I'm not taking this experience for "Granite"

Brian and I had the big decision this week about picking granite for our kitchen and bathrooms. We had narrowed down our decision based on samples that a granite salesman had provided. The samples are about a four inch square block. It was hard to envision what a huge island would look like from that little four inch block. Luckily, it was pretty easy to go from 12 choices down to two or three favorites. Since it is such a big decision, we decided we better take advantage of Brian's vacation day and make the two hour drive to west Atlanta to the granite warehouse. The whole way up there I kept thinking that we might be wasting our time. But once we got there and got to see everything in person, I was glad we went. 

Even though there is a name for a certain color or source of granite, there can be huge color variations in that one group. When you buy granite, you have to pick out something you like and then ensure that, if needed, they have enough slabs taken from that exact "block" of granite.  It's like picking out a wallpaper and making sure that the lot numbers match.

We were able to pick out a slab that was our favorite. After going to the check out counter, they informed us that there was only one slab available in the color we wanted. We had to start over. Luckily there was a very similar "block" that we were able to pull from. Hopefully it will all work out and I'm sure we won't know the difference once it is installed.

Just FYI, all the granite at this particular warehouse comes from Brazil. Sounds very exotic that our little Auburn, Alabama home will have countertops from South America!

Here is one of the warehouse workers using this machine and clamp to move the slabs around so we can check out the exact slabs we are purchasing. As you can see, he was reluctant for his photo to be added to this blog.

Although these slabs weigh hundreds of pounds, it made me nervous walking by them. I felt like they were going to fall over at any moment. But our sales rep assured me they wouldn't fall like dominoes.