Planning to install countertops, especially when you have decided to make the investment to choose a high-end quality stone, you want the results to last a lifetime. This is why it’s important to choose a countertop fabricator you can trust to do the job right the first time.
This kitchen island is set with Bianco Antico Granite and is a main feature in this timeless and classic kitchen.
Few people are aware of what goes into selecting, preparing for and the actual installation of granite, quartz or natural stone countertops. This is one of the reasons it’s so important to have a fabricator who does. The highest quality countertop won’t do you any good unless you choose the right stone and the best fabricator who will perform the shaping and installation excellently. This is exactly why the team at Canaan Stone Works guides you through the process, provides custom fabrication and installs beautiful countertops suited to your home and your needs.
What it takes to get the natural stone from the mine to showroom
The mind-boggling forces involved that create the unique color combinations, striations, inter-mingling of minerals with rock are incomparable and beautiful. Here at Canaan Stone Works, we often have clients ask us why each of the slabs of granite, even with the same name, have different coloration. The simple and the complex answer to that question is this, granite is a natural stone, mined in blocks. Each block must be reviewed as it goes through the process of preparation. This involves cutting the block into slabs and ensuring the slab meets quality standards. We inventory slabs of granite and work with granite showrooms to direct clients to the best quality granite from the same “block,” whenever possible.
Quality, texture, color. What is best for your next countertop? Let Canaan Stone Works guide you in your decision.
Following, we provide a little more in-depth information of how this natural stone is mined, processed, and selected. The end result is the color, texture, and finish choices available for your kitchen, bath or home bar countertops.
Our team at Canaan Stone Works directs their customers to only the best quality granite, and yes, there is lower cost granite available on the market, but in the long run, you will be much happier with a good quality granite. When guiding customers with design options and selection, we review our inventory, your timing and may direct you to showrooms that offer the best and broadest range of choices, like Bedrock International. Bedrock International is a showroom located in Lenexa, KS. The owner, Byron Dougherty, travels to Brazil to source the best granite slabs available. He specifically selects best color, unusual striations in slabs and slabs with the least amount of imperfections. Byron looks for stone slabs that deliver optimum functionality, durability and versatility. Brazil, due to the country’s rich reserve of natural stone resources, produces over 90% of the US imports.
Byron and Vanessa Dougherty, partners, owners, and an eye for color and trend in selecting natural stone slabs.
At Bedrock International, Byron Dougherty, and his partner, Wanessa have been in the natural stone and quartz business for well over a decade. Byron can point out even the smallest imperfection in any slab, if there is one. He travels to Brazil approximately every 2 to 3 months visiting various rock quarries where granite slabs are mined in the mountains. Much like a buyer of fashion, Byron has an eye for colors and patterns and selects the granite that he knows clients will want.
While granite is plentiful in Brazil, the mining of granite involves teams of workers using large scale equipment and the eye to know what to look for in quality slabs. Stone is extracted from quarries with a broad range of machinery, including excavators, backhoes, diamond wire saws, pneumatic drills and various compressors and generators. Production can be as much as 10,000 cubic meters per year.
This granite mine in Brazil is producing blocks of granite that will be take to the factory for additional processing.
Here is an overview of what quality steps are taken in the mining process before it ever hits the showroom for your viewing:
- Extraction of granite blocks from the landscape
- Shipment of the blocks from the mountainside to the factory for production
- Large gang saws are used to cut the block into slabs
- Preparation of the granite slabs for resin filling and the oven for curing (the resin seals fissures and pits)
- Polish and buff
- Quality control inspection
- Each piece is photographed
- Containers are loaded for shipment overseas
It takes a total of about 30 days for the rock to go from where it has been for an eternity to the doorstep of the wholesaler. It takes about 24 to 48 hours to slice one huge block into individual slabs with gang saws. It then takes about 2 days to apply the resin and cure it in the oven. The remainder of the time is spent getting the stone slab to market.
As a quality fabricator and installer of granite, Canaan Stone Works only partners with stone suppliers that offer the best, most high quality granite slabs. When you walk into Bedrock’s showroom, you will be welcomed with a visual array of alluring countertops, practical and designer sinks, faucets, tile and and a vast assortment of natural stone.
Bedrock International showroom located in Lenexa, KS
It is amazing to have the opportunity to see, firsthand, hundreds of types of exotic and classic granite slabs waiting to be shipped to our fabrication facility and be meticulously cut, polished and edge-finished for kitchen countertops, islands, bathroom vanity tops and so much more.
Caesarstone Motivo® collection is visually inviting and stunningly beautiful.
When visiting a granite showroom, you may notice the more exotic looking materials such as onyx and some of the rare granite slabs have a plastic mesh adhered with an adhesive to the entire reverse side. This adherence of plastic mesh is an additional step taken to reinforce some of the more delicate and exotic slabs, keeping them intact for ease of installation.
The warehouse offers a maze of color, style, texture and finishes. Here you can find, granite, quartz, including Caesarstone®, slate and marble. You can also find sinks, faucets, tile, flooring and support for installation.
Granite countertop, sinks, faucets. So many choices
When you are ready to update or are building a new home, ask the team at Canaan Stone Works to work with you to determine the best stone for your countertops. You can view many beautiful, high quality slabs of granite at their location or if needed, you can also pick from hundreds of slabs at approved showrooms in the Kansas City Metro area. The team at Canaan have the knowledge and best partners to help you find the perfect natural stone, guide you through the installation process and assist you in planning your project.
Canaan Stone Works | 913.351.3500 | www.cswkc.net | sales@cswkc.net