Countertops in Redlands, CA, Fitted to the Houses That Built the City

Materials that read right in an older house

A kitchen in a house the age of the Morey Mansion (1890) or Kimberly Crest (1897) wants materials that existed when the house did. Honed marble, soapstone, and butcher block or plank wood all read as original. Soapstone in particular suits these kitchens: dense, heat-tolerant, and it darkens into a natural patina that matches old woodwork. A polished quartz waterfall island, however good the slab, looks like a transplant in an 1890s room. We will still install one if you want it. We will also tell you when we think the house deserves better.

Working inside original cabinetry

Older Redlands kitchens and baths often have cabinetry worth keeping, and walls that stopped being square decades ago. We template digitally against the real geometry, scribe to plaster, and use thinner 2cm stock with built-up edges where a heavy modern slab would overwhelm the frame. Vanity work in period bathrooms gets the same treatment: tops cut to the original washstand footprint, not forced to a big-box standard.

The other Redlands

This is not only a historic town. The University of Redlands has anchored the east side since 1907, and Esri, headquartered here since 1969, was the city's largest employer by 2000. That professional base supports serious remodels, and for those kitchens we install plenty of engineered quartz and quartzite, full-height splashes, and large-format porcelain. Both versions of Redlands are our customers.

The shop itself sits in Riverside, where we also install; see countertops in Riverside.