Facts about granite and marble, one of nature's most elegant and safest ways to enhance your kitchen bathroom, cabinetry or vanity.

Natural Stone:

The natural stone you purchase for your home or office is an investment that will give you many years of beautiful service. Simple care and maintenance will help preserve your stone’s beauty for generations to come.  

Granite:

          Granite is sold in slabs to insure the grain and color of your entire countertop surfaces match, but the square foot area of your countertop calculates you cost. If the particular slab your countertops were made from measured 54 square feet and your countertop area measured 50 square feet, you would only be charged for 50 square feet. The square footage includes cutouts for sinks or drop-in appliances like some cook tops. Don’t forget to count the back splash in your estimate. After you measure the cabinets and calculate the square feet of surface, we can give you the cost per square foot of the granite you select to figure you cost. The cost of granite varies according to color and pattern chosen.

Several factors affect the price of granite, but the most important are supply and demand. Supply is affected by the accessibility of the quarry, the uniformity of the stone within the quarry, and the stone’s workability. A granite that is exquisitely figured, one that contains rare colors (e.g. blue), or one that is found only in a third work country will be more costly.            

Once a customer has selected granite as their countertop material, the next step is to choose a color. The color and pattern for your kitchen countertops is a very personal choice. Most of the time, but not always, the top will be the focal point of the kitchen. Patterns and colors vary greatly so there will always be a piece of granite that will fit in with your decorating ideas.     

Granite is an important structural and decorative stone. It’s used for immense structural work due to its high compressive strength. Granite’s rich colors, stiffness and density, make it an ideal choice for flooring, countertops, vanities as well as exterior applications. Its natural beauty is the main characteristics enjoyed by many, along with its versatility.

It is also a very low-maintenance stone. Granite is composed of quartz, feldspars, micas and other minerals. These minerals contribute to the color and texture of the granite stones. Granites get their wonderful variety of colors and patterns from minerals that are melted into the liquid mass as it is formed. Also, keep in mind that the veining in the granite can effect color perception. Sometimes two different grain sizes occurring in the same slab will appear to be of a different color. Mineral concentrations may cause patches that appear darker or lighter.

Granite has its own unique qualities that not only distinguish it from man made materials but also should be considered in selecting it for a particular project. Stone is not manufactured; it is a product of nature. Blocks are removed from quarries, slabs are cut from these blocks and the slabs are further fabricated into the final stone to be installed. Each block is different. Each slab is different and unique. Every slab of granite varies somewhat within any given color and pattern. If you are unfamiliar with granite, a granite slab ordered might not be identical to a sample you are shown. While the samples are intended to represent the quarry’s product, each slab may differ slightly in color and veining. Indeed, even a single granite slab will have color variations from one end to the other. This lack of predictability gives the product its unique character and adds an element of nature into human-designed spaces. In contrast to the repetitive sameness of material produced by machine or assembly line, granites naturally varied appearance has wonderful character. It is the uniqueness and difference that makes granite so popular today.

For this reason, we recommend that you take the time to select the slab intended for your countertops. We will escort you through the granite slab warehouse where you can choose the best granite slab for your countertops. That is the only way to make sure you get exactly what you want. Typically, we stock over 200 slabs, with access to thousands of colors and textures.

Advantages of Granite:

Durability:

          Next to diamond, granite is the hardest natural stone available. Because of its low absorption rate, granite is less prone to staining and is also heat resistant making it ideal for surface tops. The grain of one stone is never equal to another, which means the texture of granite is like a fingerprint. Granite surface tops have a smooth high gloss finish that exacts the elegance and beauty of the material while maintaining its durability.

Stone Colors and Appearance:       

Granites and marbles are quarried throughout the world in a variety of colors with varying mineral compositions. Much of our granite comes from Brazil and India. Marble comes mostly from Italy, Spain and Mexico. In most cases, marbles and granites can be identified by visible particles at the surface of the stone. Marble will normally show “veins” whereas the minerals in granite will typically appear as small flecks distributed throughout the stone. Each type of stone is unique and will vary in color and markings.

Granite Ranked #1 in Clean Ability:

          Today’s consumer is offered a wide range of surfacing materials for use in countertop applications. Once in service, these countertop surfaces will be exposed to a variety of contaminative substances. The key safety issue to the consumer is the degree of clean ability of the surface material, that is, how easily any contaminants can be removed using normal cleaning practices.

When tested against stainless steel, laminate, wood, and other countertops surfaces granite was voted #1 by the Hospitality Institute of Technology and Management. The following study by Dr. O. Peter Snyder of the Hospitality Institute of Technology and Management (www.hi-tm.com) used E. coli bacteria as its contaminating agen. The findings of the report show significant clean ability advantages of natural granite countertops over almost all other commonly found countertop surface materials. After washing and rinsing, the granite tops provided the greatest reduction in bacteria counts of all the countertops tested.

And remember, unlike manmade products such as corian, granite is virtually unscratchable; hot pots do not melt its surface, and is has a natural, beautiful appearance that man cannot duplicate. Granite is often less expensive than products such as corian and those made from quartz – and is a beautiful investment for your home. You can’t say that about solid surface materials!

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