The process of creating granite countertops

You hear of people spending $3,000 to $5,000 on a granite countertop and that sounds expensive, but the cost of granite compared to other kitchen countertop “substitutes” is actually a very reasonable price, especially when compared to with the concrete. Looking at the entire process of what it takes to bring granite (from Brazil in this case) into your home, granite suddenly seems cheap. In South America, Argentina is also a major exporter of granite and granite is imported from countries around the world including India, Italy, South Africa and even Zimbabwe. What does it take to get granite off the ground and into your kitchen or bar?

Brazil is a large importer of granite to the US. Where dynamite blasting was once used to get to the granite, today expanding dust and water is used to separate large slabs of rock without all the “collateral” damage that they used to cause the blasting. At the quarry site, 30-ton blocks are prepared for transport to the manufacturer, where they are cut from 3/4-inch to 1.5-inch thick using some of the world’s largest wet saws.

After the slices are cut, the stone must be polished on site to resemble the smooth appearance of granite that we can all recognize. The “finished” slabs are trucked to a seaport and then shipped to a US port. Most kitchens will require two slabs, so slabs of the same stone are kept together whenever possible. to match as much as possible. Nature wasn’t thinking about how this stone would look in your kitchen, so variations within the slab and from slab to slab are very common.

At this point, the slabs still have rough edges, and the buyer’s chosen “edge styles” are often placed locally, along with computerized cutting to exact measurements over the cabinets or island.
Some granites need to be sealed as a finishing touch. As a basic rule of thumb, some of the lighter granite styles need to be sealed, while many of the darker granites do not need to be sealed. All granite is highly durable and resists etching and scratching compared to almost all other kitchen countertop materials. (Most granite can withstand heat up to 1200 degrees F.) Most people confuse engraving with physical scratches and this is not the case. Etching marks can come from acids (lemons) and even cleaning products, leaving dull spots or rings.

Going back to the cheapness of granite, especially compared to concrete, our best answer is; Granite has become so popular and there are so many suppliers today that the price of concrete is comparable, although concrete is much more abundant. Also, granite is a scarce resource and concrete is incredibly abundant.

We believe that as concrete countertops gain in popularity, their cost will come down compared to granite. So when you hear that someone has spent $5,000 on a granite countertop, it might not seem that expensive if you know the whole process. Of course, when you consider that it took millions of years to create this masterpiece of nature compared to just a few days for a concrete countertop, the cost seems even more of a bargain!