A stone has natural beauty, with varied shades, markings, veining and color. Just as in wood and other natural products, no two pieces of stone are alike.
Natural stone is made up of several different minerals, each having different degrees of hardness. Some of the softer or flakier minerals on the surface are removed during the polishing process, causing pits. These pits do not make the stone less durable or inferior. As a natural product, the slab may contain naturally occurring imperfections.
These characteristics, including color variations, irregular markings, fissure lines (which appear as hairline cracks), and polishing swirls all add to the beauty and rugged elegance that is normal with natural stone.
Natural stone slabs are literally cut from the side of a mountain; the coloring of any portion of a quarry wall will vary depending on the natural forces that have produced the rock. Colors will vary from one end of a slab to the other, and one slab to the next even from the same block. Some colors have a greater degree of shade and pattern differentiation.
Slabs can be selected at a stone yard and reserved by the consumer prior to fabrication.