Based in Maple Ridge · serving Vancouver & the Lower Mainland
Mon to Sat, 8 to 6
Based in Maple Ridge · serving Vancouver & the Lower Mainland
Mon to Sat, 8 to 6
Marble countertops
When a marble counter has gone dull all over rather than in one spot, that is restoration: the whole surface worked back, not a patch. Etching, scratching and years of wear come out together and the finish goes back on.
Free estimate, on site, with no obligation.
Worth knowing which you need, because they are priced and scheduled differently.
Restoration is the whole surface. Your counter looks tired everywhere. The area around the sink and the coffee maker is duller than the corners nobody touches. There is no single mark you can point at, it has just gone flat over years. That is wear plus etching accumulated, and it comes back with a full pass across the surface.
A repair is one defect. A chip on an edge, a crack running out from a cutout. Something is missing from the stone and has to be filled. That is on our marble chip and crack repair page.
A stain is neither. Something has soaked in and darkened the stone, and it has to be drawn back out rather than ground off. See stain removal.
In practice a lot of counters need two of the three, which is one reason nothing gets quoted before it is seen.
Honing first. Progressively finer diamond abrasives take the surface down past the etching and the scratching until it is level again. Run wet, so nothing goes into the air. This is where the work happens.
Then the finish. A polishing powder worked in with water and buffed up until the stone reflects. Or, if a matte finish suits your kitchen better, we stop at the hone and leave it there. A honed counter hides daily marks better; a polished one is brighter and shows the veining. It is worth a conversation before we start rather than after.
Chips and cracks are handled before any polishing, filled with a colour-matched resin, cured and ground flat.
Here is the part that surprises people, and it is why restoration is usually the whole surface rather than one spot. When we fix a single mark properly, that patch of stone comes back looking new. If everything around it is even slightly worn, and after a few years in a working kitchen it will be, the repair now looks newer than the rest of the counter. So the surrounding area gets refinished too, until the whole surface reads the same. On a newer installation there is less to match and a single spot can be worked in. Most people wait until the whole counter is marked up before they call, and by then the answer is the full surface anyway.
Need help with marble countertop restoration?
Almost always, and the reason is what marble is. It is solid stone the whole way through, not a finish laid over something else. The etching, the dullness and the scratching all sit in the top layer, thousandths of an inch deep. Take that layer down and bring the finish back, and you have the counter you chose, looking the way it did.
Replacing means templating, fabrication, plumbing, and living without a kitchen while you wait for it. Restoration happens where the counter already sits, usually in a day or two.
We have walked into kitchens where the owner was already getting quotes for new stone, and the marble needed honing and a reseal. It is worth having someone look before you spend anything.
Where replacement genuinely is the answer: a crack running clean through the slab, a section that has broken away, or stone that is moving because whatever is under it has failed. We will tell you if that is what you have.
Nothing is quoted over the phone. Two counters that look identical from across a kitchen can need completely different work, and a photo will not settle it.
We come and look, free and with no obligation. The written quote is emailed to you afterwards, so there is no deciding on the spot. Nothing gets added to it once work starts without you agreeing first.
Dust free throughout, which matters when the kitchen is in use around us.
On timing: a single vanity or a small counter is often a few hours. A large kitchen can run to two days, plus a return visit to seal. It genuinely depends on the size of the surface and how much damage is in it, and the real number is in your quote.
Thinking about your counters?
778-862-4998
We see this everywhere rather than in one part of town: West Vancouver and the British Properties, North Vancouver, downtown and the West End, Yaletown, Coal Harbour and False Creek, Shaughnessy, Kerrisdale, Point Grey, Kitsilano and Dunbar, Burnaby, the Tri-Cities, Richmond, Surrey and White Rock.
Character homes tend to have marble that was installed decades ago and never restored. The condo towers from the 1990s and 2000s have counters now old enough to show it. And in strata buildings and hotels the same stone turns up in common areas and guest bathrooms, where it takes more use in a month than a home counter sees in a year.
What moves the price: the size of the surface, the damage, the type of stone and the finish. Our pricing page covers it, including the minimum service call.
Before
After
Marble island, Port Moody. Same island, same day, four and a half hours apart.
Before
After
Marble island, downtown Vancouver. Before on day one, after on day two.
Before
After
Marble island, Richmond. Before and after on the same day, from the same spot in the kitchen.
In almost every case, yes. Marble is solid stone all the way through, so the damage you are looking at sits in a layer thousandths of an inch deep. Taking that down and bringing the finish back leaves you with the counter you already own. Replacement means templating, fabrication, plumbing and time without a kitchen, at several times the cost. Replacement only really applies when a slab is cracked right through or a section has broken away.
We look at the stone up close first, checking for etching, staining, chips and cracks, because what looks like one problem is often two. Then chips and cracks get filled, the surface is honed down past the damage, and the finish goes back on. The work is dust free so your kitchen stays usable, and we will explain what we are seeing as we go rather than afterwards.
Look at the shine rather than the colour. A stain is darker than the stone around it but still glossy, with an edge that spreads and feathers. An etch is the same colour as the stone but flat, and it takes the shape of whatever sat there. It matters because an etch needs honing and polishing while a stain has to be drawn out, and neither treatment does anything for the other.
Yes, and most can be done in place. The chip is filled with a resin matched to the colour and veining of your stone, cured, then ground flush. What is worth knowing is that a fresh repair on a worn counter can end up looking newer than the surface around it, so the area usually gets refinished as well. That is on our marble chip and crack repair page.
A single vanity or small counter is often a few hours. A large kitchen can be two days, with a return visit afterwards to seal. It comes down to the size of the surface and how much damage there is, and you will have the real timeline in your quote rather than finding out partway through. The work is dust free, so you are not clearing the room or living around plastic sheeting.
No. We work on natural stone only: marble, limestone, travertine, granite, quartzite and terrazzo. Engineered surfaces are a manufactured product with a different structure and they need different handling entirely. If you are not certain which you have, send a photo before booking and we will tell you.
Send a photo or call. We will look at it on site and tell you honestly whether it is worth doing.
Free estimate. No obligation.
