Stoned

Oops! If you clicked on this link hoping to get information on marijuana then sorry to have misled you. Even though I live in one of the fine states where it is not a crime to smoke it, I can't help you, so best move along now.

Instead, I'm referring to granite. Or quartz. Or marble. Any of the stones that can be used as kitchen and bathroom countertops because that was our homework this weekend. We traipsed off to Pental Granite & Marble and we rapidly overwhelmed and enthralled by a warehouse almost without end filled with granite slabs from around the world in virtually every color you can imagine. Some of these slabs measured over 8' high and 10' long! All are arranged on racks showcasing as much of the surface as possible. The picture above is just one aisle- imagine hundreds more stretching as far as the eye can see.

It was funny then to see this sign:

This sign is posted everywhere and is laughable on two levels. One, the odds of me moving one of these slabs are slim to none. Less than none, actually. Two, you know that this sign is only around because some fool (man) did try and move a piece of granite.

 Here are just a few of the many choices we saw:

Heavily patterned with blue and beige

This is not granite but is a bluish soapstone. It had the look of crumpled paper. Cool, but blue is not a color I want for a counter. Soapstone is a great choice for kitchen because it doesn't stain. Unfortunately, it only comes in very dark colors like grey, black, and tobacco.

I cannot even imagine this geode slab as a countertop...or what it must cost.

There was no way to get a photo to do this justice. The slab had these iridescent patches across the top that made it shimmer. One of the most unique pieces of stone I've ever seen.

 This is one of the granite slabs I liked. I'm leaning toward greens as a color family. Note that they do not give you prices at all. Instead the slabs are graded and the grades are the opposite of school grades, i.e. D is best and A is worst.

Another slab I liked. This one is softer than the one above but it may have too much cream/white veins.

There you have it: Granite 101. And that wasn't even the end of the day- next up was heading into another building to look at flooring tiles. More on that later.