Marble Slabs: Varieties, Veining, Finishes, Sizes and How to Choose

A marble slab is a single sheet of marble cut from a quarried block, large enough to make a countertop, an island or a shower wall in one or two pieces. Our marble slabs come in 3/4 inch (2 cm) and 1 1/4 inch (3 cm), split almost evenly, and the typical slab across batches is about 70 by 116 inches. Each slab is sold on its own, chosen by batch, with names such as Calacatta, Carrara, Statuario, Breccia and Crema Marfil. This guide covers the marble varieties, how veining and cutting work, finishes, thickness, real slab sizes, how many slabs a project needs and what goes into a quote, then compares marble with the other stones we sell as slabs. Browse everything in our marble slab collection and the wider stone slab collection.

Marble slabs at a glance

Question	Answer for our marble slabs
How thick?	3/4 inch (2 cm) or 1 1/4 inch (3 cm): 191 and 193 of our marble slabs
How big?	Random sizes; a median of about 70 x 116 inches across batches, up to about 141 inches long
Which finishes?	Polished on 264 of 384, honed on 91, plus leathered, brushed, textured and antiqued
Which colors?	White on 175, then gray, beige, green, black, brown, red, blue and yellow
Which names?	Calacatta, Carrara, Statuario, Arabescato, Breccia, Bardiglio, Crema Marfil, Botticino, Emperador and more
How sold?	By the slab, chosen by batch, priced per project through a quote request

Which marble for which project

Short answers, based on the uses and sizes listed on our marble slab pages:

• Kitchen island: a 3 cm marble with a batch long enough for the top. Calacatta has the most, with 44 slabs whose batches reach 120 inches or more, followed by Statuario, Breccia and the Rosso marbles.
• Kitchen counters: every variety below is listed for countertops on most or all of its slabs; choose by look, then check the thickness.
• Shower walls: Statuario (10 of 11 slabs), the Rosso marbles (7 of 7), Bardiglio and Crema Marfil are all listed for shower walls on almost every slab, and 2 cm is offered in each.
• Bathroom vanity: all of our marble is listed for bathrooms; for a slim 3/4 inch edge, the Verde, black, Statuario and Breccia marbles each have seven or more 2 cm slabs.
• Fireplace or feature wall: the Rosso, Verde, Statuario and Breccia marbles have the highest share listed for living areas.

Marble	Slabs	Listed for countertops	Listed for shower walls	Listed for living areas	3 cm / 2 cm	Slabs with a batch 120 in or longer
Calacatta	97	91	65	61	50 / 47	44
Carrara	18	17	12	4	11 / 7	2
Statuario and Statuary	11	11	10	8	4 / 7	5
Breccia	10	10	7	7	3 / 7	4
Rosso marbles	7	7	7	6	1 / 6	4
Verde marbles	11	11	7	8	3 / 8
Black marbles	15	15	12	8	7 / 8	1
Botticino	5	5	4	3	5 / 0
Bardiglio	4	4	4	2	2 / 2	1
Crema Marfil	3	3	3	1	1 / 2

What marble is

Marble is a metamorphic stone: limestone or dolomite that recrystallized under heat and pressure into interlocking crystals of calcite or dolomite. The veins are other minerals that moved through the stone as it formed, which is why no two slabs match. Several marble names come from the regions where the stone is known to be quarried: Carrara, Calacatta, Statuario, Arabescato and Bardiglio from the Apuan Alps in Italy, Crema Marfil, Emperador and Negro Marquina from Spain, Thassos from Greece. Our product pages describe each slab by its name, color, finish and thickness; they do not state a quarry of origin.

What a marble slab is, and how it differs from tile

Tile is stone or porcelain cut into small, repeatable pieces set with grout. A slab is the whole face of the block, so the veining runs from one end to the other without a joint. On a countertop, an island with waterfall ends or a shower wall, the pattern stays one continuous surface. Every block is different, and so is every slab cut from it, which is why each one is measured, photographed and listed by batch.

Marble slab varieties

Marble names describe a look: the ground color and the kind of veining. Calacatta has the most slabs in our range, 97, followed by Carrara with 18. The table lists the main varieties and what sets each apart.

Marble	Ground	Veining or pattern	Browse or read
Calacatta	White	Bold veins in gray or gold; Calacatta Viola in burgundy and purple	Calacatta marble slabs
Carrara	Light gray to white	Soft, fine gray veining	Carrara marble slabs
Statuario and Statuary	Bright white	Dramatic gray veins, larger and darker than Carrara	White marble slabs
Breccia	White, brown or multicolor	Broken fragments of stone outlined by veins	Marble slabs
Bardiglio	Blue-gray	White and gray streaks across the slab	Gray slabs
Arabescato Orobico	Dark gray-brown	Dense wavy bands	Marble slabs
Crema Marfil and Botticino	Cream to beige	Even color with fine light veins	Beige marble slabs
Emperador	Brown	Lighter veins and fine fractures	Brown slabs
Rosso Levanto	Dark red, green and black	Bold white veins	Red slabs
Verde marbles	Deep green	Gold, white or lighter green veins	Green slabs
Black marbles, such as Negro Marquina	Black	White or gold veins	Black marble slabs

White marbles with gray and gold veins

Calacatta, Carrara and Statuario are close in look and easy to confuse. Carrara has a light gray ground and fine, soft veining. Statuario is brighter white with larger, darker gray veins. Calacatta is white with the boldest veins, in gray or gold, and Calacatta Viola adds burgundy and purple. Thassos White is the plainest of the whites, with almost no veining. Each has its own guide: Calacatta marble slabs and Carrara marble slabs, and all are in white marble slabs.

Breccia, Bardiglio and patterned marbles

Breccia marbles are made of broken fragments of older stone, cemented together, so the slab shows angular pieces outlined by veins: Breccia Capraia in white and gray, Breccia di Arzo in brown, red and gold. Bardiglio is a blue-gray marble with white streaks across the slab.

Cream, brown, red and green marbles

Crema Marfil and Botticino are cream to beige with an even color and fine light veins. Emperador is brown with lighter veining. Rosso Levanto is dark red and green with bold white veins, and the Verde marbles, such as Verde Speranza, are deep green with gold and white. For dark kitchens and bars, see black marble countertops.

Vein cut, cross cut and matching slabs

How a block is cut, and how consecutive slabs are laid out, changes the pattern you see as much as the stone does. In marble, a vein cut shows the stone's layers as long lines, as on Eramosa Vein Cut and Silverado Vein Cut marble; a slab cut across the block shows the veins as clouds and branches instead.

Term	What it means
Vein cut	The block is cut along its layers, so the slab shows long, parallel lines. Examples in our range: Eramosa Vein Cut and Silverado Vein Cut marble, Ivory Vein Cut and Roman Travertine Vein Cut.
Cross cut	The block is cut across its layers, so the slab shows a cloudy, flowing pattern instead of stripes.
Bookmatch	Two consecutive slabs, one flipped, so the veining mirrors at the seam like facing pages.
Slip match	Consecutive slabs set side by side without flipping, so the pattern repeats along a wall.
Quarter match	Four consecutive pieces mirrored both ways, so the veining meets at a center point.
Diamond match	Four pieces cut and turned so the veins form a diamond or X at the center.

Bookmatching and the other matched layouts need consecutive slabs from the same batch, in sequence, so they depend on what a batch holds. It is a question to raise in your quote request, with the batch list open.

Marble slab finishes

Polished is the finish on 264 of our 384 marble slabs and honed on 91; the rest are leathered, brushed, textured or antiqued. Below, Silver Shadow is shown polished and honed, and Botticino Semiclassico leathered.

Finish	Surface	Look	Browse
Polished	Ground and buffed to a gloss	Deepest color, sharpest veining	Polished slabs
Honed	Ground smooth, not buffed	Matte to soft sheen, color a shade lighter	Honed slabs
Leathered	Honed, then brushed so the grain stays slightly raised	Soft sheen with a texture you can feel	Leathered slabs
Brushed and textured	Worked with brushes or tools for a stronger texture	Low sheen, closer to a natural stone face	Textured slabs

Marble in polished and honed, side by side, is in polished, honed and leathered stone finishes.

Marble slab thickness and weight

Natural stone slabs come in 2 cm and 3 cm. The weights below are approximate, worked out from a typical stone density of about 2.7 grams per cubic centimeter; the slab counts are from our range.

Thickness	Metric	Approx. weight of marble, granite or quartzite	Our slabs at this thickness
3/4 inch	2 cm	About 11 lb per sq ft	191 marble, 21 quartzite, 9 onyx, 5 travertine, 7 limestone, 2 granite
1 1/4 inch	3 cm	About 17 lb per sq ft	193 marble, 156 quartzite, 65 granite, 15 limestone, 9 travertine, 5 soapstone
About 1/2 inch	12 mm	About 6 to 7 lb per sq ft	Sintered stone and porcelain

At those weights, a typical marble slab of about 56 sq ft weighs roughly 600 lb at 2 cm and 950 lb at 3 cm. Browse 3 cm slabs or 2 cm slabs, and see 2 cm vs 3 cm countertop slabs for where each fits.

Marble slab sizes

Every natural slab on our site is listed with its own size, by batch. Across our batches, the short side runs from about 30 to 82 inches and the long side from about 46 to 141 inches; half of them are 120 inches long or more.

Material	Typical slab in our batches, median (inches)	Typical area	Longest listed (inches)
Quartzite	77 x 127	About 68 sq ft	139
Granite	76 x 123	About 65 sq ft	137
Marble	70 x 116	About 56 sq ft	141
Travertine	62 x 117	About 50 sq ft	132
Limestone	69 x 108	About 52 sq ft	125
Onyx	67 x 115	About 53 sq ft	122
Sintered stone	63 x 125 (fixed)	About 55 sq ft	125
Porcelain	64 x 128 (fixed)	About 57 sq ft	128

How many slabs you need

Slab area is width times length divided by 144: a 70 by 116 inch marble slab is about 56 sq ft, a 77 by 127 inch quartzite about 68 sq ft. Area alone does not tell you the count, though. Each piece of the project, every run of counter, the island top, a full height backsplash, has to fit inside one slab's width and length, or be split at a seam. So list each piece with its size, and compare those sizes with the slab sizes in the batch table.

• An island top of 120 by 48 inches needs a slab at least 120 inches long to be one piece. About half of all our slab batches qualify, and about a third of our marble batches, 185 of 539.
• Two runs of counter at 25.5 inches deep can come out of one slab side by side, since two 25.5 inch strips fit in a slab 51 inches or wider.
• A matching backsplash in the same stone adds its own pieces, and running the vein from counter to wall takes slabs from the same batch.

Your fabricator lays out the final cuts on the actual slabs. The quote request lets you list the approximate square footage of the project.

Edges and seams

Edge profile and seam placement are design choices you make with your fabricator. Thickness sets the starting point: a 3 cm slab shows 1 1/4 inches at the edge as cut, a 2 cm slab 3/4 inch.

Edge	Look
Eased	A square edge with slightly softened corners; shows the full slab thickness
Bullnose	The whole edge rounded
Bevel	A flat angle cut along the top corner
Ogee	A decorative S-shaped curve
Mitered	A strip joined to the front at 45 degrees, for a thicker-looking edge or a waterfall end

A seam is where two pieces of slab meet. With slabs from one batch, cut in sequence, the veining can continue across it; on a bookmatched layout, the seam is the center of the mirror.

Where each slab stone is listed for use

The table shows the share of our slabs of each material that are listed for each use on their product pages. Every slab page lists its own uses; check the exact slab before choosing.

Share of our slabs listed for	Countertops	Interior walls	Shower walls	Living areas	Outdoor
Marble	97%	99%	73%	56%	Under 1%
Quartzite	99%	98%	69%	58%	Under 1%
Granite	100%	100%	93%	31%
Onyx	100%	89%	89%	44%
Travertine	100%	100%	79%	50%
Limestone	100%	100%	68%	41%
Soapstone	100%	100%	100%	40%
Sintered stone	100%	89%	64%	7%
Porcelain	100%	100%		100%	100%

For ideas by room, see marble countertops, marble kitchen islands, waterfall kitchen islands, slab backsplash ideas, kitchen backsplash ideas, marble slab shower walls, master bathroom plans, bathroom vanity sizes and marble fireplace surrounds.

Lookbook

Marble by room

Island

Kitchen wall

Shower wall

Vanity

Feature wall

Marble compared with other slab stones

The short version for the three natural stones buyers compare for counters:

	Marble	Quartzite	Granite
Made of	Calcite or dolomite	Quartz	Quartz, feldspar, mica
Look	Veins and clouds, the widest color range	Veins or swirls	Crystal grain, speckled to flowing
Thickness in our range	193 at 3 cm, 191 at 2 cm	156 at 3 cm, 21 at 2 cm	65 at 3 cm, 2 at 2 cm
Typical slab, median	70 x 116 in	77 x 127 in	76 x 123 in
Read more	Quartzite vs marble	Quartzite slabs	Granite slabs

And the full list of stones we sell as slabs, with two engineered surfaces:

Material	What it is	Known for	Finishes in our range	Thickness in our range
Marble	Metamorphic stone of calcite or dolomite	Veining, depth of color, the widest range of names	Polished, honed, leathered, brushed, antiqued	2 cm and 3 cm
Quartzite	Sandstone turned to solid quartz	Marble-like veins or bold swirls on a quartz stone	Polished, honed, leathered, textured	Mostly 3 cm (156 of 177)
Granite	Igneous stone of quartz, feldspar and mica	Crystal grain, from speckled to flowing	Polished, honed, leathered, brushed, textured	3 cm (65 of 67)
Onyx	Banded calcite formed from mineral water	Bands of color and translucency in thin pieces	Polished, honed	2 cm
Travertine	Limestone formed by mineral springs	Natural holes and layers, filled or open	Polished, honed, leathered, filled	2 cm and 3 cm
Limestone	Sedimentary calcite stone	Even color, sometimes fossil marks	Mostly honed	2 cm and 3 cm
Soapstone	Talc-rich stone	Smooth, soft feel and dark gray to green-black color	Honed, antiqued	3 cm
Sintered stone	Mineral powders pressed and fired into a slab	Uniform look, fixed size, thin profile	Polished, matte, silk, natural	12 mm
Porcelain slab	Large-format porcelain panel	Uniform look, all listed for outdoor areas too	Lappato, matte, polished	10 to 12 mm
Engineered quartz (for comparison)	Crushed quartz bound with resin, made in repeatable patterns	Not a natural stone; we do not sell it as a slab

Read more in quartzite slabs, quartzite vs marble, granite slabs and onyx, travertine and limestone slabs, or browse quartzite, granite, onyx, travertine, limestone, soapstone, sintered stone and porcelain slabs.

Slab colors

Each color family has its own page across all slab stones.

Color family	Browse	Stones to look at
White	White slabs, white marble	Calacatta Gold, Statuario, Thassos White, White Mustang
Gray	Gray slabs	Bardiglio, Silver Shadow, Pietra Gray
Black	Black slabs	Negro Marquina, Nero Africano, Port Laurent, Absolute Black
Beige and cream	Beige slabs, beige marble	Crema Marfil, Botticino, Taj Mahal Supreme
Brown	Brown slabs	Emperador Scuro, Breccia di Arzo
Green	Green slabs	Verde Speranza, Alga Green, Vivid Green
Blue	Blue slabs	Tempest Blue, Azul Bahia, Palissandro Bluette
Red and pink	Red slabs	Rosso Levanto, Rosa Namibia
Yellow and gold	Yellow and gold slabs	Nembro Giallo, Artemis, Andes

Our Designers Choice slabs are a separate group that mixes marble, quartzite, granite and limestone, so you can browse by look across stone types.

What sets the price of a marble slab

Our slabs are priced per project, so there is no price on the page; the quote you receive covers the batches you selected. These are the things it depends on.

What changes a slab quote	Why
The stone	Each quarry and name has its own value; rarer colors and patterns are valued higher
Slab size	A larger slab has more stone and can cover a long island without a seam
Thickness	A 3 cm slab has about half again as much stone as a 2 cm slab of the same size
Finish	Leathered, brushed and textured surfaces take extra work at the factory
Batch and sequence	Consecutive slabs from one batch, needed for bookmatching or a large project, depend on what the batch holds
How many slabs	The quote is for the exact slabs you select
Delivery	Terms depend on where the slabs are and where they go, and are set out on each product page

Marble slabs for sale: batches and warehouses

A batch is a group of slabs cut from the same block, and the slabs in one batch look closest to each other. Each slab's product page has a batch table, with an inventory date, listing for every batch:

• the batch number and whether it is Available or Reserved,
• the slab size in inches and the square feet per slab,
• how many slabs it holds and the total square feet,
• the warehouse, and a photo of the batch itself.

Our slab batches are held in Fairfax, Virginia; Carlstadt, New Jersey; Pompano Beach, Florida; and Anaheim, California. A Reserved batch is already held for another project.

Seeing a slab before you choose

The batch photo is of the actual slabs in that batch, and it is the best guide to color and veining, though natural stone looks different under different light. If you want to see a batch in person at its warehouse, our slab yard locations above, or need more photos, say so in the message field of the request form along with the batch number. The same form can request a slab sample of the stone.

How to request a quote

1. Pick a stone from the marble slab collection, or by color, finish or thickness.
2. Select the batches you are interested in from the list of available slabs on the product page.
3. Send the request form. It asks whether you want a quote, a slab sample or both, the project type (residential or commercial), the project ZIP code, and, if you have them, your fabricator's name and the approximate square footage, plus a message.
4. Review the delivery terms on the product page, including the requirement for a licensed fabricator.

Marble slab FAQ

Where does marble come from?

Marble is quarried in many countries. Several of the best-documented names take their name from a region: Carrara, Calacatta and Statuario from the Apuan Alps of Tuscany in Italy, Crema Marfil and Emperador from Spain, Thassos from the Greek island of the same name. Our product pages identify each slab by name, color, finish and thickness.

Why does a slab look different from another slab of the same marble?

Each slab is cut from a different part of a block, or from a different block, so color and veining shift from one to the next. Slabs in the same batch come from one block and look the closest. That is why our product pages show a photo for every batch instead of a single sample image.

Can marble be used outdoors?

Our marble slabs are listed for interior use; only 3 of 384 are listed for outdoor areas. All of our porcelain slabs, by contrast, are listed for outdoor areas as well as interiors. Each product page lists the uses for that slab.

Do I need a fabricator for a marble slab?

Yes. Our slab delivery terms require a licensed fabricator, the company that measures your space, cuts the slab to size, shapes the edges and sets the pieces. The request form has an optional field for your fabricator's name, and the delivery requirements are on each product page.

Is marble or quartzite better for a kitchen?

Neither is better in every kitchen. Marble offers the widest choice of colors and veining in our range and comes in 2 cm and 3 cm in near-equal numbers. Quartzite is a quartz stone, harder at about 7 on the Mohs scale, and comes in larger slabs on average. Our quartzite vs marble guide compares them point by point.

Which edge profile suits a marble countertop?

Edge profile is a design choice, and any of them can be cut in marble. An eased edge keeps the slab's full thickness on show with a clean, square line; a bullnose or ogee gives a softer or more traditional line; a mitered edge makes a 2 cm slab look thicker or turns a waterfall end. Your fabricator can show samples of each.