Marble Countertops in Your Kitchen?

I recently had a client who was enamored with some green marble countertops he had seen in a showroom display and wanted to use them in his own kitchen. I counseled him to beware because of the softness and stainability of marble.

This has been my practice throughout my 25 years as a kitchen designer. As a result I have seldom seen marble countertops installed in kitchens I have designed, except as pastry counters separated from everyday use.

Today I ran across a lengthy blog discussion on Apartment Therapy on just the subject of marble in the kitchen. Most of the posters seem to be biased toward using marble in their kitchens, so you have to read it with that understanding; but it is certainly a thorough analysis of the benefits and drawbacks.

I am a cook who likes countertops that are easy to care for and last a lifetime without great expense or drudgery. I have thoroughly loved the Corian countertops and integral sink in my own kitchen since they were installed in 1989 and I would do them again in any future kitchen (unless something better comes along).

For those of my clients who want the period look of marble I always recommend honed granite as an alternative that will be more stain and scratch resistant. There is a kitchen on my web site that shows this look.






















This particular granite is very light with some garnet crystals. Honing blurs and softens the graininess of the granite. The look isn't exactly the look of marble but the overall effect is of aged countertops.

The undermounted Corian sink also contributes to the aged look.



























So there are viable alternatives to fragile marble countertops in the kitchen for all but the most determined purists.

As a homeowner and cook you have to ask yourself how far you are willing to go in maintaining your own countertops. Answering that question will direct you toward the countertops that will serve your time constraints and aesthetic considerations as well.

Peggy

shopping :: housewerks

Housewerks is an "architectural werkshop" chock full of great items.

We're on a mission to find a few iron gates for the salleyway. This is a recently learned term - our house has a side alleyway, which is basically an outdoor hallway connecting the back 'yard' to the street out front. Because we're a middle unit and we don't have an alley running behind the house, this is a convenient way to carry trash to the curb.

We need two gates, one for the front to replace the current barn'ish wooden door and one for the back to keep the dogs out of the neighbor's space - who also has access to the same salleyway.

These look good, but too narrow:


I liked these more than Craig did, but they need some substantial modification to fit the space, let alone some serious cleaning up:


For now we'll keep searching, there are a few places to check this coming weekend.

Housewerks has all sorts of fantastic items, check out this sink:

And the main room:


Off topic, the garden is coming in nicely - and much less work than the yard at the previous house!

Cowpea leaves stir fry - Payaru elai chundal

When Sangeeth announced this month's theme for Eat Healthy event, I was googling to find the protein chart of vegetarian foods. I came across this link , where in cow pea leaf tops the chart with highest content of protein. Also refer here for the detailed nutritional facts. It turns out that the plant’s leaves are more protein-rich than its bean. Then I decided what to cook for the event. Luckily, I had the cow pea plant with some new leaves, after the rains, in my garden. In summer I was about to pull it off, but since it had some peas hanging on to it to be matured, thought will do it later. Anyhow it survived summer. After the brief monsoon we had, there were fresh tender leaves. We do cook the leaves when ever we have fresh supplies at home. This is a simple stir fry which is very tasty too. Now after reading all the nutrient info on the leaves, there is a new found love for that. I have reserved some mature seeds for the next season, mainly for the fresh leaves.

Have a look at the leaves

The leaves appear in three's

Separate the leaves from the stalk before chopping.
Washed and finely chopped cow pea leaves - 3 cup

moong dal - 1/4 cup

turmeric powder - 1/4 tspn

salt
green chilly - 2

fresh grated coconut - 2 tblspn

Seasoning

oil

mustard seeds

red chilly - 1 no broken

Pressure cook the chopped leaves, moong dal with turmeric and salt. Add about 1/2 cup of water for the dal to cook. The leaves are not the soft kind, so will not turn mushy on pressure cooking.

Heat a kadai and do the seasoning. Add the cooked leaves and dal (Drain the excess water). Grind coconut and chillies together. Stir in the ground paste. Cook for a minute or two. The leaves after cooking will not turn very soft. Serve as side for rice with sambhar/morkootan.