I love to pet stone {quest for white countertops}

The above are just some cool pictures of slabs that I took with my phone on one of my outing last week...Did you know that petting stone is very therapeutic??

Anyway moving on to operation white stone countertops...

{The above image from here}

In the kitchen my preference is to have it light & bright with preferably white countertops (refer above to the alternative white countertops found here). Don't worry there are plenty of white surfaces to choose from..I just happen to prefer natural stone and more specifically marble. I love the movements and patterns found in marble. I have friends with kids that have marble in their kitchens and it has worked out for them. Sure their counters had some character marks in the the form of etching, staining & scratching but they said they were fine with it. I then planned & plotted my purchase of my very own marble slabs. Those slabs were then going to be honed and fabricated into something fabulous. Once in place, the kids were never to bring anything acidic or oily around and I was going to keep plenty of poultice around. Most stone slab places were against these plans. Then one day I found some quartzite slabs at three different places that were so beautiful and almost as white as marble. What I loved about them is they mimicked the movements of marble but were almost as hard as granite. I was sold. In fact I ended up going with what is called a calacatta quartzite. Want to see a sneak peak...




I also found more quartzite slabs that I loved just as much called white macaubas. I only decided not to go with them because the were 2CM as opposed to a 3CM. I found out that the calacatta and the macaubas are actually from the same quarries..same coloring but different veining patterns. Here is the one we almost went with:



Even though the below quartzite is not as white I aslo really loved the look of the below:



Have you used marble or quartzite in your kitchen???
Any particular findings you would like to share???
I kind of love that we can be in this together.  I especially loved all of the input on the last post.  Thank you!!

FOR THE LOCALS

Some great stone places with the best selections of marble and quartzite:

Cactus Stone
(50th St. & Washington)
401 S. 50th Street
Phoenix, AZ 85034
602-914-2202
8am-5pm

Arizona Tile Scottsdale
(101 & Frank Lloyd Wright)
14700 N. Hayden Rd.
Scottsdale, AZ 85260
480-991-3066
7am-5pm

Arizona Tile Tempe
(I-10 & Warner)
8829 S. Priest Dr.
Tempe, AZ 85284
480-893-9393
7am-5pm

Bedrosians Tile & Stone
(32nd St. & Broadway)
2946 E. Broadway Rd.
Phoenix, AZ 85040
602-268-2000
8am-4pm

Aracruz International Granite
(I-17 & Buckeye Rd.)
2310 W. Sherman St.
Phoenix, AZ 85009
602-252-1171
8am-5pm

P.S. - We've had other outings going on as well.  Kids have been home from school for over a week..Apparently it is called October break.  We went on a field trip to the train park in Scottsdale.  Have you been?  My kids love it there.  Usually I am a loner when it comes to taking kids on outings.  Somehow I managed to gather up a bunch of lady/sister friends to accompany me.  That there below is A LOT of kids.  Surprisingly it was FUN.  I don't want to shock the pants off anybody but as much fun as we had and as much as I loved lazy mornings..my bosom is filled with much joy & excitement with the prospect of all of the items of business I can get done with all of the kids back in school.



P.S.S - Speaking of sister friends. I have just discovered that cutting bangs makes me the younger sister...which is a good thing when one is the oldest sister and not 24 anymore. Just thought I'd share...you know because yesterday a nice man at the grocery store stopped me and said that he had seen my "older sister" earlier that week. I might have made a fist pulled back my elbow and arm and said "YYESSS"!