— Marble · Bayswater, Melbourne
Marble benchtops, Melbourne.
Cut, edged and installed from our Bayswater workshop, from a slab you have stood in front of. What marble is really like to live with, and straight answers to the things people search before they buy it.
— 01 · Living with it
What marble is like to live with
01
It marks, and that is the deal
Marble is softer than granite and it is porous. Lemon, wine and vinegar will etch the polish if they sit, and oil will stain it once the seal has worn. Sealed and wiped down, it lives happily in a kitchen. Treat it like timber, not glass.
02
Heat
A warm pan set down is fine. Repeated direct heat in one spot dulls the polish and the sealer, so a trivet beside the stove costs nothing and saves a mark.
03
Sealing
Sealing slows staining, and marble asks for it more than most stone. How often depends on the marble and how the kitchen is used. Ask us for the schedule for the slab you pick.
04
Repairs
Etch marks and chips in marble can be honed and re-polished. It is one of the more repairable stones, which is part of why marble kitchens last.
05
Honed or polished
Polished shows the veining at its brightest and shows marks more. Honed is matte, softer in the light and forgives them. Both are on the floor in Bayswater to compare.
— 02 · Before you buy
What people search before they buy marble
The questions people type into Google, answered plainly.
01
Are marble benchtops banned in Australia?
No. The ban that began in July 2024 covers engineered stone, the quartz and resin slabs. Marble is natural stone and is not part of it.
02
Does marble contain silica?
Marble is calcium carbonate. It has little to no crystalline silica, which is why it sits outside the engineered stone ban.
03
Does a marble benchtop stain?
It can. Oil and coloured liquids left on marble that is unsealed or worn will mark it. Sealed and wiped, most day-to-day spills lift straight off.
04
Is marble good for a kitchen benchtop?
Yes, for people who want a surface that ages with the house. If you want a benchtop that looks the same in ten years, porcelain or granite is the honest answer, and we will tell you so in the showroom.
05
What does a marble benchtop cost?
It depends on the slab, how many slabs your layout needs, the edge and the cutouts. We quote it as a private online link that shows all of that on your slab. Not a rate per metre, because two slabs of the same marble can be a long way apart.
06
Marble vs granite, quartzite and porcelain
Granite is harder and less porous, with plainer veining. Quartzite is harder than marble with marble-like veining, and still needs sealing. Porcelain needs no sealing and never etches, but its pattern is printed on the surface. Marble is the real vein all the way through, and asks for a little care in return.
07
Carrara, Calacatta, Arabescato, Viola
Italian marbles named by quarry and character. Carrara is the grey-veined workhorse. Calacatta is whiter with bolder gold or grey veins. Arabescato is a dense grey web. Calacatta Viola runs purple and red. The name matters less than the actual slab, which is why you choose from the slab, not a sample.
— 03 · Our marble work
Marble we have cut and installed
Our own jobs, photographed on site. No stock images.
See the whole gallery →
— 04 · Edges, thickness, fluting
What we can do with a marble slab
Marble takes every profile we cut: square arris, pencil round, bullnose, bevel, ogee. Mitred waterfall ends let the veining run down the end of an island. Fluted panels are carved on our saw from the same slab as the top. See each one in 3D on a marble sample, then see a real quote.