Countertops & stonework in Cape May, NJ
Countertops in Cape May, NJ
Granite, quartz and marble countertops for Cape May's Victorian cottages, inns and east end homes, from our showroom at the other end of the Parkway in Pleasantville.
Or visit our Pleasantville showroom, open Monday to Saturday.
Cape May, NJ
Stone that respects a Cape May house
Cape May countertops go into some of the oldest kitchens we see. After the fires of 1869 and 1878 the town rebuilt almost entirely in Victorian style, and the whole city is now a National Historic Landmark, so the streets around Washington Street, Hughes Street, Columbia Avenue and Beach Avenue are gingerbread cottages, Second Empire and Queen Anne houses from the 1870s through the 1900s, many of them running as bed and breakfasts and inns. Their kitchens were built for a cook and a back door, often in a rear addition, and the project is a working kitchen that serves breakfast to twelve guests without looking out of place in the house. The east end around Poverty Beach and the streets off Pittsburgh Avenue are a different era, 1950s and 1960s ranches and capes that owners are opening up, and the newer homes and condos near the harbor and along Lafayette Street add a modern kitchen with a long island to the mix.
We help Cape May homeowners, innkeepers and the contractors and designers working in the historic district choose stone that suits the age of the house and the use of the kitchen. An inn kitchen that serves every morning needs a different surface than a cottage used two weeks a year, and a Victorian bath wants marble. Our countertop fabrication and installation page shows what happens between picking the stone and the finished counter.
Granite, quartz, marble and quartzite
Which stone for a Cape May kitchen
Granite countertops in Cape May
Granite suits a Cape May inn kitchen that cooks every morning of the season. It is quarried stone, very hard, and it takes hot pans, sheet trays and a dozen breakfasts without a mark. A honed black or a soft grey granite sits well with the painted cabinets of a Victorian kitchen, and a warm brown pairs with the stained wood an older house still has. It is porous, so a sealer gets refreshed when water stops beading, about once a year in a working kitchen.
Quartz countertops in Cape May
Quartz is the practical pick for a Cape May rental cottage or an east end ranch that has to stay white. Engineered stone is non-porous and never sealed, so coffee, wine and jam wipe up clean between guests, and the color is uniform across every piece. The long slabs mean a straight run comes in one piece, and a soft white or grey keeps a small Victorian kitchen feeling open. It does not like direct heat, so a trivet stays by the range.
Marble countertops in Cape May
Marble is the natural stone for a Cape May Victorian, because the houses were built with it: the fireplace surrounds, the washstands and the vestibule floors of the 1880s were marble, and a honed Carrara counter or vanity picks that thread up. It is softer than granite and etches where lemon or vinegar sits, so in an inn kitchen that serves breakfast every morning it wants a refreshed seal and a gentle cleaner. In a guest bath it is the easy choice, and a marble vanity top with a matching threshold is one of the most common pieces we fabricate for Cape May.
Quartzite countertops in Cape May
Quartzite gives a Cape May kitchen the veined white look of marble on a natural stone harder than granite, which makes it the answer for an innkeeper who wants the period look on a counter that works every day. It resists scratches and etching far better than marble, the slabs are large, and it takes a sealer the way granite does. White and grey quartzites suit a painted Victorian kitchen, and the darker varieties pair with the walnut cabinets of a harbor side new build.
What we do
Our services in Cape May
We do the whole house. In Cape May that means fireplace surrounds and hearths that suit a Victorian parlor, slab backsplashes for a period kitchen, marble vanity tops and shower seats and thresholds for a guest bath or an inn, and bar tops for a harbor side home, each chosen to fit the character of the house.
Cape May
A kitchen that works for guests
A lot of Cape May kitchens cook for strangers: a bed and breakfast serving twelve every morning, a cottage rented by the week, an east end ranch that sleeps the extended family. The stone has to look right in a house from the 1880s and survive that, which usually means a honed finish, a simple eased or ogee edge, and a surface chosen for the use rather than the look alone. We template to the real walls of a Victorian addition, which are rarely square, and we set the day the stone goes in between bookings so the kitchen is down for as little time as possible.
Get a Free Quote
The showroom trip
From Cape May to our Pleasantville showroom
From Cape May, take Lafayette Street out of town to the start of the Garden State Parkway and head north. Stay on the Parkway the whole way to the Black Horse Pike exit at Pleasantville, where the ramp puts you on the Pike a minute from the showroom, on the left in the building we share with Cabinets Direct. It is one road door to door.
7034 Black Horse Pike, Pleasantville, NJ 08232Mon to Fri 10am to 5pm, Sat 10am to 2pm, Sun closed. Call (215) 626-1165.
Why Rye Marble & Granite
Why Cape May homeowners choose our showroom
Cape May homeowners and innkeepers use our showroom because we understand what a Victorian kitchen and a breakfast service each need, from a scribed back edge against old plaster to a stone that takes a dozen hot pans. The showroom puts granite, quartz, marble and quartzite next to each other under one light, with edge samples to hold against your door. Estimates are free.
Good to know
Cape May questions
Does marble need sealing in a Cape May inn kitchen?
Yes. Marble is porous and reacts to acids, so in a kitchen that serves breakfast every morning it needs a seal that gets refreshed and a gentle cleaner. If that upkeep is not for you, quartzite gives a similar look with more hardness, and quartz needs no sealing at all.
Can you template around guests at a Cape May inn?
Yes. A template visit is quick and quiet, and the day the stone goes in can be set for a weekday between bookings. The sink, cooktop and faucet openings are made before that day, so the time spent in your kitchen is short.
Can you template an 1880s Cape May kitchen with walls that are not square?
Yes. We template the room after the cabinets are set, so the top follows the real walls, and the back edge is scribed to the old plaster where it needs to be. That is what keeps the counter tight to the wall in a Victorian addition.
Which countertop makes sense for a Cape May rental cottage?
Quartz. It is non-porous, never needs sealing and wipes clean between guests. If you prefer natural stone, granite is the durable choice. For an owner occupied cottage, quartzite or honed marble suit the age of the house.
What should I bring to the showroom for a Cape May kitchen?
A kitchen photo, the rough length of each counter run, and a door or paint chip from the cabinets. For an inn, a note on how many breakfasts you serve helps us steer the stone. Seeing granite, quartz, marble and quartzite side by side under one light is the surest way to choose for a house this old.
What stone suits a Victorian bath in Cape May?
Honed Carrara marble, the stone the houses were built with. A marble vanity top with a matching shower threshold and seat is one of the most common pieces we fabricate for the historic district, and it sees only soap and water.
Nearby
Stonework in nearby South Jersey towns
From the historic district to Poverty Beach, Cape May kitchens start with a drive up the Parkway to our showroom. Stone Harbor, Avalon and Sea Isle City are on the way.
All towns: South Jersey service areas