The Cool Tone Granite Kitchen

Natural Stone Source continues to import it's slab stock bundles at a time from over the ocean, and currently we are carrying such a wide variety of slabs, it's almost overwhelming! Where does one begin with such an array of colors?

A good place to start is to decide the tone of your future kitchen. Today we will focus on cool tones that includes whites, grays, and blues.

Cool toned kitchens are very much in style, and go well with stainless steel appliances, as seen below from this Houzz project posted by Judy Cook Interiors, LLC. A hot selling granite color for cool-toned kitchen is the Alaska White granite slab.

Alaska White through Natural Stone Source

               

                     Beach Style Kitchen by East Lyme Interior Designers & Decorators Judy Cook Interiors, LLC

Another popular slab for cool toned kitchen is the classic and iridescent Blue Pearl granite slab. Blue Pearl is a bit darker, so it goes best with a lighter backsplash and light cabinets.

Blue Pearl granite slab

                   

                                            Traditional Kitchen by Durham Kitchen & Bath Designers emma delon

This stylish kitchen combines Blue Pearl with a light grey marble and an inventive argoyle backsplash behind the stove.

One of our very favorite slabs now carried in bulk by Natural Stone Source is the brazilian Lake Placid quarzite. Lake Placid is a calm jade green with very little movement. This stone is a little more rare than the others, so we do not have any projects showcasing it in our pictures, and the internet does not yet have a single kitchen of the Lake Placid quartzite. So we invite you to make this soothing stone into the next cool tone kitchen, and we will display it here on our blog, on facebook, and our main website, www.nssgranite.com!

We love Lake Placid quartzite

Can I Have Granite That Looks Like Marble?

Can you acheive the look of marble, yet retain the tough qualities of granite? Yes you can!

On the cover of every magazine, at the focus of many (if not most) dream kitchens of Pinterest, is a white marble kitchen. But how realistic is white marble? The Carrara and Calcatta marble looks nice in a picture, but when a glass of juice spills, when the butcher knife slips, these are kitchen countertops that can end up with lasting scars.

We have an alternative to light marble that is not only as tough as your average granite kitchen, it's even tougher! At Natural Stone Source, our favorite "marble-look" granite is called quartzite. Quartzite is a natural stone that is formed of pure quartz. Said by scientists to be sandstone that melted and fused together completely, this surface is tougher than granite on the Mohr's scale of hardness. It often comes in light colors, although it can be found in dark colors too.

As exampled below, the look of marble (left) next to a slab of quartzite (right) is quite comparable.

Carrera Marble.......................................................................................................Madre Perola Quartzite

The kitchen is a prime area to take advantage of quartzite's hardiness, since it will be more resistant to stains, won't etch like marble, and isn't soft enough to be scratched with a knife. In fact, granite fabrication shops often use the most aggressive diamond blade to cut quartzite because it will wear down the standard granite blades too fast.

Calcatta Marble..........................................................................................................King White Quartzite

The following comparison shows another granite-tough surface, called "gneiss", showing shades that rival the warmer tones that marble is traditionally sought out for.

Daino Real Marble...................................................................................................Brown Fantasy Granite

We carry all of these marble, quartzite, gneiss, and granite colors, and a whole lot more. Visit our extensive slabs page to begin designing the kitchen of your dreams!

Also, please visit our main showroom website at www.nssgranite.com