With my Carrara, a piece of marble on top of the marble counter would scratch it. Why not use an actual tray under the coffee maker (assuming you're concerned about coffee spills on the marble)?

I even put tabs under my walnut Boos cutting board that sits on my walnut island top. My woodworker said the moisture accumulating under the board was starting to be a problem. (The board lives next to my prep sink all day so water does get underneath.). HTH!

Stone will scratch stone, and you have to be careful to keep the felt pads inspected and grit free. Stone cutting boards are also HEAVY. Imagine pulling out a 30-50 pound weight every time you want to clean it. Every single person who I've known who had a cutting board made from a remnant ended up not using it because it was so cumbersome. And personally, I wouldn't want marble anywhere near any coffee makings. Coffee is acidic, and it gets everywhere and stains. Or at least at my house it does because we grind our own beans and someone isn't very careful dipping out those grounds from the grinder. I use a half sheet baking tray, and have a couple of extras. It's easy to just slide it forward a bit and set the grinder and the maker (and the espresso pot, etc.) off onto the counter and then place the dirty one in the DW. Then I grab a new one and place everything back onto it. It keeps the grounds and other spills corralled better.

Umm....please tell me you're not actually cutting on marble. If so, I pity your knives.

you mean to use them as trivets, right? i wouldn't use marble or stone since -as noted above, it will scratch. i'm searching for a metal fabricator who can make some stainless sheets backed with cork, so i can sit my small appliances on top of that -and also to have one handy for the side of the range when i pull stuff out of the oven.

i haven't come across anything like this but i'm thinking it will work out well. BUT of course, i've been wrong before!

"Umm....please tell me you're not actually cutting on marble. If so, I pity your knives.

This.

Marble+cutting+board = shudder "

That's what I was thinking.

Depending on the height of your counter and the width of the marble remnant, when you top the marble with an appropriate surface for actual cutting (which I assume is your intent), you may find that the cutting surface is now too high for comfort.

I have a marble "cutting board". It does have felt feet and I don't worry about putting it on top of my soapstone, but then I'm OK with scratches.

I use this for one purpose, working dough that I need to keep chilled. If I pull out the top shelf in the sxs freezer, it fits on it's side.

I wish it were bigger, but then I might not be able to move it. Mine wasn't a remnant, so it's not very thick and it's still heavy to be moving around.

Since you really don't want to abuse your knives by cutting on marble why not use the marble for something more decorative? If you have leftover walnut maybe you'd like to use that as a cutting board.

I have a leftover piece of granite that my fabricator polished for me. It's rather neat because he left the edges irregular and we use it to serve cheese and fruit. Instead of putting pads underneath we glued little wooden feet to elevate the stand - and of course there are pads underneath the feet. My DD liked it so much she purchased several leftover polished pieces and made plant stands to display her orchids.

other than what macybaby does, what's the point? We have granite 1-1/4" thick we just work dough on it as it stays pretty cool by itself. I agree, I sure wouldn't want to torture my knives by cutting on the counter top. If it's to protect from coffee stains the stainless pan seems like a good idea. You can buy stainless sheet pans. Marble is beautiful, but it does stain easily. Our granite is darker and has a lot of viening in it, so we often loose things like twist ties on it. Helps hide when I make a mess though. My wife still feels the goffee grounds etc. on the counter when she wipes it, so I still get in trouble.

It'll make a fine cutting board so long as you don't cut anything on it. Your knives should never be used to cut on any stone or glass. Wood or nylon is what you need. Bed Bath and Beyond sells flexible plastic "mat" style cutting boards for about a buck-fiddy apiece. You can use them on top of any hard surface, they come in very handy for the occasional impromptu funnel, they are easy to store, fit into the dishwasher, and when they get too ratty just replace them.

I guess I called it a cutting board when I really meant a trivet ;) I am concerned about the coffee maker but do like the idea of a tray under it - maybe I can find something that would work and be decorative too.

I have an early riser husband who doesn't wipe up drips - freaking me out a bit!

Whew.....that's a relief! Carry on.

I spill espresso and coffee grounds on my Carrara all the time without any staining, etching, etc. Marble does not stain easily as previously mentioned if it is properly sealed. Etching, sure. Staining, no.

I do have one very, very faint stain under my espresso machine when my DB and his wife tried to use the machine when I wasn't home. They didn't really know how to work the machine and made a mess. I thought I cleaned it all up until 8-9 days later when DH moved the heavy unit a bit and I saw a huge puddle of dried espresso. Apparently they did some damage to the machine and it had a slow, unnoticeable leak--underneath.

And btw, I knew you weren't really planning to use the board for cutting. ;)

Because of the coolness of the stone, granite or marble remnants make great, color-coordinated cheese serving platters for parties. Just make sure you put protective "feet" of some kind underneath.

Have some of the walnut made into a tray to put under the machine. It's coffee colored. ;)

I make croissants on an ash counter without marble on wax paper by using an infrared temp gun. 60-65 all the turns are perfect with frig as necessary.

My cutting board got stuck I had it by the sink. Water got underneath and I can't move it. What. Can I do to get it off? Help!!

Marble cutting board, I thought that was an oxymoron.