Marble Countertops in El Paso

Beautiful natural stone, built for your home. Brazilian-imported marble slabs hand-picked at our Gateway Blvd E showroom. COMAF has been serving El Paso since 1985. Call (915) 345-3774 for a free estimate.

Why El Paso Homeowners Choose Marble Countertops

This is a question we hear all the time. Visitors to our Gateway Blvd E showroom run their hand along a marble slab, and you can see the connection. It's not only aesthetics; marble countertops can solve practical challenges for area residents.

Heat is first on that list. The weather in El Paso in the summer months can reach well above 100 degrees, and much of that gets absorbed by your kitchen throughout the day. Marble is naturally cool, ready for you to knead pastry on, place grocery bags on, or prepare a meal following a long day in the sun. It won't hold heat the way some others will, which pastry chefs and home cooks alike appreciate.

Light is next. Many homes in the Westside and Upper Valley feature an open concept layout and big windows. Marble reflects natural light throughout the space, brightening and opening the kitchen space when space is at a premium.

In the decades since our company opened in 1985 as a family-owned fabrication business, we have seen homeowners here look for genuine long-term value rather than passing fads. Marble has long been a common building material. According to the Marble Institute of America, natural marble is still among the world's favorite stone materials in residential applications, so it certainly has a solid reputation.

Also, we select our marble slabs directly from Brazil, so you are selecting stone you have selected personally. You can view the actual slabs that will be installed into your kitchen or bathroom, and no other slab in the world has the exact same pattern.

We also hear homeowners say that they want something that will look good as the years go by. The surface gains a warm, rich glow with time, and while some call that aging, our customers prefer to think of it as improvement. Marble stands up extremely well in the relatively dry El Paso climate, so it will not succumb to the type of water damage a marble surface could get on the east or west coast.

Still, the main reason? People in El Paso take great pride in their homes. A marble countertop is not merely a piece of a room's design, it is the focal point of your kitchen and a family gathering space. We have been installing marble countertops for homes throughout the Borderland for nearly forty years, and it never gets old.

Marble Varieties Available for Kitchen and Bath Projects

Marble is not one-size-fits-all. When it arrives at our facility on Gateway Blvd E, each slab has a unique character that makes selecting the right marble countertop so exciting for El Paso homeowners. The selection of marble countertops at Marble Countertops in El Paso comes directly from Brazil, so each slab is one of a kind.

One of the first types homeowners ask about is Calacatta marble. Thick gray lines over an off-white background. It makes an impression and looks great in photographs. It makes your basic kitchen look like a show piece.

What we tell people is, "Calacatta is for if you want the countertops to be the main focus of the room. If you already have busy cabinets or a tiled backsplash, a softer stone might be a better option." Carrara, then, is that softer, more understated choice. It has softer gray tones, thinner veining, and a more understated appearance. It's the type of stone we install in bathrooms or on vanity tops frequently because it works well with almost any tile, doesn't overwhelm smaller rooms, and has that timeless marble aesthetic, without taking center stage. Marble customers in guest baths are choosing Carrara 90 percent of the time.

There are also options that many consumers haven't considered, until visiting us:

• Emperador marble, which offers warm brown tones well suited to a Southwestern or desert style home
• Crema Marfil, which offers a beige-cream color perfect for transitional kitchens throughout the Borderland
• Statuario marble, which, like Calacatta marble, is rarer and has larger veins, with a more high-contrast appearance

As a family-owned fabricator in El Paso, our business has been in operation since 1985, and, we've seen many design trends come and go, over the past three decades. What has remained constant, is the homeowners on El Paso's Eastside and Upper Valley neighborhoods choosing natural stone with true depth and color. Marble is often the stone of choice, as it offers all of the above. For more information, you can look at real marble countertops, like Trinity Marble's kitchen and bath portfolio of completed projects by El Paso professionals, to see how the different options look in completed rooms.

Need guidance on selecting the right kind of marble for your installation? We invite you to stop by the showroom to view the slabs in person. Photos on your screen will not do justice to how the light hits the material.

Marble Countertop Installation: The Installation Process Explained

We have installed marble in homes in the El Paso metro since 1985, and our process has remained unchanged since then. Nothing is short-changed. We'll discuss each phase, and what to expect, once you have selected your marble slab.

• Slab Selection: We will help you select your marble, in our showroom. We invite you to choose the specific piece of stone you would like to be installed in your home, not a generic sample, and our stone is sourced from Brazilian quarries and chosen directly by us. We make every effort to maintain color consistency among all of the pieces.
• Templating: a templating service for all projects. Our team will come to your home and measure the countertop in its entirety. Measurements will be taken down to the millimeter, and will include measurements of cuts, corners, and any undermount, drop-in, etc., countertops.
• Fabrication: All countertops are fabricated in our shop using a computer-numerical control, or CNC, machine. Edge profiles are finished, sink cutouts are polished to a smooth, nonporous finish, and seams are planned to be placed at the most inconspicuous areas. The time it will take for fabrication to be completed varies with the layout, but usually is just a few days.
• Prep: On installation day, we remove your current countertops and check to the new countertops will work with the existing cabinets and appliances. If any changes need to be made to the cabinets, or if you want an appliance changed to a more modern design, we can make those changes right then and there.
• Dry fit and final install. We dry fit each section first, placing it down temporarily without glue. Once we confirm the layout is perfect, we glue the marble down, install the sink and plumbing connections, and seal every single seam.
• Sealing and walkthrough. We apply penetrating sealer to the marble and walk the customer through the care instructions before leaving.

Nine times out of ten, an entire install is done in one day. Sometimes larger kitchen countertops in the Kern Place and Sunset Heights neighborhoods, or those with more seams, could take a second day, although that is usually not the case.

Also something that most Borderland marble buyers aren't aware of is that marble is softer than granite and quartzite, so marble fabrication requires more care and precision. If a piece of marble has been cut or handled too roughly, it can develop cracks, usually at the corners. Because of that, we will never have an outside company do your installation. We are a locally owned and operated company, and that means we have a tight-knit group of craftsmen who have been doing this work since our business opened, nearly 40 years ago. The entire process falls under our roof, which means we control every aspect, from the very first step to the final seal.

How to Care for Marble Countertops When Your Water is Hard

One of the most common questions that we get every day is this: "Won't hard water ruin my marble countertops?" To be truthful, yes, hard water can stain. But with the right type of care, you can still enjoy marble countertops for years to come.

We get lots of water in El Paso, and our water is especially hard. Our tap water has a lot of minerals, calcium and magnesium in particular. Those minerals in the water can leave white marks, and can stain just about any type of surface. Marble is porous, which means that if you let water stand and dry on it, the minerals in the water can get into the marble and leave a stain. This can be common to see on marble countertops, particularly in the homes along the Eastside, as we frequently see mineral buildup around kitchen sinks and vanities where water gets splashed daily.

How To Maintain Your Countertops

Maintaining a clean, stain-free countertop with marble in the Borderland doesn't require anything fancy. It requires attention. Here is what we suggest to every customer who reaches out to us through the phone, (915) 345-3774, or walks into our showroom:

• Dry your countertop after each use by hand; don't let it air dry
• Use a pH-neutral cleaner on your marble surfaces, rather than household products with acidic or citrus properties, like vinegar
• Get a quality sealer on your countertops every 12 to 18 months, depending on how frequently you use the marble
• Have a clean microfiber cloth handy by the sink to quickly wipe it down at the end of the day

That is pretty much it. The reason why nine times out of ten mineral stains form on marble is that people either use the wrong type of cleaner or they don't seal it often enough. When you get a quality sealer on your marble, it creates a seal that gives you more time to get moisture or water away from the stone before it gets damaged.

Also, an interesting thing about Marble countertops in El Paso is that we don't have high-humidity in our environment like many other places do. In fact, the very opposite is true, we live in a high desert climate. This is beneficial because, generally speaking, water tends to stay on a marble countertop and evaporate more quickly in drier environments compared to other areas. This is good for your marble countertop.

However, once you start neglecting the schedule for sealing, then you're going to start to see the stains accumulate around the water spigot and you may notice dull spots on the countertop within a year. We have restored marble countertops where the customer had not sealed in three or four years. The restoration itself was straightforward and easy to do, but it was more expensive than if the homeowner would have sealed them regularly all along. The COMAF family business has been serving the El Paso area since 1985, educating homeowners about how marble countertops will react in our climate. Because we have direct access to our quarries in Brazil and see each raw block before it makes its way to the Borderland region, how your water will affect the stone. If you have questions about how best to care for your marble, we'd be happy to help you at (915) 345-3774.

Marble vs. Other Countertop Materials, Making the Right Choice

This is the question we get every single day. People walk into our showroom already confused, after having read a dozen different internet articles, and they can barely tell the difference between granite, quartz, quartzite, and marble. Here is the simple answer.

Marble countertops offer something the other stone types cannot, which is that distinctive depth and veining; that glow when light hits the surface. When people enter a home with marble countertops, they feel it. Granite countertops are hard and granular; they have many colors and variations. They are ideal for families who want a hard, durable kitchen top. Quartz countertops are manufactured and come in endless color combinations, usually with a lower price tag. Quartzite countertops offer a more natural alternative to quartz in that they come from the earth, but they also require much less maintenance. We fabricate and install all of these options at our shop in El Paso.

One thing that marble offers that other stones do not is that, over time, a marble countertop gains a "patina."

Sounds like a con? Not at all! If you've had conversations with other marble customers and asked them if they wish they'd chosen a different material, the answer almost always will be the same as ours: the patina that forms on marble is something people like and appreciate. And nine times out of 10, our customers who choose marble over the other materials tell us they want their kitchen or bathroom to feel cozy; not sterile.

What Sets the Stone Types Apart?

Here is a breakdown of the pros and cons of using marble in your home:

• Marble is softer than both granite and quartzite and will etch (from food acids) and scratch more easily.
• Quartz won't etch, but can't replicate the depth of veining that marble has.
• Granite will handle heat better, although marble countertops need proper care (with trivets) just to get by.
• Quartzite will look the most like marble but will be harder; however, it usually costs more.

Because we are family owned and have been serving the El Paso community since 1985, we will give you our honest opinion. If your lifestyle and space simply call for something other than marble (which happens a lot in the Kern Place and Upper Valley neighborhoods, for example), we'll be happy to help you find the best stone for you.

The question then becomes: do you care about beauty, and will you take care of it? For many homeowners, marble is worth it. Visit our shop on Gateway Blvd E, or call us to see all the slab options in person and choose the countertop for your home!

Explore marble by room: Kitchen Marble Countertops · Bathroom Marble Countertops · All Countertop Materials

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about marble countertops services in El Paso

Ready to Get Started?

Call now for a free estimate. Call (915) 345-3774 today.