Color

• Your interior or exterior home or commercial project can be in almost any color combination when you choose to use granite as your project material. Granite colors range from white, yellow and green to blue, brown and black and all shades in between. Some granite fabricating companies boast as many as 400 colors to choose from. Because granite is basically a volcanic stone composed of feldspar, quartz and mica minerals, color variations exist. Because other minerals can be present as well, the color options are practically endless. The color doesn't just differ from one slab of granite to another. The color differs throughout the slab of stone, so purchasing it as a slab helps home owners maintain the grain and color.
  
  

Pricing

• The price of your granite will be impacted by two main factors: the location of the quarry from which the granite was taken and the rarity of the color, which can be impacted by the quarry location, too. Pricing also will be impacted by whether you are a do-it-yourself granite installer or you hire a professional -- and the type of finish used on the product, as well as the amount of granite needed for your project and the company you buy it from. What will not impact the pricing, however, is the quality of the stone because granite quality is uniform regardless of location of quarry or color.
  
  

Finishes

• The finish you choose for your granite will make its appearance differ from other similarly colored stones from the same location. Finish options include brushed, flamed, honed, polished, suede and water-jet. Polished granite is often used for kitchen and bathroom countertops. Water-jet finishes enable stone fabricators to cut your granite to your specifications -- even for thick and larger pieces -- without changing the physical or chemical properties of the stone (or look). Water-jet finishes also allow installers to make an accurate edge, requiring no secondary process to clean it up afterward.
  
  

Size and Shape

• You might want a long slab of granite for your kitchen countertop, but you might prefer granite tiles for your bathroom walls. Both size options are available. You can get granite cut into different shapes, too, especially when using the precision of water-jet cutting. And granite is also available in special-order sizes that match your project, according to Stone Design.