From the quarry to your kitchen: How countertops are made
Granite is an igneous type of rock that is originated inside the Earth and is the result of the crystallization of hot, fluid magma from Earth’s crust. That magma can be expelled as lava or retained inside. That molten material solidifies at different levels mixing it along with other minerals of different origins creating very complex color patterns.
The cooling process also varies depending on the minerals, some will do so in a question of seconds, others will last months and some others will take thousands of years.
Granite is mostly found in every continent and is obtained by drilling down at different depths. The quarries obtain granite by extracting huge chunks of 10 yards square and then splitting them into smaller slabs to be transported by truck to the sawing facility.
They saw the granite into slabs of different thicknesses according to the different application: quarter inch for tiles, ¾ inch and 1 inch ¼ for countertops. This process is similar to how a loaf of bread is cut into slices.
Each slab is water polished on one side with big, rotary buffers and they arrange them in bundles to be shipped inside containers from remote places like Middle East, Brazil or New Zealand to your local granite yard.
When choosing multiple sheets of granite, it is ideal to select from a bundle, because all the slabs will share the same characteristics such as colors, variation and movement. Make sure also that each slabs be contiguous with each other. They will usually have one serial number associated with it. This number represents the order in which the sheet of granite was split from the major block. You want to pick consecutive numbers like 13, 14, 15 and not 13, 24, 25 for example.
After customer selected materials we bring slabs to Fandos Marble & Granite and we individually cut each slab according to layouts. We use a top of the line table saw that tilts the top to move the sheets of granite from a vertical to horizontal position. A diamond blade is used to perform the cuts guided by a numerically controlled computer that produce exact straight lines.
Once we have the different sections, we proceed with the sector machine that uses a special diamond bit which rotates to create the desired edge of the countertops.
After that we polish edges with different wet sand grits to give it the shine that will make your countertops shine for the lifetime of the product.
We also cut the holes for the sink and polish the interiors and create anchor points from which the sink will be attached.
All the narrow fragile parts are reinforced with steel rods gutted inside the granite and we also slight polish the bottom of the countertop to make it smoother to the touch even if you don’t see it.
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