Sonoma Cast Stone CONCRETE SINKS AND COUNTERTOPS
16 October 2008
“Worth Living With”
Socrates said that the unexamined life is not worth living, which is something he obviously said in defense of one’s doing the hard work that a study of philosophy entails, but it is a statement that can be applied to just about anything, including things as prosaic as kitchens and bathrooms. Well, I say “prosaic,
” but, really, how prosaic they are is really much more a commentary on how they are created then on the actual rooms themselves. In the months that I have been laboring away on these blogs, I have found bathrooms and kitchens to be, without a doubt, potentially the most innovative rooms of anyone’s home (emphasis on “potentially”), simply because there are so many people who are working hard to come up with ideas that are new and exciting, while still being practical. In fact, I think it’s fair to say that if prosaic is a description that can be truthfully applied to your kitchen or bathroom, then it is most definitely time for a makeover!
With that as prologue, then, I can venture into the subject of today’s blog, Sonoma Cast Stone, a company I came across, in part, because of an Internet search for more things to write about, in larger part because I still have two bathrooms and a kitchen that I want to remodel, and I do no
t want them to look as prosaic as they do now! What I found with Sonoma Cast Stone, though, was a whole new idea altogether.
When I saw the elongated sink at the top of this blog, my first thought was, “That’s elegant.” But when I looked through their website a bit more, I found myself very much intrigued with both the design of their products and the building material they used. Believe it or not, it is concrete. Plain, old, drab concrete—except that in the hands of those who know, concrete is none of those things. Sonoma Cast Stone’s whole site is proof again, if proof is needed, that concrete is a wonderful building material. All one needs to transform gray drabness into something spectacular is a little imagination.
“So, what is cast stone?” 
you ask. Well, as I’ve already stated, mostly it’s concrete, which immediately begs the question, “Why don’t they call it concrete?” To which the reply would surely have to be, but look at it! What do you see in this product that causes you to think of concrete? And if, as I certainly suspect, the answer is, “Nothing,” or better yet, “Man, this stuff doesn’t even look like concrete,” then you know why Cast Stone is really a much more descriptive name for the product the Sonoma Company is producing. Actually, Outrageously Innovative Cast Stone is a name I would have favored, but I suppose one can’t really just start bragging with a company name!
Actually, they have come up with a real improvement for concrete, changed it to such an extent, in fact, that they call it NuCrete™. If you go to their website, you can read up on this product, but here I will just say that NuCrete™ has all the flexibility of regular concrete, while eliminating all of the downside, namely the staining and cracking. They can color it, blend it, shape it, make it look like something so glorious that you would never in this world believe that it is concrete, and all this in a product that is not going be stained by lemons or develop cracks as the years pass.
I won’t say anything about the concepts of the sinks and countertops themselves, because the pictures say it better than I ever could. But I would like to end by paraphrasing the Socrates with which I began. Because, in light of all that is out there on the Internet these days, I do think it is fair to say that if you are contemplating a new kitchen or bathroom and are not vigorously examining your options, the rooms you end up with will probably not be worth living with.
Joseph
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