Italian Marble Kitchens for Monaco and the French Riviera

Michelessi SRL is a family marble workshop on the Via Pontina, in Aprilia, less than an hour from Rome. We have worked stone here since 1976: half a century of kitchens, bathrooms, staircases and floors, all designed and made in Italy under one roof, with our own cutting centres, technical office and the fitting team that travels with every kitchen. We are not a dealer and we do not sell from a catalogue. Our worldwide page explains the method in general; this page applies it to the Principality and the Côte d'Azur.

What is rare on the Riviera is a kitchen born as a single project, from block to fitted island, in the hands of one workshop. That rests on three habits we have kept since 1976.

• Slabs chosen one by one. Calacatta, Statuario, Carrara, Nero Marquina, travertine and onyx are selected slab by slab, never by reference number: the slab we photograph for you is the slab that is cut.
• Numerically controlled cutting, hand finishing. The cutting centres give the millimetre; the stonemason gives the edge, the book-matched joint, the polish that reaches into the vein.
• One team from drawing to fitting. The people who follow the work in the workshop are the same who level the worktop in your kitchen.

You may choose a fully bespoke composition or one of our modular lines with tops in marble, Dekton, Fenix or quartz. Worktops are typically 2 or 3 centimetres thick, mitred down the sides of the island for a solid-block effect: see our indoor marble kitchens.

A marble kitchen is built to the exact dimensions of its room. When that room overlooks the harbour of Monaco, four steps are given extra care.

Measurements

We ask for photographs of the space, hand-drawn measurements of the walls, and the position of windows, sockets, drains and appliances. If an architect or contractor is working on site, we receive their drawings directly. Where the project calls for it, our own team checks the final measurements on site before the stone is cut.

The 3D design

From the measurements comes the 3D design: the finished kitchen set within your room, with the layout of the units, the finishes and the veining of the chosen slab. You refine it with us and approve it before a single block is touched: what you see in the drawing is what comes out of the crate.

Samples sent to your door

The colour of a marble cannot be judged on a screen, least of all in the light of the Riviera. We send samples of the stones and finishes under consideration, to set against your floors and the light from the sea; the final slab is then photographed in full and approved by you.

Video calls with the workshop

Over a video call we show you the slabs available, the chosen slab before cutting, the work in progress and, where possible, the kitchen dry-assembled before packing. Anyone who wishes is welcome in Aprilia: a morning among the slabs remains the finest way to choose.

Aprilia and Monaco are joined by road along the coast, which makes the Riviera one of the most natural destinations for our work abroad. Every element is packed in the workshop once finished: pieces protected individually, braced in crates built to the size of the load and numbered in the order of fitting. The 3D design travels with the shipment like a map.

The Principality and the old towns of the coast bring their own constraints: dense buildings, lifts of a given size, terraces reached through the apartment. We allow for them at the drawing stage, dividing long runs where a joint can follow the vein, so that each piece reaches the room and is set without damage. Installation is carried out by our own team: the artisans who followed the work in Aprilia level the worktops, close the joints and hand over a kitchen ready for use, coordinating any local contractor with working drawings. Transport, schedule and formalities are defined in the quotation.

The coast between Menton and Saint-Tropez is generous with sunlight and with salt. Inside the home, this favours the great white marbles: Calacatta and Statuario open their veins fully under a southern light, while a honed finish softens reflections in rooms that face the sea. For every marble worktop we recommend an impregnating sealer, renewed regularly, and its simple care is explained at handover.

Outdoors, on a terrace or beside a pool, the material must live with sun, salt air and the occasional storm. Here we generally recommend granite, quartzite or sintered stone such as Dekton or Laminam, with stainless steel where the project calls for it: they hold their colour and polish with little more than a rinse. Marble can be taken outside too, honed and protected, when the same vein is to continue from the drawing room to the terrace; we weigh each choice against the exposure of the site. Our marble and stone catalogue lists the materials we work.

On a penthouse terrace the outdoor kitchen is usually a compact island: a stone top with a sink, a gas hob or a built-in barbecue, drawn to reach the terrace through the apartment. In the gardens of Cap Ferrat, Cap d'Antibes, Èze or Roquebrune there is room for the full composition: island, wood-fired oven and barbecue in refractory stone, the very material ovens are made of. We use no cement and no masonry outdoors: repeated heating and cooling break them down within a few years. See our marble and stone outdoor kitchens and the page on refractory stone barbecues and kitchens.

Among the studies from our drawing board is the Monte Carlo vision: a penthouse above the harbour told in Calacatta Oro, with an infinity pool and a bathroom of backlit onyx. It is a project vision, not a delivered commission: an exercise in how our stones would behave under the light of the Principality. Our work abroad has a real name, Dubai: marble interiors and complete outdoor kitchens in natural stone, wood and steel, built in Aprilia and installed on site. The same team is ready for the Riviera.

A photograph of the space, hand-drawn measurements and an idea are enough. Write to info@michelessi.it, on WhatsApp or by telephone on +39 06 9275383, in English or Italian: you will receive a first assessment, then the 3D design and a quotation with production time, transport and installation defined for your address (contact page).