A Granite Slab: Is It The Toughest Material Available?

Featured: Antico Cream Granite

Your kitchen countertop is much more than a beautiful surface — it’s central to your daily life. Whether you’re preparing the family meals, helping the kids with their school projects, or entertaining friends, you need a strong, durable countertop so you can fully enjoy the busiest room in the house. Choosing the right material for your kitchen countertop is essential!

There’s a reason that a granite slab is one of the most popular materials for kitchen countertops, and can significantly boost the resale value of your home — its durability and strength. In fact, granite is used for many building applications, both indoors and out. Historical military monuments and memorials are built with natural stone granite, often polished to a high shine. Granite countertops can be used in outdoor living spaces without worrying about the effects of weather. It can hold up to your family’s daily life too.

Featured: Black Forest Granite

Why is Granite So Tough?

Granite is an igneous rock, which means it was formed deep within the earth from volcanic magma as it slowly cooled. It contains a combination of minerals such as quartz, mica, and feldspar, which create crystals of varying sizes that you can see in the stone. This, along with varying amounts of other minerals, gives granite the varying colors and patterns that make it so beautiful as a surface material.

How tough is it? Quartz and feldspar are tougher than steel, according to the Mohs scale of hardness. That makes granite one of the hardest materials on earth, and a granite slab one of the best countertops for resisting damage from hot pans, scratching, chipping, staining, and more.

Granite is Versatile

Aside from granite’s durability, it’s also prized for its incredible variety of colors and patterns. These range from subtle, pale shades of soft gray or beige to dramatic dark colors with bold, contrasting veining. Granite is even available in exotic shades such as green, blue, red, and yellow. 

Granite counters can also be given a variety of edge treatments, from a simple rounded edge to a fancy double ogee. With many granite colors, you can even choose different finishes, such as polished, honed, or brushed. No matter what style you choose for your home decor, there’s a granite slab color guaranteed to be complementary.

Choose the Best Quality

Granite is quarried from the earth and cut into huge slabs, which are then finished with a manufacturing process. It comes from sources all over the world — China, Italy, Brazil, and various locations in the U.S. Its price is often dependent on how far it needs to be shipped. 

However, granite quality can also vary. First grade slabs are top quality, inspected to ensure they have no cracks or chips. They are also consistent in color and pattern throughout the slab. A high-quality granite is also less porous than lesser grades, so it needs less maintenance and is much better at resisting damage.

Investing in a granite countertop is worth every penny. You’ll enjoy the beauty, the freedom from worry about damaging your counter by accident, and the ease of maintenance. When cared for properly, a granite countertop can last a lifetime, looking just as gorgeous years down the road as it did the day it was installed.

READ MORE ABOUT GRANITE COUNTERTOPS

6 Wow(!) Kitchens Featuring Granite Countertops

A Buyer's Guide to Granite Countertops

A Buyers' Guide to Granite Countertops

Adding Practical Luxury to Modern Kitchen Designs with Granite Countertops