Travertine Kitchen Island

The island is the most looked-at surface in a kitchen: all four sides are visible, so the workmanship of both top and body is on show. On this island the top was cut as a half oval and the edge profile was carried around the curve as one continuous line. Oval cuts are made on a CNC bridge saw; the smoothness of the curve depends on the quality of the machine path, and a curve ground by hand always announces itself.

The body was clad in vertically fluted travertine strips. Each strip is cut separately, its face milled to a round, and bonded to the carcass one by one; on a curved body the strip width has to be calculated against the curve, otherwise the flutes crowd together in the middle of the arc. Because the fluting breaks light horizontally, it turns travertine's warm tone into a surface that changes through the day.

Travertine in a kitchen calls for a decision about pore preparation. In wet areas we recommend the filled preparation: open pores collect dirt over time and make cleaning harder. In both cases, saturating the surface with an impregnator delays liquid penetrating the stone.