MetroABQ Blog

Giant Slabs of Uncut Granite: Touring a Granite Warehouse Showroom...Part I

Wednesday, October 12, 2022
by Chris Lucas

Ever been to a Granite Showroom? It's an adventure.

I went to Arizona Tile, "Albuquerque's premier Slab Warehouse," to tour the showroom & learn about all sorts of countertop options; granite was the general focus. Lots of descriptors are used in solid surface jargon, such as Acid Wash, Cleft Finish & Lippage...

This is not about any of those...

This is about being surrounded by monstrous, colorful & quixotic slabs of granite, & taking pictures.

Above is a show-stopper slab of granite that adorn the entrance to Arizona Tile.

Above. I call this attractive slab Winter Sandstorm (not its real name). It's so polished, you can see my reflection in it...
Flags & SlabsThere are different grades & textures of granite cut from quarries all over the world. The image above shows flags from the different contributing nations. Tags on each slab, below, also tell you the individual country of origin.

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Above are three solid surface stones from the Arizona Tile collection which, if framed, might each make great landscape wall-hangings. Smooth all of them, I call them Rough Ocean, Mars Lava Flow & Sedimentary Gumbo (not their real names). You can probably imagine why...

Below are four more granite & quartzite slabs that look extremely textured but are actually smooth to the touch.

Creative namingI appreciate the names given to different stone slabs. Sometimes they fit; others not so.Above: Azul Fantasy & Fusion are perfect names for those slabs, one of which is granite & the other quartzite.

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