Re-polishing Marble Kitchen Countertop Island
by margaret mishra
QUESTION:I have an island counter top calcuta gold 3 ft x 8 ft. It was a polished top. The installer first installed it the wrong size so removed the top and recut it. In the process it became scuffed up, so they came on 2 occassios and sanded buffed and ended up with more scratches and dulled the finsih. Then they took it back to the shop and redid the entire top so it now looks like a cross between polished and honed but mainly looks scuffed. They are willing to start all over with a new slab, My questions are1. Who can I call to get a professional opinion regarding the condiditon of the stone before I make a decision. Am I being too fussy? 2. Where would I find another professional that might have more experience with marble. ANSWER:No you are not being too fussy. There's no reason you shouldn't have a perfectly polished stone for your money unless you want to negotiate a discount, but I'd guess you'd rather have the a nice looking stone than save a bit.Also, you've learned first hand how hard it is to re-finish and polish marble well. As we've stated here many times.... polishing marble is a job only for a skilled, knowledgeable and experienced craftsman. Your average fabricator/installer simply is not even close to qualified for the job. In fact, many who only do marble maintenance and restoration are just mediocre at it. Homeowner's too frequently and easily underestimate the need to hire the very best when you need a stone surface re-finished or re-polished. Unfortunately, the only way to find the right person for any job is to seek out as much information as possible, such as recommendations from other stone industry types for a good marble maintenance pro, interview as many as possible and definitely check with as many previous customers as possible. Obviously, your current fabricator/installer is not up for the job. One last suggestion is to scrap the marble kitchen countertop. Marble kitchen countertops are typically not recommended since they will etch so easily and there is no way you can avoid this in a kitchen with so much exposure to acidic products. For more information on this just click here to read all the Q&A's at the bottom of this page. I suggest you install granite... far less maintenance. In fact many darker black, blue, green granites are near bullet-proof, don't need sealing and are super easy to maintain. Good Luck, Ryan P.S. Get all the facts, answers, explanations and simple solutions with step-by-step instructions for any issue, problem or question with our Granite & Marble Maintenance Manuals. |
