Having your kitchen updated with natural stone countertops is always a sound design choice. When your refurbishment is complete, you will have a beautiful area perfect for your tastes. However, it can feel wasteful to dispose of leftover remnants when there are so many fun and exciting ways to incorporate them into your home. Here are nine ways to use small leftover granite pieces that are as stylish as your new kitchen granite countertops.
1. They Make Stunning Dining Table Centerpieces
One of the places that can often leave a large and evenly shaped granite remnant is the space cut for the kitchen sink. You can use this rectangular piece to tie your dining space in with your kitchen theme. When placed directly on your dining table, it could act as an area to lay out dishes. It is handy if you have got hot dishes you’re serving to lots of people as the granite remnant would act as a trivet and protect your dining table from the heat of the pan. It can also create a beautiful focal point for decorative centerpieces such as vases, candles, or seasonal foliage displays.
2. Consider Extending Your Design to Window Sills or Backsplashes
Natural stone slabs must be cut to size by your counter fabricator to fit your kitchen design. An excellent way to coordinate more of your kitchen with the countertops and make more little details match is to use granite remnants around the edges of the kitchen. You could incorporate the offcuts from your countertops into your kitchen design to add a backsplash to protect the wall behind a stove or sink or use granite remnants for your window sills. The durability of granite will mean that these areas are more protected from moisture and look chic when coordinated with your chosen countertop.
3. They Make Sturdy and Beautiful Serving Slabs
You can risk blunting your knives using a granite remnant as a chopping board, but I don’t recommend it. If you have a thinner remnant, it will make a beautiful way to prepare or serve food. You could use a granite remnant as a cheese platter, charcuterie board, or even serving up ice cream if you have chilled the board. Granite slabs are also easier to clean than other materials, so all it would need after use is a wipe-down with warm soapy water.
4. Use remnants as Laundry Room or Bathroom Shelving
When sealed, granite is waterproof, so it is an ideal choice for rooms with excess moisture, like a bathroom or laundry room which would be more at risk from accidental splashes or condensation. Installing the granite remnants as shelves in these rooms would look amazing, but they also are not at risk of warping with water damage.
5. Make Bookends or Shelving in Other Rooms
Using granite remnants as shelving in a bathroom or laundry room serves a functional and beautiful purpose. But why waste that beauty in a space where you do not spend a lot of time and cannot enjoy it? Granite makes a sturdy base for a modern and minimalist free-standing shelf design. If you have a more traditional set of shelves to house your favorite books, you can use some small remnants to create genuinely beautiful bookends.
6. Coordinate Placemats and Coasters with Your Kitchen Countertops
Granite remnants are fantastic for serving boards and counter trivets, or you can repurpose them as dining placemats or drinks coasters. This idea can use up some of the smaller remains from your granite countertop installation practically and functionally while complimenting your finished kitchen design and looking fabulous at the same time. They are easy to clean, handle repeated heat from hot meals or drinks, and offer excellent protection for other surfaces like wooden dining or coffee tables.
7. Utilize the Remnants Outside
Granite remnants look gorgeous in many places inside your home; it makes perfect sense that they would also be attractive and worthwhile in spaces outside your home.
- Smaller remnants could create a flower bed border, and the range of granite colors you could choose from could complement any number of blooms.
- More significant remnants could build a garden bench entirely of granite or just a granite top.
- Remnant pieces can also make a stepping stone path through your lawn.
- Granite is often an excellent choice for in-built fire surrounds inside the home.
- You can also use this idea outside and repurpose granite remnants as a fire pit surround or create a mobile block trolley next to a grill or outdoor pizza oven.
8. You Can Use Them in Your Bedroom
The kitchen is the heart of the home, but the room we often spend the most time in is the one we sleep in. You can use granite remnants in your bedroom to create tasteful and beautiful accents, as well as in all the other rooms in your home. They could become decorative shelves for family photographs or precious ornaments, a tray to store perfume or cologne, or a bedside table organizer to place items like your cell phone or watch overnight. Natural stone is a simple and beautiful thing to use in all areas of your home; even though a bedroom might not be the first place you think of to make use of your granite remnant, it can still be a great option.
9. Put Your Drinks on the Rocks
You can even use the most miniature remnant pieces. Known as whisky stones, small granite cubes can be frozen and used to cool drinks without diluting them. They would need a couple of hours in the freezer before you use them, and when you have finished, they can be lightly washed under warm water with a tiny bit of dish soap before refreezing them to be used again and again.
No matter your initial project, you have plenty of ideas to upcycle your leftovers into stunning additions to your home. If not for yourself, they can make excellent gifts as well.