There is a process that must take place for marble and granite countertops to go from the quarry to the kitchen. The process of kitchen countertop fabrication hasn’t changed a whole lot since the times of the ancient Greeks, but the process has become more automated.

Huge stones are taken from the quarries, out of which marble and granite slabs are cut to use for various purposes. After that, the marble and granite slabs are cut and polished to suit the needs of different customers.

The idea of kitchen countertop fabrication and installation hasn’t changed much, but the equipment that people use has improved with the latest technology. Basically, marble and granite countertops are cut and polished using saws, polishers, and routers. The saws serve many purposes in the kitchen countertop fabrication process, starting with the cutting of stones into slabs. Diamond saws are usually used for the initial cutting of marble and granite slabs. Bridge saws are used to cut the slabs into more specific shapes, such as for marble and granite countertops, flooring, and mantels.

The polishers also play an integral role in the process of kitchen countertop fabrication, because they sand down the surface to the texture that different customers desire. Marble and granite slabs can be polished to a mirror finish from the course rock they once were. Rotating pads are used to polish down the marble and granite countertops. Most modern polishers can produce a variety of finishes during the kitchen countertop fabrication process. Finishes include smooth, soft looks, or slick, shiny mirror finishes. Specialized finishes such as flamed or hammered are also popular.

The routers complete the last step in the kitchen countertop fabrication process. These tools produce edge profiles on the marble and granite slabs, or cut designs into larger slabs so they can be used for things like fireplace mantels. The edge profiles on marble and granite countertops can be simple or highly decorative, depending on what the customers want. These machines used to be operated by hand, or had some limited automatic function. In the past, marble and granite countertops with complex edge profiles might have taken three weeks or longer to produce.

What has taken the kitchen countertop fabrication process into the 21st century is computer technology. A process called computer numeric control, or CNC, uses digital technology to control all the machines in the process. Now the process of taking marble and granite slabs and turning them into beautiful counters, mantels, hearths or other decorative home pieces takes hours instead of weeks. In fact, CNC has doubled the productivity of most kitchen countertop fabrication shops. This technology has dramatically increased the quality of the finished product, and the process of creating marble and granite countertops will likely continue to improve in the future.