What’s the Difference Between Calacatta, Carrara, and Statuary Marble? A Remodeling 101 Guide
A marble countertop tends to make a assertion. This quarried stone, a single of the more pricey products you can use, sends a concept of luxury and fashion. But at the time you’ve examine by the execs and downsides in Remodeling 101: Marble Countertops and settled on using marble for your kitchen or bath, you nevertheless have some choices to make: What style to get? And which slab?
When you are selecting, say, a good-floor countertop (like Corian) or an engineered stone (these kinds of as Silestone or Caesarstone), you can seem at a sample and know particularly what you’re going to get. With marble, however, each individual slab is diverse. Since it comes from mother nature, each piece of marble is one particular of a type, with its personal pattern and colors.
While it’s identified in quite a few sections of the entire world, the marble most conveniently obtainable in the United States is quarried in the mountains previously mentioned Carrara, a city in northern Tuscany. The three most widespread kinds of Italian marble are Carrara, Calacatta, and Statuary (also named Statuario). We requested expert Michael Bruno, a salesperson with the tile and stone company Ann Sacks, what he’s learned about these three types of marble more than 19 many years in the business—and the distinctions between them.
What is the difference in between Carrara, Calacatta, and Statuary marble?
Carrara Marble
The most prevalent Italian marble is Carrara, named for the location it arrives from. “Carrara has a gray discipline, or history,” states Bruno, “with a gentle grey veining.” This stone can also are inclined toward blue-grey, and the patterning is generally gentle and feathery.
Calacatta Marble
Numerous homeowners truly feel that a whiter marble appears far more high-class. They may well choose for Calacatta marble, which is also pretty obtainable in the US. (Somewhat confusingly, it’s quarried in Carrara as nicely.) “Calacatta has a industry that’s dazzling white, and a lot far more variation in shade than Carrara,” suggests Bruno. The veins are thick and spectacular, and can selection in coloration from gold to brown to beige to darkish gray.
Statuary Marble
And then there’s Statuary marble—whose identify serves as a reminder that some of the world’s biggest statues are carved from marble (think Michelangelo’s David). It also arrives from the Carrara region. “Statuary also has a brilliant white subject, but not as significantly colour variation as Calacatta,” suggests Bruno. “The veins are ordinarily dim gray, so there is a whole lot of distinction involving light and dark in this stone.”