All Granite and Marble solid surface stone comes in the form of large sheets called slabs. The average size of a slab can vary greatly depending on the material selection. Marble slabs are generally much smaller than granite slabs due to the softness of marble. Granite slabs will usually average between 52 and 58 Square Feet with an overall size composition of 110”  - 115” Long by 65” - 73” High. When selecting slabs it is important to understand that your stone is a natural product, therefore it has natural beauty as well as natural flaws. The most common flaw in stone is what’s known as “Fissure’s”; these are small hairline cracks in the stone. These cracks are inherent in all natural stone, and the majority of them are not a concern. Exotics will be more prone to fissures than really dense stones such as your darker solids. If the fissure is not a crack you can feel with your fingernail and the overall appearance looks nice to you than feel comfortable with your selection. The next thing to realize is that these slabs are being cut out of mountains in really large blocks. Once the blocks are removed the quarry will slice the blocks into the smaller pieces. You want to select slabs that have been numbered consecutively and are “Book Matched, Vein Matched” as this means they were once right next to one another before being sliced apart. This match will be very advantageous to us when we have to place a seam between two pieces of granite and make it appear to not be there at all.

A Slab thickness is calibrated in one of two ways, 2cm (3/4”) is the most common and 3cm (1 1/4”) which is growing in popularity very quickly.  What this means to you is this:

• 2cm needs to have a sub deck affixed to the cabinetry (usually 3/4”   plywood) prior to installation as the stone needs additional support. With this sub deck being added to the cabinet we now have to hide this from view, so an additional strip of stone is laminated to the bottom side of the outer most edge to hide this decking leaving you with an overall “Edge Detail” thickness of 1 ½”. 3cm stone needs no sub decking so therefore no laminated edge either leaving you with an overall “Edge Detail” thickness of 1 1/4”. And all- though you pay less for no sub decking and no lamination the overall cost of 3cm granite is slightly more as the stone itself can be between 25% - 50% more per Sq. Ft.

On the following page we have done our best to show a step by step process to help you determine a budget for your slab counters cost.  Hopefully this will help you make the decision to use natural stone as your material of choice, as it will provide you with years of beauty and durability.