Close-up view of the cooker area in the Reigate kitchen, featuring a seamless Arabescato Cerviole Honed 20mm marble splashback from AG Stoneworks, beautifully matching the countertops.

Dramatic Marble

Every slab of natural marble is unique, making it the perfect choice to bring personality to a luxury kitchen or bathroom. Bold Arabescato marble patterns make a statement of individuality, whether in a traditional or contemporary scheme. Often the choice of stone will catalyse the whole vision, becoming the design element that dictates the overall colour palette, throughout the space.

Natural marble has come back into fashion because of its beauty. It is different from many worktop materials in being softer and more prone to staining and acid attack: to opt for marble must be to embrace a material which is going to change and meld its appearance a little through the years. Perhaps it is not for the faint-hearted, but our clients who have installed real marble in their kitchens have stayed in love with it, even years later!

Arabescato Cerviole

Blocks of natural marble vary a great deal. Careful selection of slabs and creative intelligence in making best use of them is absolutely critical. It is vital to involve experienced stonemasons. Even the most costly slabs of natural marble may have natural features and seams that need to be avoided in the final manufacturing process. At AG Stoneworks our stonemasons work alongside designers and clients to use the slabs slabs to best effect and with the best possible flow of vein and pattern.

As well as traditional monochrome marbles there is a growing trend towards marbles with hues of warmer reds and purples. Breccia Capraia meets the brief; with gorgeous purply-red splashes of colour on an almost pure-white background creating a stunning natural work of art. Prices vary hugely and blocks with purer white backgrounds are much prized and command higher prices.

Breccia Capraia at Cullifords

Calacatta Viola marble has striking maroon-red to purple veins on a warmer off-white background. Blocks vary hugely in size and tone and careful consideration needs to made for vein-flow and lengths required.

Book-matched Calacatta Viola at MGLW

Book-matched slabs enable the joining of two slabs to create a butterfly feature or when mitred into a waterfall down-stand, give the effect of a solid block of stone. Vein-matching is also more popular where the vein continues in the same direction over the end of the waterfall, up into up-stands, or into a full-height splash-back.

If you and your client are loving this colourway but feel that real marble is not right for your application or lifestyle, then we would recommend looking at the Fior di Viola 4D by Sapienstone. Unlike many porcelain-type worktops, the 4D collection from Sapienstone is full-bodied. (In other words, the veins are visible running into the stone at cut edges, rather than just sitting on the upper surface as a print.)_The quality of the printing is exquisite and it is the most natural-looking alternative to real marble.

Fior di Viola 4D Sapienstone – full bodied porcelain – slab size
3200 x 1600mm. Available in 12mm or 20mm it can be used all applications, indoors and outdoors.

Cullifords also have large format Sapienstone tiles in a ribbed finish. (not full-bodied)

If you would like to understand more about these materials or discuss your kitchen, bathroom or media wall project please contact our team for an appointment.

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