Fissures in Granite Countertops

Fissures in granite are incredibly common, especially in slabs with a large dramatic design. In the slab yard, with the slab sitting vertically, these fissures are present and yet not so easily recognized. In the excitement of choosing an exquisite slab it's easy to stand back and focus on the slab as a whole instead.

It's when your countertops are installed and the sunlight shines through the window onto your new horizontal surface that you are likely to notice a fine web of what seems to be... cracks!

Sunlight streams across your new countertops and your
 stomach drops. OH NO. Are these cracks? Is my countertop
going to fall apart? Have no fear, you are only looking
at normal harmless fissures.

These fine little lines are what are known as "fissures". Fissures are tiny edges in the composition of the minerals that your countertops are built of. Fissures are present in a good portion of the granite, marble, and travertine slabs that are available. They often help make up the artistic look of the slab you chose. They are not cracks.

This close-up of a vertically oriented slab shows how hard
it is to notice fissures when you are in a showroom,
bedazzled by hundreds of natural works of art. The white
line stretching between two spots of black feldspar
is a fissure in this perfectly sound slab if Delicatus.

The fissure here, composed of quartz, simply looks
like a line that is slightly darker than the rest of the slab.

Actual cracks will be different in composition than fissures. Cracks are not solid, so they will have an opening that debris can fall into. If you find cracks like the one shown below in your countertop, your granite company should be able to help you fill and hide them from view. This can still be done without any compromise to the strength of your counters.

A real crack. It does not follow the pattern of the
granite and consists of a gap that debris can fit into.

To see our gorgeous selection of quality granite, please go to www.nssgranite.com

Slabs From Around the World!

Here at Natural Stone Source, new bundles of slabs are starting to arrive over the seven seas. We often marvel at the places and distances these slabs have traveled from! We are so excited about these new arrivals, we decided to share some of the most intriguing.

The most common country of origin that our slabs arrive from is Brazil.

A crane lifts slabs in a Brazilian
warehouse for transport to
our showroom!

These slabs include the handsome and map-like New Azul Aran granite slab...

New Azul Aran, from Brazil

 As well as our leathered visual delight, Verde Cristal...

Verde Cristal, also from Brazil

The popular opalescent Blue Pearl slab is seen and sold in many showrooms, including ours, but were you aware that is comes to our showroom from the cold northern country of Norway?

The Norwegian granite, Blue Pearl

 But where does a wild slab such as Onice Verde, the sumptuous green onyx, hail from? The answer may stun you: Pakistan!

Onice Verde, a Pakistani onyx

Another prismatic stone, Labradorite, which is acutally classified as a quartzite, ships across the waters from the exotic land of Madagascar. Our source for this stone likes to tell us the story of her visit to the Madagascar quarry on a donkey!

Labradorite, a Madagascan treasure

And finally, in this installation of worldly stone slabs, a favorite of many, the Baltic Brown slab immigrates to America from the distant country of... Finland!

Finnish Baltic Brown

For these and many other slabs of granite, onyx, marble, and more, please visit our main website at www.nssgranite.com to browse our fine array of available stone.

The Contrasting Kitchen Island

Kitchen islands are a wonderful opportunity to add spice and pizzazz to your kitchen by contrasting them from the main countertops. The contrast can be achieved in a couple ways: either through countertop colors, cabinet colors, or both.

An Island With Movement Contrasted Against
Neutral Main Countertops

Often home designers will create kitchens that have a dark neutral or plain light set of main countertops. These dark countertops may be absolute black, uba tuba, or any dark slab that has hardly any movement or pattern to it, or even a wonderful light grey Madre Perola. The center island is then a wonderful place to put a high movement, richly colored countertop that uses light colors or gold hues.



At times, the cabinetry alone may be changed by mixing cabinet colors but keeping the cabinet style the same. We have seen dark wood cabinets on the bottom with a light maple cabinet color and light maple uppers above the main countertops.

Contrasting Cabinet Stains With Granite Tops

Our favorite combination involves a contrast in both countertop granite colors and cabinet shades. The island and the main countertops are tied together only by cabinet style, heightening the visual appeal of the entire kitchen.

To pick out the granite colors for your kitchen, visit www.nssgranite.com or go to the main granite slab selector at http://nssgranite.com/granite-marble-slabs.html.

How Do I Know My Granite is Sealed?

Keeping a seal on natural stone is essential for it's maintenance. A good sealer will defend against stains and mold by preventing liquids from penetrating the stone's surface. If the sealer wears away or is degraded by substances such as bleach or lemon juice, how can we make this fact apparent to the naked eye?

There is a simple test to discover if a stone is properly sealed or not, and it is virtually free.

Using a spray bottle, squirt plain water onto the surface of granite, marble, travertine, or any natural stone surface.

Beaded water on sealed granite does not soak into stone.

If the water beads on the stone and does not soak into the stone at all, the seal on the stone is good. Water will bead when it cannot soak into the surface beneath it.

Unsealed travertine. The left side of this tile has been
soaked with water.

If the water eventually soaks into the stone, leaving a slightly darker mark where the water has soaked in, you have unsealed or improperly sealed stone. The best action at that time is to find the proper sealer that is suited to your purposes and seal the granite, marble, travertine, etc.

For an extensive granite selection on the central coast of California, please go to www.nssgranite.com and browse our marble and granite slabs.

For the best prices on marble, travertine, and granite sealers, please go to www.nssgranitetools.com today!

Granite Vs. Tile Countertops

What is more economical; a granite slab countertop or a tile countertop?


Resale Value
The kitchen of every home is an important investment. Resale value of the home can greatly affected by the materials installed into this one crucial room. Materials possessing elegance and durability will always be worth more, and the granite slab kitchen carries both such qualities.

Quality of Materials
It's true, initially tile materials cost less than a granite slab. The value retained in tile, however tends to degrade rather quickly. Tiles are thinner than granite slab, measuring only 3/8 of an inch, making tile more susceptible to damage during everyday use. A dropped utensil, a heavy weight, or even settling of the house can result in cracks and chips in tile countertop surfaces. One or two chipped tiles can degrade the look of a kitchen quickly.

Slab countertops hold up far better. Granite slabs are either 3/4 of an inch or 1 1/8 inch thick, holding themselves together more strongly with graduating thicknesses. The edges can be laminated once or twice, presenting 1 1/2 inches or more of some of natures toughest material! Chips can be filled and made to look invisible, and a settling house has much less of a chance against a monolithic slab countertop when it comes to cracking.

Grout Maintenance
Grout between tiles is another factor that tends to degrade in a tile kitchen countertop. Since kitchens are usually filled with harsh and acidic substances like food and cleaners, the seal on grout can wear away quickly and without warning. Once it's seal is gone, grout is highly susceptible to stains and mold. The substance most often chosen to fight stains and mold is bleach, and bleach actually serves to worsen grout's breakdown. For these many reasons, homeowners tend to lament the upkeep of grout between tile in the kitchen countertop.

Granite slab countertops have no grout. They may need a couple of seams to join solid portions, but for the most part granite presents a smooth continuous surface that is highly resistant to stains, scratches, mold. No grout cleaning is necessary with slab countertops, and that is a big relief to anyone who has to keep a kitchen clean!

Beauty and Durability Combined
Solid granite surfaces also allow for the play of natural stone movement to carry across entire countertops. Nature's art can be either breathtaking or subtle, depending upon the granite slab picked, and it will always be unique from one slab to the next, and from one kitchen to the next. With each granite slab kitchen as unique as a rare gem, the value of every home bearing a granite kitchen increases and remains high in equity.

Homeowners choosing tile for kitchen countertops can save money at first, but over time tile countertops will degrade in look and need to be replaced. Granite, however, is forever. The value of a home will remain steady with granite in the kitchen.

To see a great selection of marble, travertine, and granite slabs on the central coast of California, please visit us at www.nssgranite.com. Or pay us a visit in person at 425 N. Frontage Rd. in Nipomo California, 93444.

What Do Granite Countertops Cost?

Free Online Granite Estimate

Now Natural Stone Source is offering free estimates done through the interwebs! All you need to do is enter a few crucial details into our online form at this web address http://nssgranite.com/free-estimates.html and a representative from Natural Stone Source will reckon what your granite or marble project will cost.

Details To Gather

Square Feet You will need to put together a roundabout square footage amount. If you measure the length of your countertop in feet, then multiply by two, this is often just under the actual square footage amount. A laminated "bullnose" overhang will add 1/3 of a square foot for each linear foot of countertop that you measure. 

Preferred Material If you know the exact name of granite or marble that you would like in your project, this will be an excellent help in determining the cost of your material. Some people only have an idea of the type of color or possibly engineered stone like Caesarstone, but this information is helpful too. 

Contact Information Once we put an estimate together for you, we need to know how to deliver those numbers. Do you prefer to be emailed? Called by phone? Let us know and we will be happy to assist you. 

We look forward to serving you, and happy online estimating! 

Free Online Granite Estimate

Natural Stone Source is located at 425 N. Frontage Rd. in Nipomo California, 93444. You can browse our selection of slabs and our latest designs at www.nssgranite.com too!

Durable Engineered Stone

What's the most durable surface in the world? A countertop made of diamonds probably. The next best surface material might be quartzite, but just beneath that is a man made substance called engineered stone.

Companies such as Caesarstone, LG, Silestone, and Cambria Stone are adept at producing an incredibly hard and impermeable surface that the industry generalizes as "engineered stone". This countertop material is made of real stone that is ground down and combined in pleasing and predictable color palettes with a polymer that binds it together.

The lure of engineered stone is it's durability, combined with the fact that every slab can look the same, allowing for great seam matching and easy color schemes for decorating. Many engineered stones are resistant to bacteria, and come sealed forever so that re-sealing is not an issue. The wide variety of colors, including bright hues of green from Caesarstone, as well as realistic simulated granite patterns from Cambria Stone, make the concept even more attractive.

In the fabrication shops, fabricators will attest for the solid nature of engineered stone. When being fabricated, these materials rarely break in unpredictable ways like granite can. Granite and marble, being formed by nature, sometimes have fissures between crystals that can come apart when under the extreme pressures of fabrication. Engineered stone stays together under conditions that would often see a natural stone break.

The only drawback to engineered stone slabs is the one attribute that also attracts homeowners: it's predictable colors and patterns. A slab of granite is like a work of art, often beautiful enough to frame and place as a wall decoration with it's strata and movement. Granite's spontaneous colors and wandering patterns won't be found in engineered stone, but for many designs that works out well.

Find engineered stone as well as natural stone at www.nssgranite.com or visit us in person at 425 N. Frontage Rd. in Nipomo California, 93444.