Granite is the one you choose slab by slab
Granite is natural igneous stone, quarried in blocks and sawn into slabs, and no two are the same. That is the entire appeal. Where engineered quartz gives you a repeatable pattern, granite gives you movement, depth and mineral flecks that were formed over millions of years and will never appear in another kitchen. You do not pick granite from a small chip; you go to the yard and choose the actual slab your counters will be cut from.
It is also the toughest common countertop against the two things a kitchen throws hardest: heat and abrasion. A pan straight off the burner will not scorch a granite top, and a knife dragged across it will dull before the stone does.
Sealing, and why it is not a chore
Granite is porous, so it is sealed on installation and typically resealed every one to three years depending on the stone and how hard the kitchen works. Modern impregnating sealers make this a ten-minute job: wipe on, wait, wipe off. A simple water-drop test tells you when it is due — if water beads, you are fine; if it darkens the stone, it is time. Sealed granite resists staining from oil, wine and coffee comfortably.
Fabrication is where the slab becomes a countertop
Because granite is a natural material with occasional fissures and variation, layout matters even more than with quartz. We digitally template, then plan the cut so the best movement lands on the island and the run your eye hits first, and so seams fall in low-stress, low-visibility spots. Cutouts and edges are machined and polished in the shop. The result is a surface that looks inevitable rather than assembled.