Your experience: limestone as a countertop

[Roderick Femm]

I know this is only going to interest a few people, but even a few knowledgeable responses will help.

My designer is trying to persuade me to use limestone as a counter-top in the bathroom. It's not a large surface area (small bathroom), but everything I read online says you have to be so careful with limestone, even when it's sealed, not to let any liquid sit on the surface for more than a few minutes. My partner is not a careful person and won't like (or probably pay much attention to) these kinds of restrictions. I don't much like them myself, if they're true.

So please, if you've ever used limestone as a counter-top, share your experiences.


Roddy

[MikeG]

I sold and designed kitchens for 15 years, then sold stone tops for two years exclusively.

Limestone will stain. Period. After time, it will develop a patina and look great in my opinion. If you can't deal with it not looking brand new, it's not for you.

My recommendation would be to use Ceasarstone engineered stone. It looks like limestone but is super durable. The Jerusalem Sand looks best imho.

[Roderick Femm]

Originally Posted by MikeG

I sold and designed kitchens for 15 years, then sold stone tops for two years exclusively.

Limestone will stain. Period. After time, it will develop a patina and look great in my opinion. If you can't deal with it not looking brand new, it's not for you.

My recommendation would be to use Ceasarstone engineered stone. It looks like limestone but is super durable. The Jerusalem Sand looks best imho.

Thank you for sharing your experience.

Any counter() opinions? (I really shouldn't do stuff like that, I am serious about this question.)


Roddy

[Runs With Scissors]

I only have one countertop made of natural stone, and it's in my kitchen.

It's quartz. It's black.

My quartz countertop never needs to be sealed, and after two years it still looks brand new.

[t-bonham@scc.net]

Originally Posted by Roderick Femm

My designer is trying to persuade me to use limestone as a counter-top in the bathroom.

It is time to remind your designer (very bluntly) just who is paying the bills here!

[bahimes]

May I suggest travertine?
You can find it nearly white (still a yellowish cast) but it is as hard as or harder than marble and much less porous than limestone.

[Patty O'Furniture]

Limestone? When I was remodeling, limestone never even occurred to me. I don't even think I ever saw samples in the many, many showrooms I went to. Wouldn't limestone react very badly with anything acidic like vinegar?

I chose soapstone because it has a very soft feel to it, is very heat and stain resistant and has a very "I'm not granite" look while still having the veins and deep emerald green color that I wanted. The only downside to soapstone is that it's softer than granite and if you slide anything fairly heavy and hard across the surface (like a pot full of water or heavy glass jar of pickles), you can get scratches. Now that I think about it, I suppose that would be true for any material with the possible exception of granite.

It has been 5 years and I haven't had any major scratches, although in the sample soapstone piece that was sitting in the showroom I notice that the constant handling had scuffed it up quite a bit. An annual rubbing with mineral oil brings new life back to the soapstone and makes any scuff marks all but invisible.

I have a few pics of the countertop in this FB album.

[Ferret Herder]

My husband (who got his bachelor's degree in geology and geophysics longer ago than we care to think about) is trying to do the chemical reactions in his head early this morning, and thinks that a common bathroom-used chemical, hydrogen peroxide, may well react with limestone (CaCO3?) and break down the surface slightly. At the very least, the chance of your countertop foaming in reaction to a fairly innocuous chemical might not be something you want.

He agrees that acidic things would create a reaction resulting in pitting of the surface.

[MikeG]

Yeah, marble, limestone and travertine are all basically calcium carbonate and you can take off the polished finish very easily with household chemicals.

If you go the natural stone route, with those, get a honed semi matte finish, it will eliminate 80% of the wear issues you get with those tops right off the bat.

Runs With Scissors, your black quartz "natural" stone top is more than likely an engineered stone like Zodiaq or Silestone. Quarts tops is how they are referred to in the industry due to their primary ingredient. It might be made from natural stone but it is an artificially made product. Great stuff, durable as hell and looks good too.

[Roderick Femm]

Originally Posted by t-bonham@scc.net

It is time to remind your designer (very bluntly) just who is paying the bills here!

Well, yes, I do know that I have the final say, and so does she (hence the wording "trying to persuade"). Hence, also, this thread where I'm trying to get unbiased outside information.

I like the soft look of the limestone, but I have no patience with fussy maintenance, so unless she comes up with a real killer of an argument, I'll probably be going with some quartz material like Silestone.

Thanks, folks, for your ideas and reactions.


Roddy

[MikeG]

Like I said, take a look at the Jerusalem Sand Ceasarstone. From ten feet away you cant tell its not real limestone. From up close it still looks great just a little too uniform to be natural but not a big deal imho.

[EvilTOJ]

Originally Posted by Roderick Femm

Thank you for sharing your experience.

Any counter() opinions? (I really shouldn't do stuff like that, I am serious about this question.)


Roddy

I'm pretty sure you mean a counter argument.

[Khadaji]

I had friends who tried to get some granite counter tops installed. Upon closer inspection it turned out to be limestone - they were just taking it for granite.

[Malacandra]

Originally Posted by Ferret Herder

My husband (who got his bachelor's degree in geology and geophysics longer ago than we care to think about) is trying to do the chemical reactions in his head early this morning, and thinks that a common bathroom-used chemical, hydrogen peroxide, may well react with limestone (CaCO3?) and break down the surface slightly. At the very least, the chance of your countertop foaming in reaction to a fairly innocuous chemical might not be something you want.

He agrees that acidic things would create a reaction resulting in pitting of the surface.

I don't have a chemistry degree, but this isn't degree-level chemistry; there's nothing in CaCO₃ that will react with oxygen, not even nascent oxygen. Right about the acid though; even weak acids react very well with carbonates.

[Napier]

I've worked a little with limestone but not as counter material. It sounds like a joke to me. Limestone is soft and porous and reactive. I think carpet would be better. It's soft and porous, but not reactive.

Seriously - limestone? Is the OP a day late, perhaps?

[Weezie]

I have looked and looked at materials to use on my countertops. I am still really liking the limestone look. I was told yesterday the same thing we keep hearing: it will stain and it will develop that patena ? look. It is a lot of money to spend on something that may look terrible in just a few years, but I don't really like the granite colors I have seen and at times...Ceasarstone looks fake to me. ???
Tell me if you went with limestone and any other comments. ???

[Zsofia]

Originally Posted by Patty O'Furniture

Limestone? When I was remodeling, limestone never even occurred to me. I don't even think I ever saw samples in the many, many showrooms I went to. Wouldn't limestone react very badly with anything acidic like vinegar?

I chose soapstone because it has a very soft feel to it, is very heat and stain resistant and has a very "I'm not granite" look while still having the veins and deep emerald green color that I wanted. The only downside to soapstone is that it's softer than granite and if you slide anything fairly heavy and hard across the surface (like a pot full of water or heavy glass jar of pickles), you can get scratches. Now that I think about it, I suppose that would be true for any material with the possible exception of granite.

It has been 5 years and I haven't had any major scratches, although in the sample soapstone piece that was sitting in the showroom I notice that the constant handling had scuffed it up quite a bit. An annual rubbing with mineral oil brings new life back to the soapstone and makes any scuff marks all but invisible.

I have a few pics of the countertop in this FB album.

I'm considering soapstone for my kitchen counters - how careful are you with it? How much did it run you?