Marble Top Centre Table in Gilded Teak with Fluted Column Legs

Stone and wood do not agree with each other, and the joint between them is where a marble-topped table either survives or cracks.

Timber moves with humidity. Across the width of a frame like this, that movement is real and seasonal - the wood is fractionally wider in the monsoon than in a dry April. Stone does not move at all. Glue a slab down hard onto a timber frame and the frame will shift underneath it while the stone stays put, and the load has to go somewhere: either the joint fails, or the slab cracks along its weakest line.

So the top is not fixed down. It is bedded on soft pads set into the frame, which carry the weight evenly and let the timber slide a fraction beneath the stone as the seasons change. The slab is held in place by the moulded lip around the frame - captured on all four sides, fixed on none - and by its own considerable weight.

It is the same principle as a floating panel in a door, applied to a material that will not bend at all. The result is a top that stays sound through a decade of Indian summers and monsoons, because nothing in the piece is fighting anything else.

Frame: solid teak throughout, hand-carved by master Indian artisans, with traditional joinery at every junction.

Top: stone slab cut and polished to the shaped outline of the frame, bedded on pads and captured by a moulded lip. Marble, granite or another stone of your choosing.

Apron: carved leaf and scroll running along all four shaped sides.

Legs: paired fluted columns at each corner on carved bases and capitals.

Shelf: shaped lower shelf between the legs, with a carved edge.

Finish: hand-applied gold on the timber. Silver, champagne, antiqued tones or a plain polished teak finish are also available.

Size: custom sizes made to order - final measurements confirmed in writing before production.

Photography: images on this page are of the actual product, not renders.

The stone travels separately from the frame. A slab bedded loose inside a frame would shift in transit and chip its own edges against the moulding, so the two are packed as separate items and assembled on arrival.

The stone is edge-protected on all four sides with dense foam, faced with a soft layer, and carried flat between rigid boards - stone is strong in compression and weak in bending, so it never travels on edge or unsupported in the middle.

The frame is wrapped with a soft non-abrasive layer over the gilding, with foam collars on the column capitals, the carved bases and the corners of the apron. Corrugated panels build a rigid shell around it, the base is blocked and braced, and the outer cartons are edge-reinforced. Everything unwraps by hand, and the top simply lowers into its lip - no adhesive, no tools.

Free PAN-India delivery is included in the price, stone and frame together - no zone rates, no distance surcharge, no extra charge for the weight of the slab. The same cost delivered to Bengaluru as to Bhopal.

Dent-free arrival is guaranteed. Both cartons leave in multi-layer protective packaging, travel with handlers briefed on stone and gilded carving, and are checked at every transfer point. If anything is not right when you open either, tell us and we make it right - the guarantee sits with us, not with the transporter.

Because the table is made to order, production begins once your size, stone and finish are confirmed in writing. Stone selection is worth doing early, since cutting the slab to a shaped outline takes time, and we will confirm the timeline in writing before you commit. You get a dispatch note with an expected delivery window.

The solid teak frame and its joinery carry a 20-year warranty - the shaped frame and its moulded lip, the apron rails, the columns and their bases, and the lower shelf. If a joint opens or a member fails within those twenty years, we repair or replace it.

A lifetime warranty against termite damage runs alongside it and never expires. Teak's natural oils are why termites avoid it, and our seasoning and finishing routine is built around preserving them, so the timber is guaranteed for as long as the table is yours.

The way the stone is bedded is part of what makes a term this long sensible: because the slab floats rather than being glued down, seasonal movement in the timber has somewhere to go and the joints are not carrying stress they were never designed for. All of it is built from start to finish in our own workshop by the master Indian artisans who make every piece we sell, from timber we season ourselves.