New Alabama White Marble Countertops look horrible!

9 years ago

We are building a new house and after looking at tons of slabs locally, we found nothing we liked.

A vendor brought in these Alabama White Marble Honed slabs from Atlanta. The picture they sent originally was pure white and gray. I was assured they were not yellowish at all.

When they arrived in Florida, they had just been driven 4 hours in flooding rain and were dark and dingy yellow.

We were assured they would be white again after they dried out. They did begin to whiten up, but due to time constraints we couldn't wait 2 weeks they wanted to wait for them to fully dry. Again they assured us they would.

Now they are installed and while our island slab looks pretty decent, the perimeter slabs look awful. These cost $15,000.00 for 102 sqft. We are just sick about this whole situation.

Is Alabama White Marble suppose to look like this? I was told it is very similar to Vermont Danby, and no pictures I have seen of Alabama White or Vermont Danby look like this. Did driving for hours in muddy wet weather permanently damage them. I don't know what to do. We have only paid 50% and stopped all work.

Need advice.

Featured Answer

Neeta Raut

9 years ago

Don't know much about marble ...but this is looking fabulous!!

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Comments (34)

jansgirl
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
They are beautiful and from photos on a computer they all look the same to my eye. At $150 for every square 12", it's too bad you couldn't have waited the two weeks they requested.
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Chris C
Original Author
9 years ago
Thank you for the nice comments. That certainly make me feel a little better :)

I guess I'm just having a hard time seeing how the slab can be considered "White" now that it's installed.

They are so yellow compared to our cabinets and compared to the original slab pictures they sent before they were shipped to Florida.

What's odd is the island is still pretty White are pretty happy with it. The rest of the kitchen and the master bath just looks very yellow.
Irene Morresey
9 years ago
I think it looks super, have found some pics of the marble, hard to tell it may have a shimmer of yellow to it but it's lovely. It could be the lighting
simstress
9 years ago
Nice veining! Could be lighting issue partly since you're under construction.

Do you have the sink cutout still? How does it look in full sun? Like the slab photo?

Your cabinets are stark white, which can make slabs appear yellower relatively. Is that the final cabinet color? Painting them a color could help. Good luck!
amalfi44
9 years ago
I think they look great. Gorgeous veining. Given that paint is cheap and stone is expensive, can you adjust the paint color on the walls?

You are going to have to embrace and showcase the expensive counters.
Trem Wills
9 years ago
I understand the disappointment in not getting exactly what you wanted but I think it all looks beautiful! The island is what you see the most of anyway and maybe under cab lighting will help with the look of the perimeter. I really think it all looks so nice though :)
Chessie
9 years ago
Either you take a sample of the counter home, or you take a sample of the cabinets to the stone yard. BEFORE you buy the stone.
Lena Marshall
9 years ago
I love the marble. Your cabinets are white so there will always be some variation of colors when you "see" it all together. Make sure your lighting does not have a yellowish tint. For instance, some led lights are Ellis Ian and make everything look very different than the daylight led bulbs. I would ask about that.
Looks great!
hooked123
9 years ago
Looks beautiful!!!
Kate
9 years ago
The bathroom counter looks great with the tile. Sunlight and interior can be a huge difference.
julieru
9 years ago
If you can try to look at it with a fresh eye and not what your expectation was of the room, you may start to fall in love with this stone. You basically have 2 materials in this kitchen right now and all you notice is the difference in color. As you add things to the space keep introduces a range of neutral color, texture and materials and It will give you depth and richness that will turn it into a more interesting space. Matching color exactly creates a flat and sterile room.
Porter Edun
9 years ago
I think they look GREAT..
ohsoslow
9 years ago
I think they look wonderful, but understand your thoughts that they do not look like what you had envisioned. Here's a thought - do you really want everything to be stark white in the kitchen? It tends to look like an operating room then. If the difference still bothers you after giving it a little more time, the other posters are right. Adjust you cabinet color with new paint. Hang in there!
Nancy Hansen
9 years ago
The marble is gorgeous! If you don't want it, I'll take it !
User
9 years ago
If you paint the cabinets a slightly darker shade of white the marble in the countertops will appear whiter. Would be a cheap fix.

I wish people would move away from using marble in home design. The environmental impact of mining marble is substantial.
motupeg
9 years ago
I think that they are beautiful. I think that once the sink, appliances and other items are in place you won't notice. I agree with the decorators to check your light.
User
9 years ago
Pay the other half. There is absolutely nothing wrong with what you received.
PRO
Ball&Paw Salvage
9 years ago
Try changing your light bulbs to a cool blue white light rather than a warm yellow shade of white. See if that changes how you see your countertops.
Chris C
Original Author
9 years ago
All these comments certainly make me feel better. Maybe as things get closer to completion, it will pull together. The house just has so much white and gray, and nothing yellow.

I'm not sure the pictures really do justice to the "Yellow Splotches", I need to take some more in the brightest part of the day.

It's hard to get great pictures with the limited light since power to house has not been connected.

But here is how they looked when they arrived, vs how they looked before they were shipped.

The island certainly whitened up and looks ok, I just don't understand why the other pieces haven't.

First they said it was because of the white cabinets, but our cabinets are Gray in the bathroom and the marble still has all there "yellow splotches"

I guess I'm surprised when everyone knows how much care Marble requires to keep it looking good, yet it's carried on a open truck thru a rain storm for 4 hours. I am still shocked slabs this expensive aren't covered when they travel.
con2005
9 years ago
Painting the walls darker grey will make the marble look white worth trying. Changing lighting to whiter light bulbs or led can also help.
PRO
Chi Renovation & Design
9 years ago
The marble looks great! Paint, lighting, not having a backsplash installed, and also not having everything completely done yet, could contribute to you not being completely satisfied yet.
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Chris C
Original Author
9 years ago
Thanks so much for all the comments and suggestions.

I guess I'll step back and take a deep breath, and just hope when it's all done, it comes together.

Hopefully all my panic is over nothing!

I greatly appreciate all he help!
PRO
Joseph Corlett, LLC
9 years ago
The tops are going to etch; maybe that'll take the yellow out.
User
9 years ago
Did someone check that the slabs are actually from the same batch number. And check the sequence in number. Did they send photos of all or just one slab to represent? Just wondering because of what you've mention about the island being so different.
stingrae1625
9 years ago
The slab has a tint in the before photo too though not nearly as dark as it is on the truck. Our Carrara isn't the same exact shade of white as our white cabinets either (pic attached) but we love it. Has it lightened up since the last update?
D DN
9 years ago
Your bathroom slab looks quite different in comparison to the other slabs. I wonder if it's due to lighting or something else. I will say that your kitchen is possibly in the "ugly duckling" stage, right before everything is pulled together. I'm sure it happens with every kitchen renovation. It happened with mine where I questioned every single choice I made and every single selection looked terrible until the final touches pulled everything together. In a few months, you will forget you were even concerned (I hope).
PRO
Imagine Surfaces
8 years ago
Believe it or not, the slabs didn't change when they were being driven in the rain. If you look at the photo you have from the supplier with the white cabinet held up to it, you can tell that the upper left portion is a little "muddier" or "yellower". However, since the sun is shining directly on the slab, it washes out a lot of the color. The bottom right portion is definitely whiter than the top left (you got the bottom white on your island). Alabama White inherently has a soft gold/yellow tone to the stone which is more prevalent at the top of this slab.
amyarty
7 years ago
I would be thrilled for counters so beautiful, but recall the way I felt when I bought $14,000 of new windows for our home. I couldn't sleep at night picking over every detail I wasn't sure I was happy with, paranoid we'd been had and maybe the whole purchase was a mistake. I love my windows now but the sticker shock put me in massive panic mode for awhile. Your counters are stunning to me!
felizlady
7 years ago
That was two years ago. Did the stone “whiten” up or not?
PRO
La Belle Maison
6 years ago
If you install LED lights with a whiter/bluish color temperature over the areas with a more yellow cast to them, it may change how they look to you. With LED lighting, 2700-3600 is a spectrum most people find comfortable for reading and working. You may want to try as much as 4100 Kelvin to get a whiter or bluer cast to the color it projects. If you are currently using incandescent lights, they have a very yellow tone, which can cast that yellow lighting onto your surfaces. I hope that helps!
zelda18
4 years ago
The countertop is beautiful but... your walls are a cool Gray change the walls to white the gray will be more dominant. I had to change all my upholstery because any yellow undertones fought gray tones on the walls.
lparker2
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
Absolutley gorgeous! Is there a quartz that is compareable? Anyone know? I actually had a decorator recommend Alabama white but my budget cant handle it and i want less maintenance.
Beth H. :
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
lparker, try a porcelain that looks like marble, or , look at Calacatta Laza quartz. . you won't get the natural splotches that marble has, but you can get the veins.