The first step to identifying what your countertop is made of is to identify if they are manufactured or natural. Each slab of marble and granite is never the same as any other made. Your countertop is natural stone if two areas are distinct.
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How to tell if your marble countertop is real
Marble countertops are usually highly glossy and white. Impurities also cause veins of black, pink, yellow, and grey. Lastly, marble is translucent which gives it great beauty and depth. Looking at the countertops, you should be able to see a few millimetres past the surface.
How to tell if your quartz countertop is real
Quartz countertops are a mix of various materials sometimes including granite, marble, resin, or polymers. Because of the man-made quality of quartz, there is great variety in colors and patterns available to the consumer.
Quartz countertops will have more consistent color and pattern than granite or marble countertops.
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How to tell if your countertop is granite
Granite tends to have more color as it is a collection of many minerals including mica, feldspar, quartz, and crystals. Granite countertops will appear to have a speckled pattern, showing all the different minerals coming together to form the slab.
Granite may have a veiny appearance similar to marble, but upon closer examination will appear more grainy and less distinct than marble. Granite is opaque, unlike the slight transluicinity of marble.
How to tell if your countertop is laminate
Laminate countertops are usually a mix of paper, plastic, and board. Laminate material is a thin layer laminated to a chip board. You will not be able to see as much bulk or height as you would with natural stone countertops.
In addition, laminate countertops will have an unnatural, repeating pattern unlike the irregularity and variety with marble, granite or quartz.
