I love the look of the travertine honed 4"4" . But, a lot of people
said that this is not recommended for kitchen countertops. Does anyone
have this kind of material in their counter tops? What are the pros
and con?. And what are the price ranges?

Thanks so much for any assistance you guys can give me.

Ellie D.T.

I've seen it in backsplashes all the time but never on a countertop (most of
what I have seen is in showrooms and magazines)

First off travertine can be (but not always) be quite soft. It often has
fillers which may or may not stand up to counter top abuse but mostly people
don't like Honed surface for countertops. Polished is usually preferred I
suppose because it's more easily wiped clean. Honed can also give you that
fingernail on a chalkboard sound when you slide a plate across it.

Finally, 4x4 is a small tile for counters, it will have a lot of grout which
is a pain to maintain and to clean. I currently have a counter with 5x5
ceramic tiles a speckled brown color you can't tell if its dirty, I hate it.

Consider 16" tiles on the diagonal, you can get lots of stone in this size,
especially travertine. Prices vary as much as availability, you really need
to go out and look yourself. Anything from $3 to $15 a SF can be found.



"ellie d.t." wrote in message
oups.com...
I love the look of the travertine honed 4"4" . But, a lot of people
said that this is not recommended for kitchen countertops. Does anyone
have this kind of material in their counter tops? What are the pros
and con?. And what are the price ranges?

Thanks so much for any assistance you guys can give me.

Ellie D.T.

ellie d.t. writes:

What are the pros and con?

Porous, so it stains easily and permanently, retains microbial
contamination. Soft, so it scratches easily. Pitted, so you have to fill
it to even approximately hope to keep it clean.

ellie d.t. wrote:
I love the look of the travertine honed 4"4" . But, a lot of people
said that this is not recommended for kitchen countertops. Does anyone
have this kind of material in their counter tops? What are the pros
and con?. And what are the price ranges?

Thanks so much for any assistance you guys can give me.

Ellie D.T.


Travetine is a relatively porous stone. Stuff we commonly spill in the
kitchen will absorb into the stone, creating a permanent stain.

This is true for almost all natural stone countertops, even granite.
This fact is why most countertops sold are dark colors, to help hide the
stains.

Corian, Silestone, or one of the myriad of artificial surfaces, some of
which have stone dust embedded in the matrix are generally recommended
for kitchen counters as they will take ALOT more abuse and still look fresh.

Backsplashes are acceptable use of Travertine as we are less likely to
stain it with spills on the coutnertop.