would thrive on the moisture rich air of a bathroom.
- Make sure the space is de-cluttered. Keep all your bathroom essentials in cabinets out of view.
Smaller Projects with smaller budgets
For smaller projects such as vanity tops, utility rooms, window cills, shelves and more we have a wide range of different size offcuts varying in colour and material. This saves purchasing a slab in and reduces the cost significantly. Book A Visit and come and have a look at our range to find the perfect surface for your project!
sales@eatonstonemasons.com | 01929 550653 | 18 Westminster Road, Wareham, Dorset, BH20 4SP.