Granite Countertops

The granite countertops are in and look great. I had planned on the countertops coming right up to the window ledge, but had the cabinets built just short of the ledge with a 3cm top on them because I thought it would look better to be just below the window ledge vs. higher that the window ledge. Well, for the first time this build, it worked out absolutely perfectly! The granite meets the window ledge EXACTLY!! The piece next to the range is a bit too wide and needs to be trimmed down, but other than that everything looks great! All counters are 3cm thick.

This is the second time I've used black granite. Besides the fact tht it shows every speck of dust, I really like black. Even though all black granite essentially looks the same, every piece is unique and different, this particular piece had a lot of mica, or small pieces of minerals in the granite that polish differently and look sometimes like water stains if you look at it from a certain angle. I really like the inconsistencies of having a natural stone but I wanted to lessen the water stain look so I used a black polish to take some of the glare away.

Below is the granite before the black polish. The bits of mica are  dull and  look like water spots.

After the polish.

I used kiwi black shoe polish. Rubbed it in everywhere and then buffed it off with a soft towel.

Window ledge and granite

The island has granite called Bianco Montahna. I really love the look of carrera marble, but I know how fragile it is and how easily it stains and this island will be used a lot and need to hold up to some abuse. Bianco Montahna is a close alternate to marble. Up close it has some reddish pink spots and greys and browns.

Here's a picture of it magnified where you can see the reddish spots: