Can you name these granites?

11 years ago

I went to an all-in-one granite importer/fabicator/installer today to look at granite for a bathroom vanity. The one style I liked was sold out, but I had a couple of back ups. I asked for the names of the granites and apparently this place names them differently than other granite places (I had flashbacks to mattress shopping).

Two out of the three names they gave me do not exist on google; the third does, but I don't trust that it's accurate. I thought I would post pictures to see if anyone recognizes these stones.

The shop ranks their stones as a pricing level 1 through 11, with one being the cheapest.

This is a level 1 - It was called Bianco Stella. The dark areas are actually almost a cranberry color:

This is a level 5 - It was called Alpine White

This is the one that was sold out - it is a level 10. It was called Austrian Crystal

It makes me uneasy to not really know what I would be ordering. Can any of you help? Thanks.

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Comments (5)

bonnie.mclean3_user_4dcd6
11 years ago
check out super white. Also see Bianco Romano
Pipdog
11 years ago
The third slab looks similar to White Princess quartzite.
veevs
11 years ago
ive heard of and see alpine white before... dont think thats made up. havent heard of the other two though.. i do have bianco romano tho and love it so maybe you should check it out.... i think its pretty mid-range
cindee56
11 years ago
check out Kashmir White
karin_mt
11 years ago
I'm not good with the countertop versions of the names of rocks, but I can tell you what they are in the geologic sense.

The first one is unlike any countertop stone I've seen, but that's not saying much. The cranberry minerals are garnet. The rest of the rock is quartz and feldspar. This rock is going to be durable like all the other rocks in the granite family. (even though it is technically a metamorphic rock)

The second one reminds me of other white granites I've seen. This one is mostly feldspar (the porcelain white) with quartz (glassy grey) and perhaps biotite (dk brown to black). It's also safely in the granite family.

I'd test both of these for staining, but they will be fine in terms of resistance to acid and hardness.

The third one falls in that danger zone that looks like quartzite but it also looks like marble. Proceed carefully and do the glass-scratch test to see if it's quartz or not.

Sorry that I don't know much about the names, but at least I can tell you something about their mineral makeup.

(PS - my favorite is the first one!)