Hi Carmel, I'm not a architect and I do value everyone's professional opinion, but can't help thinking that perhaps you and your husband are both right. The breakfast table would look great in a natural stone, it is the where you eat, have tea or wine on, maybe a small project, entertain or have a fork fight on. Choose a granite or marble that's going to tie in with the splash back and your lovely timber floors and go with a wow factor like a stand out vein or run of colour in it. Makes it interesting. As for the rest a dark or even black solid surface or laminate is ideal. I find them soft and touchable, easy to maintain, a pleasure to work on and it adds the extra modern elements that's missing from this lovely galley style kitchen. Corian is another brand of solid surface but a textured dark laminate from A reputable laminate supplier should do it too. Make this room an energy that you want to be in not just look great. Kind regards Marina.

Hi Em House With your Island being 3000 mm long and 930 mm high you will need a slab that is made around 4980 mm long (with cuts) if you want to use something like Caesarstone Calacatta Nuvo and you want Waterfall Ends and want to match the veining. You are probably already aware though that this Reconstituted Stone sheet material (and even Marble for that matter) is not made this long where the Largest Format Sheets are still only 3200 mm long. Even though Mick Jagger said it best, there are still however a few options available which you may like to consider. Stone Masons have for centuries been addressing this issue by sudo matching the veins in Marble as best they can at junctions, where a good Kitchen Manufacturer's Stone Mason (like ours) should be able to take the time and select pieces for such a project that come close and still look the part. Here is a photo of such psudo matching. The Waterfall End Style is usually paired with Modern Style cabinetry and so another option availableto you and one you may like to consider is to use a Broken Line Waterfall End in your Design. This works particularly well with Recessed Handle Kitchen Designs, where the Drop End also lines up with the top of your Doors & Drawers. Here is a photo of this type of Broken Line Waterfall End. This island has also continued the Stone cladding around the face where you may note that the veining does not follow perfectly on every surface; but still looks great. I hope that some of this information is of help as well as allaying any concerns. Regards Malcolm

Corian here in our kitchen for thirteen years. I’ve really found it excellent. It’s not cold , that’s true, but it is also quiet and harder to break things on. It comes in very many colours. It feels very solid (because it is), not plasticky like laminate. It NEVER stains. It’s very hard to scratch. I use a trivet for really hot things, not mildly hot. Heat marks etc can be professionally rubbed out if needed, I haven’t needed it yet. I use cutting boards for sharp tools but it’s not precious. It doesn’t try to be stone, can be formed in to infinitely large joint free runs and even edgy, free form shapes. It is a sealed surface so, like stainless steel, can be made/used in areas where a ‘germ free’ surface is ideal. It really has a role in choices but seems to be used less in domestic settings. It does have plastic involved in manufacture but can be recycled in some way. It doesn’t need to be cut out of a mountain. The more modern versions of these are even better and not the knee jerk benchtops we see everywhere. It’s not for everyone but it’s definitely worth considering. A very viable alternative worth exploring. Best of luck.

Hi Rae, Carrara Marble has a different veining pattern to the Lucent Quartz Artic white that you asked about in an earlier post. In addition to the suggestions made by Dreamer here and by myself earlier with these man made Quartz I.E. Reconstituted Stone versions, there is also a Natural Stone alternative that you may like to consider; this being Quartzite (not to be confused with man made Quartz tops) which in addition to being Natural Stone and having the appearance of Marble, Quartzite is as hard as Granite, is non porous, and is scratch and acid proof; making Quartzite a perfect alternative to Marble for kitchen benchtops. Colours that you may like to check out may include Opus White Quartzite (top image below) or White Princess Quartzite (bottom image below). Hope this information helps, Malcolm.