Coloring your Countertop Seams

By: Ann Kent

While your choice of natural stone for your kitchen countertops, vanity top, or bathtub surround is certainly the most important design choice you will make in your kitchen or bathroom, you should not overlook the importance of your seams to ensure that your bathroom or kitchen looks perfectly thought out and tied together. Mr. Stone sells a variety of resin coloring pastes in ten different colors that can be used to tint the seams around your natural stone installations in your home to best complement your stone colors. You can either use the colors as is, or you can mix them together as if you would mix paint to create a perfect match for your space. The color you mix is the same as when it dries unlike many coloring products on the market.

The product is easy to use and you simply put the amount of adhesive you need for your project into a disposable cup and add small amounts of the colorant into the cup. You should start with lighter colors before adding the darker colors if you are mixing tints. Never add more than 5% coloring paste to the adhesive so it doesn’t detract from the strength of the adhesive. You should use the superior coloring paste with any adhesive formulation made by Superior Stone Products.

It is common knowledge that each slab of natural stone is unlike any other slab, so it is not surprising that you might need to mix colors of Superior Coloring Paste to create a color for your natural stone that brings out the colors within the stone and does not create harsh contrast to the natural beauty in the stone. Ivory Fantasy Granite, Silver Pearl Granite, and Bianco Antico Granite are popular stone options that should always be sourced from a reputable provider like Mr. Stone’s associated company, Marble.com. When you order a slab of Ivory Fantasy Granite from Marble.com, you are guaranteed a level of quality that you may not be able to match with other providers. Light colored stones like Ivory Fantasy Granite from marble.com will need a drastically different seam color than a dark stone like Silver pearl granite. White seams next to a dark granite will create a contrast that will clash with the rich look of dark-colored stone.

Part of the appeal of natural stone as opposed to tile kitchen countertops and bathtub surrounds is that it creates a seamless and clean look devoid of the lines of grout that clutter your sight lines. The cabinet seams similarly should blend in with the kitchen countertops so that they do not create a sharp contrast that conflicts with the clean look of a slab like Bianco Antico granite from Marble.com. 

As I mentioned above, since all slabs are different, once you select your slab, you should experiment with the resin colors to create the best match to complement the various colors within your stone. You may wish to bring out a specific color in the rich veins within your marble countertops or the unique color of speckling within your granite. The cabinet seam may not be something that you ever really thought of as being important, but the wrong color can clash with the otherwise flowing beauty of a broad installation of natural stone.

Mr. Stone always recommends sealing granite 1-2 times a year and marble up to 4 times a year to ensure maximum performance and to reduce the likelihood of damage to your natural stone. Daily use of AGM Natural Stone Cleaner will also add to the strength of your stone and prevent damage over time. AGM cleaner contains a small bit of sealant that will seal your stone each time you clean. While you can always clean with mild soap and water, AGM Daily cleaner provides that extra protection that might make the difference when protecting a high-traffic kitchen.