Granite and marble slab countertops in Toronto homes provide beauty and value. Learn more about natural stone countertops.

 

What is the best way to choose granite and marble slab countertops in Toronto? You may get conflicting advice on this from the professionals that you’re working with. Many people are supplied with samples and make a choice based on a very small piece of stone. While this method works well for choosing paint, wallpaper, laminates or other synthetic materials, the only way to select a natural granite or marble slab for your kitchen, bathroom, or tabletop is to view the entire piece of stone.

 

You’ll want to see the slab yourself, because granite and marble slabs are like fine art – each piece is unique! You may know the general type of stone you prefer, but unless you choose the particular slab yourself, you won’t know exactly what you’re getting.

 

 

Granite is an extremely strong material that can be found on every continent on the planet, and it has long been used for architecture and art. It’s an easy stone to process: it can be split, sawn, flamed, polished and squared. Granite easily endures frost and heat and is known for its durability and versatility. This makes it particularly popular as a countertop material.

 

Granite is an igneous rock that began in a liquid, molten state, and solidified as it cooled beneath the earth’s crust. Granite’s texture is determined by how quickly or slowly it cooled, with slow-cooling granite generally composed of larger crystals. Although all granite contains quartz and feldspar, every piece can also contains other minerals. The types of quartz, feldspar or mica, along with these accessory minerals – such as hornblende, biotite, and augite -- give each slab of granite its distinctive colour and pattern.

 

 

Marble, on the other hand, is a metamorphic rock formed when limestone is subjected to intense heat and pressure. Pure white marble is the result of the crystallization of very pure limestone. Impurities such as clay, sandstone, chert, serpentine, or iron oxides colour marble, and different areas of the world are known for marble of different hues and patterns. For example, Italian Carrara marble is one of the best-known varieties, with its bright white glow and soft grey striations. Etowah marble, from Pickens County, Georgia in the US, is renowned for its pink, salmon, and rose tones. Swedish marble is often green, and Costa Sol marble from Spain is bronze.

 

As you might expect, then, the appearance of natural stone varies drastically from piece to piece. Choosing a slab from a small sample means that your actual countertop may look quite a lot different than what you may be expecting.

 

Fortunately, Toronto is home to a few excellent stone importers and distributors that maintain large and welcoming showrooms. Visit one today and discover the huge range of granite, marble, and other stone that is available to you. Unless you experience it, you can’t possibly know about the wide variety of stone that you can choose from. Sometimes a particular piece of stone becomes the inspiration for design, and the centrepiece of an entire room.

 

Add the beauty and value of natural stone countertops to your home!