Marble and granite countertops have more similarities than differences. Specifically, they are both gorgeous natural stone materials and they both require a significant amount of care. That’s the good and the bad.

With some TLC, however, both granite and marble countertops will keep their fantastic looks for decades, elevating the beauty of your kitchen, bathroom, office, laundry area or wet bar.

Let’s get more specific about comparing marble and granite countertops.

These are natural stone materials, and both are porous. If you want the technical details, marble is a metamorphic rock formed from recrystallized carbon. It is formed out of limestone that is subjected to intense pressure and heat due to tectonic shifting in the earth’s crust.

On the other hand, granite is an igneous rock composed of grains of compressed quartz, feldspar, mica and similar materials. This means that granite is slightly harder than marble, but both offer reasonably good durability.