Seen at EuroCucina – it’s that stone again
Thank you, Contemporist, for posting this gallery of contemporary kitchens from EuroCucine – great for all of us who couldn’t attend. I don’t really see anything extraordinary and new in the pictures, perhaps it was different if you were actually there. Rectangular cut-outs or niches in walls of cabinets seem to be quite a feature:
Display with niches at EuroCucina2010 via Contemporist
More rectangular niches from EuroCucina
Although this next display repeats the idea of rectangular cut-outs, this time in the doors, it was the stone that caught my eye (I hate that ugly seam in the backsplash – thank heaven it’s only a display, not something you have to live with for 20 years):
EuroCucina 2010 via Contemporist
It seems to be the same striking marble that we were all swooning over just a few weeks ago in Paul’s post at Kitchen and Residential Design about Marc Newson’s London bathroom:
Mark Newson Bath via New York Times
I’m predicting that this stone is about to be hot – it’s the gray and white everyone wants, but with these amazing stripes it’s a bold alternative to the calacatta or cararra we’ve been seeing so much of. It’s shown in my aged Manuale dei Marmi Pietre Graniti (1989) as Aegean marble, but I’m seeing similar slabs listed elsewhere as Marmara, Calacatta Zebrino, or even Zebrino Striato. Whatever the name, it’s definitely a beauty:
Zebrino Striato or Calacatta Zebrino
Marmara - closeup
I’d like it to be called Marmara – there are islands in the Sea of Marmara (the Propontis of Classical Greece and Rome) where marble has been quarried for thousands of years. It is possible that the place-name Marmara comes from the Greek word for marble - marmaro. That would make this the marble from marble – I like that idea. Names aside, what do you think – hot, or not?
Hi Joseph – yes, I suppose it is rather a standout, would make a grat accent
Another thought I had after I posted this is that it might work very well as an accent piece. You don’t normally have small tables in a bathroom, but if you had a small round table in there, this might be just the thing for it. Or if you had one of those small semi-circular tabletops that are sometimes attached to kitchen islands, this might also be a good use of the product. Just anything and everything that is an accent piece, not the whole shebang. Used as a kitchen countertop, it might be waaaay too much! Unless you’re one of those who just knows he’s found the product he wants to be around for the rest of his life!
Hi Joseph – yes, it probably needs a “use with caution” caveat. It is lovely though, don’t you think? I always think it must be really annoying if you are the creative genius who starts a trend – your unique and individual vision get’s swallowed up by the trendy hordes and becomes commonplace.
It’s amazing, whatever it is!
I don’t know about the marble. To me it just seems like it might be a bit bolder than anything I would want in a room for myself. And I speak as one who is forever swooning over various tile designs. If I thought it were going to be the next “hot” thing, though, I definitely would not use it.
A basic rule of physics is that whatever is hot will eventually cool, which is fine for soup that burns one’s lips, but rather detrimental for a kitchen or bath remodeling that has cost forty thousand dollars or more!
Who can forget avocado kitchens? But who would want one now? Far too often today’s “must have” becomes tomorrow’s “schlock.” I think one is better off sticking to the classics, and especially this is true for a kitchen remodeling. You will do that only once in your lifetime, in all likelihood, and will then touch those cupboards and appliances on a daily basis for the rest of your life. A thing of beauty, they say, is a joy forever, and especially this is true if it has a classic design. And by that I don’t necessarily mean Greek columns and the like. I love modern design and write about it a lot, but the best of those designs have about them an element of timelessness. Which, if I had just laid out eighty bazillion dollars for a remodeling is certainly what I would want!
I am in love with that marble and that’s no secret. I’m still waiting to get a geologist’s take on it.
Or the pizza?
That marble reminds me of pizza restaurants. So no, I wouldn’t go for it unless I liked the vibe.
I won’t say you’ve lost your marbles – rather, you’ve gained one! Very striking pattern and the gray/white is a color combo that’s well on its way (colorway?) I vote hot – in a very cool way.