The Details of Granite

It's the most durable and easy-to-care-for stone in a kitchen, plus it comes in a huge range of colors and looks.

Granite is the sum of minerals within it: quartz brings pockets of translucence and interest, feldspar groups together in prism-shaped crystals, mica flakes give sparkle and hornblende shows up as dots or layers of black. If you like variety and are awed by Mother Nature, granite is a good place to start.

Pricing

Is determined not by quality but by how common or rare the stone is; meaning there's a lot of it available to quarry (price groups 1 and 2) or there's not (price groups 6 and premium).

Traditionally, the 1s and 2s have had a consistent, repetitive pattern and you had to jump up in price to get the swooping veins that tell the story of how minerals were compressed and fused over eons of time to create magic. We've made it our mission to find low-priced granite with beautiful character: Silver Cloud, Marsala White, Desert Beach, Jet Mist, Giallo Ornamental, Sierra River, Verde Maritaka and Red Verona are a few examples.

Curious about the most expensive granites? Blue stone is rare, so the 'sit next to it with a beach chair and strawberry daiquiri' granite called Blue Bahia is at the top. Sedna and its lava flow look are up there, too, as are granites with large swaths of white.

Our Philosophy

Cast your net on your first visit, have your fabricator price what you most love and adjust your list -- or other parts of the project -- from there.