Calacatta White Marble Kitchen Countertop

Calacatta's character comes from the weight of its veining: golden, brown and grey lines cross one another over a white ground. With a stone like this the hardest part is not the cutting but the slab planning. In the kitchen shown here the countertop and splashback were prepared from consecutive cuts of the same block, so the vein is not severed as it passes from top to splashback — the same line continues up the wall. Achieving that requires deciding before cutting which region of the slab becomes the top and which becomes the splashback; there is no fixing it afterwards.

Book-matched installation, where two slabs face each other like a mirror, is also meaningful in such stones: the vein continues symmetrically across the joint. The condition is that both slabs are consecutive cuts from the same block.

The hob and undermount sink cut-outs were made in the workshop and their edges polished. The golden vein works with brass tapware, while the dark smoked cabinet fronts leave the vein in front. Polished is the finish that gives Calacatta's veining the most depth; for heavy use a honed alternative can also be applied.