In this episode of Abide, a podcast that delves into the world of design build, Nicole interviews Mitchell Mcelroy, a knowledgeable stone guru from Alabama Stone Works in Birmingham, Alabama. The conversation revolves around countertops, specifically exploring the popular stones for kitchen remodels, the differences between marble and quartz, and factors to consider when choosing the right stone for a bathroom or kitchen. Mitchell shares his insights on the variety of stones available and the different price points, emphasizing the importance of understanding stone characteristics and debunking misconceptions. Throughout the interview, Mitchell’s passion for the industry and commitment to delivering custom, high-quality work shine through.
Nicole:
Welcome to Abide, a podcast that takes a behind the scenes look at the world of design build. Today we are going to be talking about countertops – one of my absolute favorite parts about a remodel. The dramatic difference stone can make in a room is really unpredictable. And that’s why I love it. It can soften, excite, or bring everything together like no other singular element, in my opinion.
Today our guest is Mitchell Mcelroy with Alabama Stone Works in Birmingham, Alabama. He is our go-to stone guru with an amazing amount of knowledge and insight on not just what the materials are comprised of but what is best suited for every taste and room.
Welcome, Mitchell.
Mitchell:
Thank you. Appreciate you having me.
Nicole:
Absolutely. First, start and tell us a little bit about yourself and kind of how you got into this industry?
Mitchell:
Yeah, so I have a construction background. I started off as an apprentice in the remodeling world when I was 13 and learned it as a trade. That led me 25 years later, roughly, to getting here. These guys at Alabama Stone Works were actually one of my subcontractors when I was contracting. So, that led me into working with them.
The stone industry is kind of weird. It sucks you in and you wouldn’t think that. And it doesn’t let you go because it’s a lot of fun. There’s a lot of custom side to all of this. And there’s a lot of knowledge that can be had. So, 25 years in the construction industry and I found a specific part of it that I really enjoy.
Nicole:
Awesome. It’s very evident when we come and see you, your passion.
Mitchell:
Mitchell Mcelroy, Alabama Stone Works
Good.
Nicole:
Well, let’s start. What are the most popular stones for kitchen remodels right now?
Mitchell:
So, I would say right now we are seeing a significant uptick in quartz products being used and it’s not just in kitchens but sort of across the board. We’re seeing it in bathrooms and we’re seeing it … There are manufacturers coming out with outdoor kitchen compatible quartz. So, I would say right this second the popularity of quartz is on the rise. In our market and in our sort of corner of the country we still see a ton of marble going in kitchens, which I know is on a lot of people’s no-no list. But we still do a lot of it. And I think if expectations are set correctly it’s fine. At Alabama Stone Works we probably still do almost as much marble as anything else. But we see a significant uptick in quartz products right now.
Nicole:
Okay, well that leads us to a great question – things to consider before choosing the stone that you use either in a bathroom or a kitchen?
Mitchell:
That is a great question. I would say the first thing you need to consider is are you, as a homeowner, smart enough – or not smart enough – maybe well versed enough to understand the design aspect of everything? I always recommend tagging in a designer that is good to work along with you, if you’re not super confident in what’s going on.
When you are in the initial stages of figuring all of this stuff out the questions you need to start asking yourself are, “What is the overall design aesthetic that you’re going for?” And, “How do you use the space that you’re going to be putting the stone in?”
If you cook all of the time and you’re super OCD about how your kitchen looks when you’re done with everything and you don’t like a spot appearing here or there, then marble is probably not going to be the option for you. If you cook a lot, but love the patina of something that looks like it’s been lived in, then you’re okay putting marble in there. That would be the way to go. If you’re not then quartz is probably going to be the way to go.
And there are other options. There’s quartzites and soap stone. There’s other things that you can put in there, but that’s the first thing. “What is my design aesthetic that I’m going for?” And then, “How do I use the space that I’m working in?”
Nicole:
Okay. So, of course, I know the differences but just marble versus quartz. Just off the cuff. What are the main differences between marble and quartz?
Mitchell:
All right. So, the first main difference is obviously marble is Mother Nature made and quartz is a manufactured stone product. Industry-wide, quartz is supposed to be 93% stone and then 7% dye and resin. They produce these slabs for us. So, it’s super consistent throughout the slab. The design is super consistent.
Whereas marble is put together by Mother Nature. So, it’s going to have a lot of variations in it. Marble will have some fissures. It will have some natural inconsistencies in the stone. So, there is a structural side of it that you have to pay attention to. The other big thing is marble is going to be porous. It’s going to have a high calcium content. So, it’s going to want to etch. Most quartz products are not going to do either one of those things.
So, quartz is typically non porous. Quartz is not going to want to etch. I mean, it will. It will stain as well. But you’ve got to pay attention to it. So, if you leave a lemon sitting on your quartz countertops for a week and come back chances are you’re going to have a bit of an etch there.
So, those are the off the cuff big differences.
Nicole:
Perfect. Let’s talk about the cost differences on different materials. Let’s maybe start with granite or where would you start?
Mitchell:
Yeah. Where I generally start with everybody is I tell them that granite and marble and quartz … really even quartzite and soap stone … everything crosses up in what we consider sort of the mid price point. So, you will find options of all of those categories. You should be able to find options of all those categories in the $60-90 square foot range, installed. So, that should be fabricated and installed. That’s options of all of those categories that should fit a budget.
All in all, granite is going to have more options in a lower tier price point. So, generally speaking, in the, say, $40-50 per foot range you’re going to have more options for granite there. Quartz will have some lower price point options. The most expensive stone that I’m aware of, until you get into the semi precious type stuff, marble is going to have more of those options that are more expensive.
So, people always say, “Well, I heard marble is more expensive.” That’s not entirely true. As a category you will just have more options in marble that are more expensive. Quartzite is going to be in that upper mid to higher end price point. It’s a more dense stone. It takes us longer to fabricate all those kinds of things. So, there are options out there that split categories price-wise.
Nicole:
Mm hmm (Affirmative). I didn’t prepare you for this, but a lot of questions I get are, “What is the difference between quartz and quartzite?”
Mitchell:
That’s a great question. And it really should be answered early on. So, the big difference again between quartz and quartzite is the same as quartz and marble. One is a manufactured stone product. So, quartz is a manufactured stone product, same as with the marble comparison. Quartzite comes straight out of the ground. So, that’s the big things.
Quartzite has a tendency as a category to look a little more like a marble. So, it will have a lot more of the linear veined movement to it. Whereas your quartz products they’re going to be across the board because they’re manufactured. The quartzites are going to look like a marble, but act like a granite. So, it’s really, really dense; really, really hard. It still has porosity to it, like a marble does. It’s still susceptible to etching, depending on the type of stone.
There are also sort of sub categories of quartzites. So, there are some that are much more dense and better put together than others. There are some we call “thirsty quartzites” that you have to pay attention to from a moisture absorption rate. So, there’s sub categories. It’s important when you’re dealing with a fabricator of your stone products to feel comfortable that they know what it is that they’re doing because all of those types of stone have to be treated and handled a different way during production and also install and making sure expectations are set correctly.
So, making sure that somebody that’s not just going, “Yeah, we can do whatever, whenever,” is important.
Nicole:
Perfect. Where do the different stones come from?
Mitchell:
All over the world. So, in our neck of the woods we have a marble that is quarried in Sylacauga, Alabama. It’s the only place that it is from. We have a limestone that comes out of Russellville, Alabama. So, throughout the United States there are materials that come from different pockets. There’s marble that comes from out West. There’s soapstone that comes from the Northeast. Globally speaking, we get stone from India, Brazil, Turkey, Spain, Italy. So, it just depends on the type of stone.
I would say a lot of your granite’s are going to come out of Brazil. So, granites and quartzites come from Brazil. A lot of them. Probably the majority of them. That’s maybe a little bit of a step out. Most of the marbles are going to come out of the same region of Italy. So, all in all that would be it. Brazil and Italy are probably the two biggest ones. There were a lot of Chinese granites that were on the market for a long time. Then you had trade embargos and all that kind of stuff. So, it’s not quite as prevalent right this second.
Nicole:
Gotcha. Perfect. What sets your company apart from other fabricators?
Mitchell:
I would say the first thing that sets us apart is our attention to detail and our ability to communicate and our desire to do things that are fun and different. We, as a goal, are trying to sort of break the mold of a company that is comfortable doing high end, very custom, off the wall kind of things. But also still being able to produce a simple or simplistic project efficiently and communicated well throughout the whole thing.
They say you’re not really supposed to be able to be a custom fabricator and more of a volume fabricator or commercial or any of those kind of things. We feel like we have a good shot to be able to do that. So, I would say that’s it. I would say our desire to want to be as good as we can in all those categories; our willingness to do the things that we do; our attention to detail; our ability to communicate.
Nicole:
I will say the plus of working with you guys, as opposed to other fabricators we’ve worked with in the past, is you never tell me “no.” You just figure out how to do it. And I love that. Because you
are producing in volume for us and for other contractors but you also can really get into custom and “Hey, I want it to look like this,” crazy designer ideas. So, I do appreciate that.
Mitchell:
Yep! It’s fun.
Nicole:
Well, things people might want to know that they haven’t thought of before?
Mitchell:
Oh man, okay. So, here’s one thing that they probably want to know but they’ve never thought of. Google can really help you out but it can also be your worst enemy. Be careful of assuming that because you’ve seen something online then that means you really know the full story of it.
As you’re researching it, in my opinion, that is the best first step. So, I always tell people when they call and they don’t have a designer that’s steering them, I say, “Okay, what research have you done?” Because a lot of times I am having to erase what they think they might know about
- So, when you’re getting on Pinterest and you’re getting on Google and you’re doing all those kinds of things – understand that one negative about the stone industry is there’s a lot of games that have been played. I think we’re seeing a lot more clarity in our industry right now. But throughout the last decade or so there’s a lot of games that have been played and people private label material, which is where they buy in bulk and then they call it something different so that they can make it like they have something special.
So, it can really get confusing and frustrating for a lot of people. I have a lot of clientele that gets frustrated because they’re looking for a specific color and they put in this color and they look for random black and they’ve got pictures that show up of a black granite or a white marble with a black vein in it. There’s all these things that are really tough to wade through and they get frustrated.
So, understand that what you’re seeing may not always be what you’re getting or what you’re after even. So, find a good outlet of somebody that knows what they’re doing to help with that.
Nicole:
Perfect. Yeah, I definitely would second that. What are some steps to contact you personally?
Mitchell:
The best way to contact me is through email: mmcelroy@alabamastoneworks.com. We don’t have a website right this second. We took the website down because we didn’t feel like it really suited our company right at this second. So, we are rebuilding that. You can find us on Facebook and you can find us on Instagram. The office number is listed on there. I’d rattle it off right now but I don’t actually know it off the top of my head either.
Nicole:
That’s all right. I’ll list it below for this podcast. Well, thank you, Mitchell, for all your insight and expertise. Thank you for all you do for us at ASW and for our clients. We really appreciate you.
Mitchell:
You’re very welcome.
Nicole:
So, that’s everything for this episode. Thank you so much for joining us. We hope you have learned something new and helpful. Have a great day.