Granite worktops are made with natural stone. It sounds a bit obvious, but people don’t always grasp what that means in practice.
Every slab of granite for worktops is cut from a block of stone – a big cuboid often 3 metres by 2 metres by 2 metres. In some black granites that means a block weighing over 30 tons. Every block is unique, with slightly different mineral content and patterning. This is true especially in the lighter-coloured stones – not true granites, these Feldspar schists and similar vary enormously, even in blocks cut from near each other in a quarry.
An Ivory Fantasy slab with a strong diagonal pattern – this often helps when working in L- or U-shaped kitchens
Stones for granite worktops bought from different blocks may share the same product name, but can vary wildly. In this blog I have focussed on one of our most popular materials, Ivory Fantasy Granite, in order to show how material varies through a batch and between batches. Here are slabs from two batches which arrived this week…
First batch in – tight pattern, lots of cream, relatively little overall patterning.
Less than a day later, second batch – stronger colour and wilder patterning. A slightly higher wholesale price, as it happens.
One customer who saw both slabs said that she was amazed that both could have the same name.
The concept of the batch
We always buy slabs for stock in batches. This means that the slabs have been cut from the same block – we often buy 6 or 10 or more slabs which are consecutively numbered within a block. Blocks are generally cut into slabs of 30mm and 20mm, and we buy mainly 30mm with some 20mm, so that upstands and splashbacks will match their worktops as closely as possible.
Only when buying for a customer’s kitchen where the granite worktops are small enough to come out of one slab do we buy slabs singly – and even then we always make sure that our supplier has more slabs of the same batch in stock in case one breaks during manufacturing, or fitting.
These two slabs are consecutive from the block. They may not look it – but that is because one of them has been inverted during processing. Look what happens if we turn one of the photos over, zooming in slightly…
With the pictures now set the same way up, even given lighting differences, it is easy to see that the sections are like slices from a loaf of bread – there are differences, but the overall pattern is the same.
What is true of Ivory Fantasy applies to ALL strongly patterned natural stones for granite worktops. Here is a stunning slab of Cosmic White – bought together with four others from the same block, all nearly identical.Â
Naomi, our Sales Manager writes:
A lot of people looking for granite worktops are concerned about the need for a second slab of stone. With current trends for larger open plan kitchens and larger islands, using two or more slabs is quite the norm.
You occasionally hear horror stories where companies have used two completely different slabs to make the granite worktops in one kitchen, or where the customer hasn’t got material that looks anything like the sample they thought that they had chosen.
It is important, particularly in light-coloured natural stones, that customers see the actual block that they are getting. Lighter stones can be extremely variable, and two different blocks may be sourced from different ends of the quarry, or even different quarries.
At Affordable Granite, we always recommend viewing the actual block that you will be getting. As all our materials are cut here at our fully-equipped workshop in Charlwood (rather than getting them manufactured abroad or at the other end of the country), customers can always see exactly what they are getting.
At Affordable Granite we ensure that all slabs used for your kitchen granite worktops come from the same block, so that there will be minimal variation. Each slab that comes into our warehouse is checked for quality and barcoded. Offcuts are also logged and barcoded. In this way we can keep a close eye on the origins of all our material at all times. If you kitchen needs one and a bit slabs, the offcut used must come from the same block as the main slab for the worktops.
Before manufacturing granite worktops they will also be looked over again when laid flat to check that they meet our extremely high standards of quality control and to that the colour match is good.
I often explain it to customers by asking them to think about a block of granite as though it were a like a loaf of bread. A natural feature in a block of granite is a bit like a brown slightly more over-cooked patch in a loaf of bread – or even a bubble running through it! That patch may move a little as it works through the loaf, it may get a bit larger or more intense, or it may diminish. But the background and overall colour of the loaf will remain largely the same. Similarly, a large natural feature in a block of stone behaves in much the same way; when you compare slabs of natural granite from the same block, you will find that the natural feature/s may have moved slightly to one side or other and may have grown larger or smaller as you move through the block, but the background colours will remain pretty similar.
When our customers choose granite worktops in colours that are more variable or with large patterns, we sometimes advise an additional visit after templating so that the customer can choose their favourite part of the stone for their island or centre piece or splash-back.
Obviously, what drives the bad-match problem with other companies is simple economics. If a firm is looking to save money, it will be tempting to put some offcuts together that really don’t go. The commitment to only use material from the same batch can be a costly one, but it is part of what we think of as first class service. The attitude to batch matching really shows the kind of firm you are dealing with.Â
