Lemurian

A deep blue-black seeded with labradorite crystals — crystals that throw a sharp blue-turquoise flash when the light strikes them at the right angle, and vanish entirely at another. The same slab reads as a monolithic black from one side of the room and glitters from the other.

Because the flash depends on angle, a stone like this has to be chosen under light, and the cutting direction is worth planning against the light source in the room. It is one of the rarest and most expensive stones in the book, and there is one slab, 295 by 173 — suited to an island or a splashback, where the flash works best.

Granite is a crystalline igneous rock — quartz, feldspar and mica cooled slowly at depth — and among the most durable things you can put in a working kitchen. Everyday use does not scratch it, kitchen acids do not touch it, and a hot pan will not scorch it. It is porous to a degree, so the slab is sealed before delivery; resealing every year or two is what keeps oil marks from settling around the hob.

Every slab is one single piece of rock, and no two slabs of the same stone are ever identical. So we drive out to the supplier's yard with you, choose the actual slab there, and mark the layout on it before it is cut.