Kitchen and Bath Mart, a design firm in Palatine, IL, was commissioned by clients in Long Grove, IL, to design a transitional-style kitchen with clean and simple lines that would not only be sophisticated, but practical as well. One of the main goals of the project was to transport the beauty of the outdoors inside. Susan Bertram, a designer at the company, accomplished this using the natural look of Vicostone Statuario for the kitchen countertops.

“The client’s choice was a white and gray natural stone where functionality, durability and low maintenance were also a very high priority,” said Bertram. “We first looked for a suitable natural white stone. After some searching, they realized that they wanted the natural stone to look 10 years from now as it did when it was first installed. They knew they would not be happy with the natural patina a marble or natural quartzite would take on over time. We were already using a super white granite in some of the bathrooms which, without repeating what we did in the bathrooms, did not leave many, suitable natural options. We were faced with finding a durable, white, natural-looking countertop material other than a natural stone.”

To find the appropriate material to meet the design objective for the kitchen countertop, Bertram considered many manmade quartz surfacing products — and even considered a porcelain or glass countertop. She studied many samples before ultimately deciding on Vicostone’s Statuario fabricated by Old World Stone in Huntley, IL.

The biggest challenge Bertram faced in regard to this project was finding a low-maintenance, white — not cream — with a little bit of gray marble-looking countertop material. “We overcame this challenge by looking outside of our mainstay countertop resources and found Vicostone, a new quartz manufacturer, that had just introduced some new designs that seemed to fit the requirements,” she said. “When the client was able to actually look at the Vicostone Statuario slab in the local warehouse, the search was over and they were thrilled with the option.”

The polished quartz countertop was fabricated into three pieces — a center island, a main cook space and a microwave station. The island measures 114 x 43 inches with a radius curved side, while the main cook space is 153 x 28 inches and the microwave station is 68 x 23 inches with straight edges and ¼-inch radius corners. 

Ultimately, the designer’s hard work and diligence on the kitchen countertops paid off. “The clients are thrilled with the natural-looking low-maintenance Vicostone Statuario countertops, and the entire remodeling project,” said Bertram.