Make warmer place
Visit DoItYourself.com - The Leading Home Improvement and Remodeling Website Featuring the Internet's Largest Hardware Superstore
Uses
The stone fireplace mantel is an interesting mantel specimen, because for the most part it is a mantel that a number of people would use in terms of being somewhere between the actual visual fireplace mantel and the functional fireplace mantel. In other words, a person might purchase a stone fireplace mantel for a number of different reasons that range from being purely visual (i.e. liking the look of the stone as it works with whatever else they have in the room) to being purely functional (i.e. liking the strength that the stone provides to the overall structure of the fireplace mantel).
Advantages
The main advantages that come from having a stone fireplace mantel in place have to do mostly with the fact that a stone fireplace mantel is something that people have the ability to use for a number of different things. One day it can be something that you show off to your friends and the next day it can be something that you rest your photos and books on for additional showy prowess. Of course, you can even use the mantel as a base to do something like construct a wall bookshelf above your fireplace and then cram that bookshelf with a number of different interesting books.
Relative Availability/Price
The stone fireplace mantel is usually cheaper than most people think it is, simply because it happens to be made of stone. Stone is not actually a substance that is difficult to come across and this is primarily why it tends to be cheaper than a lot of other specialty fireplace mantel products. You will find however that the stone fireplace mantel tends to be more expensive than the wood fireplace mantel simply because the stone is harder to mould and shape than the wood. Also, the availability might be lower because a stone fireplace mantel is nowhere near as popular in terms of bulk purchase statistics as a wood wire place mantel.