Reflections of Nature: 6 Granite Counters with Unbelievable Patterns

There is nothing more inherently inspiring than looking at beautiful natural landscapes in person. The next best thing is to see echoes of these vistas captured in the unique patterns and colors of natural stone.

When walking through a countertop fabricator’s warehouse or granite slab-yard, many are struck by how many types of granite, marble, and quartzite resemble aerial views of the earth or the night sky. In this post, we’ll feature a few of these breathtaking patterns that are available right here in the greater St. Louis area.

The Lava Rocks

Now, it’s not hard to guess why so many types of granite resemble cooled or flowing lava. Granite is an igneous rock, which means at one time it was indeed molten lava deep below the earth’s surface.

Desert Dream Granite is one of the most striking in this category, with copper, burnt orange, and ash gray swirling into a jet black background. This granite looks different from each set of slab to the other, making each a unique snapshot of the intensity of the earth’s inner layers.

While Titanium Granite does sometimes have traces of gold or copper in it, it is primarily black and white. Its swirls have that same distinct look of molten rock, but in this case the colors are those of cooled lava: off-white and jet black.

The Arctic Rocks

Though quarried in the warmer climate of Brazil, Alaska White Granite’s crisp white and black colors look distinctly like ice floes breaking off from a glacier and drifting out into a dark artic sea. Cool and soothing, this popular granite provides an extra bit of natural inspiration in classic bright white or black and white kitchen.

Sea Pearl Quartzite is a translucent, off-white stone with long diagonal lines and a pearly sheen. It has a faint undertone of pale green, which give its pattern the appearance of sea foam cresting on cool waves.

The Riverbed Stone

Black Marinace Granite (Nero Marinache) is a spectacularly unique natural stone. Geologically speaking, it is a polymict pebble conglomerate. Each of the round stones in its pattern was likely rolled smooth over a long period of time as a glacier moved over them. Then, a silt or sediment washed over them and hardened as it was covered with more and more layers of new rocks and silt. If you look closely, you can see a “weather rime” or faint change of color around the edge of some of the individual rocks where each pebble came into contact with the elements.

The Milky Way Stone

Cosmos Wave Granite has an unusually high amount of mica and large pieces of quartz, minerals that give this granite its signature shimmer. Swirls of silver, gold, and copper give make slabs appear as if they were photos taken from the telescopes that can zoom in on the Milky Way.

Beauty of these stunning granites is not easy to capture in photographs.  If you are in St. Louis, Missouri area, you are most welcome to visit these granites in person.