Discounted prices of marble and granite countertops can be found from fabricators who have surplus stones. These are the left overs that are from fabricating kitchen countertops. These material can easily serve as countertops for most bathroom vanities.

Granite and Marble tops make great countertops for your bathrooms. While we would never dream of using marble in a kitchen, we think that with a minimum of care, marble will work in a bathroom. This is especially true if the marble is polished and sealed and the kids in the house are all grown up.

How to select a stone color
Before you shop for marble or granite, it's always best to assemble samples of your bathroom vanity cabinet color, floor and wall tiles and paint color. If possible though, try to select the granite or marble countertop color first and then do the remaining colors for bathroom-- vanity cabinet, ceramic tiles and paint color later.

How come? Because you have hundred of colors to select from as far as paints and ceramic tiles go, but are very limited to what nature provides in so far as marble and granite are concerned.

Keep in mind that marble and granite are natural stones. Sure they have names, but the color of each block of stone varies by what country it comes from and where it is quarried. If you look at a slab or a piece of a slab of marble or granite and you like it, then by all means buy it. That color may not be available tomorrow.

Also, don't think that you can choose a granite or marble countertop from a 4" x 4" sample at the Home Depot or Lowes Home Improvement Center. The samples give you an idea of the color but not it's full range. For colors other than black, the names of the stones have no relationship to the color. For example, that Giallo Veneziano granite that your Aunt Mary has in her kitchen may be slightly salmon colored now. That's the way it is with natural stone. Same thing with common marble stones like Crema Marfil. We have seen them very peachy, gray and on the green side too.

Where to find granite and marble countertops
Don't waste time visiting a wholesaler marble or granite supplier, unless you are going to use the same kind of granite or marble slab for several bathroom vanities. Instead, visit your granite and marble fabricator. Most fabricators have literally tons of waste- odd and ends from cutting larger pieces of granite for kitchens and larger jobs. They usually keep this and discount it substantially. After a while though, the fabricators end up literally throwing it away to make room to store more recent pieces.

As we said before, if you find a piece of marble or granite that you like, we suggest you buy it. Ask the fabricator to mark it and store it until you are ready to use it. Also find some way to mark or identify the piece using an indelible magic marker. We'll tell you why shortly.

What to specify when you order
We used Crema Marfil and Travertine Romano marble countertops in all of our bathrooms, except in the basement.

Crema Marfil is very neutral and found almost every where. You should always specify polished marble, since honed marble (dull) will easily absorb water, color and other liquids.

Depending on your situation, you may or may not have a back splash. This is optional. In some bathrooms we did. In others, we relied instead on the wall tile and listella/bordura that came above the countertop to serve as a back splash.

When choosing marble or granite, make sure to inspect the piece and specify what areas of the piece you want to use. Remember, that the fabricators already chose the best pieces for the previous customer. Don't leave that to chance or to the fabricator.

The surplus marble and granite comes in either 2 centimeter (cm) or 3 cm pieces. On the advice of a fabricator, we specified an Ogee edge on the 3 cm piece. It looks great. The others used a straight edge.

What to expect from the marble and granite fabricator
After your vanity cabinets are installed, a fabricator will come out and take measurements. They will also want to know exactly what kinds of bathroom sinks and faucets you'll be using in order to cut the holes in the granite. Have your sinks and faucets handy for the fabricator. They'll also make a template of each countertop and take that back to the shop.

When the fabricator returns to install your counter top, make sure you examine the stone for cracks or markings. Some fabricators have a habit of changing stones on you, so be careful. See if you can identify the stone that you marked earlier. We had a situation where the fabricator actually sent Crema Marfil that had big black spots on it. These were not present on the stones we selected so we suspect that they switched stones or make a mistake at the shop. Remember, if the stone is cracked or not right reject it. Once it goes in, you are stuck with it.

The fabricator should level the stone and make any adjustments to the edges. Some grinding of the stone and drilling holes is also done on site. We recommend that you are at home during the installation to answer any questions or if problems come up.