Granite:

Granite is composed of minerals such as quartz, feldspar and mica making it durable and highly scratch resistant. In fact, it is the hardest natural mineral available for countertops, making it highly resistant to heat and scratches and non-susceptible to bleaching from the sunÕs UV rays.

The most prevalent advantage of granite is its natural appearance. Granite has a natural flow which creates a unique variance of color and design specific to an individual piece. Each piece of granite is therefore highly exclusive to its owner with no exact replica in the world.

Marble:

Marble is mainly a composition of granular limestone, or dolomite, that has been re-crystallized under the influence of heat, pressure, and aqueous solutions. This often occurs when interbedded with metamorphic rocks found in the older layers of the EarthÕs crust that have been deeply buried in regions across the globe. For this reason, mining must be done with extreme care and with highly developed techniques to allow for larger pieces of stone to be recovered.

Even the purest of marble contains some accessory minerals which help in giving it the distinctly unique variations of color and design. For instance, bands of calc-silicate rock may alternate with band of marble and form nodules and patches which can produce interesting and highly original decorative effects.

Marble can have fissures that are filled with veins of calcite that occur when the rocks shatter by movements of the Earth, ultimately creating many of the beautiful veined marble pieces. Some marble stones, such as onyx, create their individual look through a series of common centers of calcite deposited from cold-water solutions in caves and crevices and around the exits of springs.

Marble is also highly resistant to the natural wear down that can occur with other natural stone. The calcite marbles are especially durable when exposed to atmospheric moisture and the natural elements, which is why it is regularly used as the primary stone for statues. Calcite also has a double refractive characteristic, which means that it can transmit light in two directions giving some marble an unmatched shine.