??? GRANITE or MARBLE ???

[ThisOldGarageNJ]

Hi All,

I will have room in the front of my oven for a small maybe 16 inch shelf. Considering it will be outside, I am thinking granite, Marble, Polished Concrete.
Does anyone have any suggestion if granite or marble would be better ? I am waiting for my concrete grinder/polisher to arrive, I will also try that, it looks like you can make a nice coutertop, (If what they are saying is really true)

Looking forward to you comments/suggestions,,,,,

Thanks
Mark

[mfiore]

Hey, Mark. I have no opinions yet, just further questions. Do you refer to 16 inches wide or deep? I'd love to see what the polished concrete could achieve here. Would you pour in place and polish, or make the counter in separate forms and lay it in later? How large of a cantilever do you plan?

Looking forward to your progress.

[dmun]

The nice thing about granite exterior shelves is that the material in hard and stain resistant. Marble or terrazzo are porous and could stain. That said, I have a standard slate step as the shelf in front of my oven, and staining doesn't seem to be a problem. Even the occasional grease stain from grilling seems to go away in a rain cycle or two.

Keep us posted on the stone polishing, what you bought, equipment, technique, how it works.

[Humdis]

A drawback on Granite is how hot it gets. Mine gets upwards of 350 degrees neer the oven and 200 at the front. I thought about taking it out because of it but I like the way it looks. I have had no problems putting anything coming out of the oven on it, I just make sure I have my long gloves on as it is too hot to touch without getting burned. Also nothing has stained it, it is dark grey in color so if anything did stain it would be hard to tell.
David

[ThisOldGarageNJ]

Mike & Dmun, to answer your questions, the shelf is about 16 inches deep. I would pour an additional "block" of concrete in front of oven, may have to support it with more block.

I ordered a very inexpensive grinder kit off ebay, It was 79.00 still waiting for it, the grinder did gave the important features, GFI plug and a water feed for the garden hose on the grinder. Comes with 7 discs and 1 velcro backer, also variable speed, from what i have read so far you must grind at 3-4000 rpm. When i get it i am gonna try it out on the base pad in front of the oven to see how it does.

David, thanks for the comments on the granite i think i will stay away from it for now, if the concrete doesnt work out I will go with the marble as i have a friend with a very good connection there.

If you go to youtube or ebay and search concrete grinder polisher you come up with some cool videos and if it really looks like the video it will be very cool

*****also had my first fire last night***** no cracks, everything was excellent... oven was still 165 degrees at 5 am and i had no door on it all night.....

In the last picture thats the frame i made for the dome burning out...

[SpringJim]

Originally Posted by Humdis

A drawback on Granite is how hot it gets. Mine gets upwards of 350 degrees neer the oven and 200 at the front. I thought about taking it out because of it but I like the way it looks. I have had no problems putting anything coming out of the oven on it, I just make sure I have my long gloves on as it is too hot to touch without getting burned. Also nothing has stained it, it is dark grey in color so if anything did stain it would be hard to tell.
David

David, do you use a door? Is the heat coming from an open fire?

I like granite over marble for any functional applications.

the BenjaMia used an old granite step (thick and wide) but has not been tested with a few days of firing so I can't speak to it getting too hot yet.

[Humdis]

I do not use a door execpt when cooking bread.
David