Carrara Bianco 12×12″ Honed Tile

Carrara Bianco 12×12″ Honed $8.00SF. These two lots are in stock as of Nov 20th 2014.

Again the difference between the Bianco CD grade and the Bianco ‘C’ grade is distinct with the whiter base and clarity of veining.  At this particular time we have two lots of Carrara Bianco in stock.  Before ordering you may wish to email or speak to one of our sales guys about which lot is available at this time.  You can email us sales@thebuilderdepot.com or call 800-308-9359.

These products are on sale 24/7 so there is no guarantee that these particular lots will be available.  We do however have more ‘C’ grade honed Carrara in stock and we will be more than happy to send pictures of new lots to you.

Carrara Bianco Polished 12×12″ Marble Tile

On the left is the Competition and their ‘CD’ grade of Carrara Marble. On the right is our ‘C’ Grade Bianco Carrara 12×12″ Polished Marble Tile

Both of these marble tiles are from Italy.  At the Builder Depot we select our blocks before cutting them into 12×12″.  For our 12×12″ we select only ‘C’ grade and we look for the lightest possible base and clarity of veining.  There is no comparison between a Premium ‘C’ grade and a ‘CD’ grade Italian Carrara, it is like comparing two completely different products.

I am assuming you are here as you are considering using Carrara in your home, most likely a bathroom.  Knowledge is the key to making any good choice, an informed choice.  When buying Carrara the whiter based clearer veined blocks are the most sought after.  They are harder to find in the mountain and the demand worldwide is greater.  Once you embark on this journey you will soon find out that Carrara has different price points and that price point is reflected by its appearance and quality.

The ‘CD’ grade of Carrara is very common, it is your ‘Home Center’ Grade, it is sold online for $6.50SF or perhaps $7.50SF and Free Shipping, it is a murkier darker tile.  The premium is the ‘C’ grade, this is sold in high end tiles retailers for $50 to $60.00 a square foot and hardly ever sold online.  This is the Manhattan multi-million dollar condo bathroom Carrara, the “I wish I had not seen this blog as I was just about to pay $6.50SF for a 12×12 tile, now I want this Carrara”.

Through your journey, over time, you will become a Connoisseur of marble.  You will see and understand the differences. You will then have a choice to make on the quality of marble you buy.  We have had the same journey and made a choice too.  Our choice is to pay Italy more and get the premium product.  We do not want the murky dark Gray tile.  You may come to the same conclusion 🙂

This particular lot of 12×12″ Bianco polished is exceptional.  ‘C’ grade has different levels too and this is on the premium end of the spectrum.  An incredible lot.  What makes this lot exceptional?  It is a) Light base (but this is to be expected from ‘C’ grade) b) Clear veining and c) level of veining, not too much but just enough.  We will call this lot of 12×12″ polished: “November Perfection“.  Please sales@thebuilderdepot.com or call 800-308-9359 with any questions.

Shades of Gray (Glass 3×6)

From Left to Right or Dark to Light: Charcoal Gray 3×6 (Darkest) • Ocean Gray 3×6″ (in the middle) • Smoke Gray 3×6″ (Lightest) • All $10.45SF and Free Shipping for 2014

Gray glass is very popular and goes well with our Carrara Marble mosaics and tiles.  Photographing glass is really hard, particularly when you are not a professional and have just an iPhone.  But here is my effort in our warehouse.  The paint color card is: Behr Premium Plus (from light to Dark) 780F-4 Sparrow, 780F-5 Anonymous, 780F-6 Dark Granite and the darkest color 780F-7 Stealth Jet.

Carrara Bianco Dogbone Mosaic Tile with Bardiglio Dot

Italian Carrara Bianco Dogbone Basketweave Mosaic tile with Bardiglio dot for $12.95SF

I like to walk through our warehouse, open boxes and take pictures of the products in the warehouse on the crate.  It is not a sterile environment or a photoshop edited professional photograph.  It is just a iPhone picture and a product.  The reason, I think it gives a true representation of the product.  You can see from this picture (okay not the best photo, a little blurred) the white base of the mosaic, that is a white box, as white as printer paper and the base color of this Dogbone basketweave is practically equal to it.

There is 360/SF of this particular lot in stock, then we would be onto another crate.  If you want this particular lot please mention this blog post in the comments of your order.

Bianco Carrara 6×12″ Subway Tile

On the right our ‘C’ Grade Carrara Bianco 6×12″ Subway Tile $8.00SF on the left is the more common ‘CD’ Grade we purchased from a competitor for $6.97SF

At The Builder Depot our 6×12″ subway tiles are all Italian ‘C’ grade.  This is not to be confused with the more common ‘CD’ grade sold throughout the USA. There are few companies that go to the trouble of importing such a high grade of marble, it is a higher cost and many retailers assume customers do not know the difference.

It is understandable, most people buy based on price.  If one e-commerce retailer is selling Carrara 6×12″ for $7.00SF and we are selling for $8.00SF  based on a website difficult to understand why we have the higher price.

But then look at this picture.  On the right is our current lot of Bianco 6×12″ Honed for $8.00 a square foot.  On the left is 12×12″ Honed we purchased for $6.97 a square foot. Price is always a consideration. But I am not sure I could live with staring at that dull gray marble for years to come.

Calacatta 3×6″ Honed $19.95SF

Calacatta 3×6″ Honed Subway Tile just $19.95 square foot

A nice collection of 3×6″ Honed arrived last month.  Unfortunately only 2,500SF arrived and now by the time I am finally getting around to writing this post there is only 782SF left in stock.  It has a nice look.  Not too much veining just the right amount.  The quarry has taken the time to mix and blend these crates well.  The pictures we provide are very simply done.  We just lift the lids off the crates as they come in.  Here you can see a crate then we simply pull out some tiles from a box and lay it on the boxes.  Then snap 🙂

We are receiving more Calacatta 3×6″ Honed in March (this is just an estimate as it is still in production).  Once that shipment arrives we will get pictures of it and post on the blog.

2020 Picture. Recent Picture from Instagram Below.

Calacatta Gold 3×6″ Honed Subway Tile from The Builder Depot from #thetuckerzoo

Love the way this has come together. They must have used tile from the backsplash in their kitchen to match this around the fireplace. Love it and how well the Calacatta Gold goes with the wooden mantel top. This is a well organized installation.

Interesting fact about Calacatta Gold (the real genuine product from Italy as this is). There is only one Calacatta Gold quarry left in the world. That is why we frequently run out of products in the collection and cannot significantly expand it, it is a hard product to get and to get in good quality is very hard. In fact it has become so challenging you know have companies simply saying they have “Calacatta” which simply means a white marble with Gray veining. They avoid the word Gold.

This picture of Calacatta Gold 3×6″ Honed Backsplash from Instagram here is from July 2022.

The website where you can see this “incredible” makeover is here SimplySummerJenn it would have taken some over-ordering so you can select the look you want. If I wanted to re-create this backsplash I would over order by 20% possible 25% so I could pick through and create the exact look wanted. It did not install itself and it was not installed box-to-box like a ceramic. You are creating art with natural stone and you or the person you are working with then certainly the complexity of Calacatta Gold is not for you. Get it right, installed correctly and you have not just good but exceptional! Gold 🙂

I would recommend taking a look at the website for incredible pictures and a good read on a variety of subjects. This kitchen is a DREAM!