Granite is a popular choice in kitchens and bathrooms because of its high durability and aesthetic qualities. It is stain and abrasion resistant and totally recyclable.

From as far back as the 26th century BC, granite has been used as a building material. The Read Pyramid of Egypt was constructed of limestone and granite blocks. The Great Pyramid of Giza contains a huge sarcophagus fashioned of Red Aswan Granite. In India, an entire temple was built out of granite in the 11th century AD.

Granite is a hard stone and requires skill to carve by hand. Before the invention of steam-powered cutting and dressing tools in the 18th century, granite could only be carved by hand tools. Modern methods of carving include using computer-controlled rotary bits and sandblasting over a rubber stencil.

The extremely varied and colourful patterns of marble make it a favourite decorative material and an ideal medium for bathroom countertops, floors, showers and tubs. As the favourite medium of sculptors and architects, marble has become a symbol of refined taste.

Marble is a rock resulting from metamorphism of sedimentary carbonate rocks, most commonly limestone or dolomite rock. The term marble is used for any crystalline calcitic rock. The characteristic swirls and veins of many colour marble varieties are usually due to various mineral impurities such as clay, silt, sand, iron oxides, or chert which were originally present as grains or layers in the limestone. Green coloration is often due to serpentine resulting from originally high magnesium limestone or dolostone with silica impurities. These various impurities have been mobilized and recrystallized by the intense pressure and heat of the metamorphism.