Yes, GT is darker, with more black, and it sometimes has smaller patterns, though to me the size of the patterns didn't look that different from the Royale. The Royale is more blue (kind of a silvery blue). The sample I brought home was GT. GT is also more expensive (E price vs. D price). Here is a link that might be useful: Earlier discussion about granite color

I realize this is an old thread, but thought I'd my two cents in case anyone else like me reads through this and partially bases his/her choice on all the comments about how indestructible Blue Pearl granite is. I wish I had taken joyce_6333's comment more seriously. We have had our Blue Pearl for a little over one month and I am so sad about it. During the daytime it looks great. At night with the lights on it does not. Scratches and divots can be seen when the light hits it right. The first night after installation we noticed what looked like something smeared and dried on. Two of the fabrication/installation techs came back out and took a razor blades to it to scrape it off. Then I noticed some scratches and a divot. Another tech came out and filled the divot (beautifully, I might add!), but said the scratches are too shallow to fill -- we'd have to have the stone repolished, which is a big job and $$$. In the days after, we noticed even more scratches. Like I said, they show only in certain light. And I have three big dish drying mats and three cutting boards with rubber corner backing protection placed strategically where we'd set anything down. The biggest scratch is almost a (curved) foot long. The other ones are straight and "only" about two inches long each. I am SUPER careful, use Weiman's granite cleaner and clean microfiber clothes, don't let any water drops sit on it, don't even prep anything on it -- I'm using a card table for that because I am afraid to further ruin the granite. Hubby hates it because I barely let him touch it either. We were told, don't cut things on the bare counter -- not because you'll damage the counter, but because you could dull your knives! So how, when we've babied this counter, is it scratched already? And has holes (only two very tiny ones, but still). Husband isn't upset; I am. It's two huge slabs with one seam down the center, which is barely noticeable -- they did such a great job with that. He said if I had seen how hard it was for the five guys to get it in the house and in place, I would understand how it could have been scratched in the process. But, geez, I at least expected it to look brand new on day one. And they sealed it and told us to reseal every 6-12 months even though now I'm reading pretty much everywhere else not to seal Blue Pearl. ??? I will say that the two smaller areas (stove and coffee bar areas) have no visible scratches or divots -- they look really nice. And, oh! The fingerprints!!! I've tried to cover every surface where my husband might put his hands, but sometimes as soon as I move the cloth he'll touch the granite and bam! Fingerprints! I guess this is the downside of having a polished surface. Let's see what happens when we can start having family/friends/guests over again one of these years. I promised hubby I would let it go (or see a therapist about my "obsession" and "emotional attachment" to the countertop). So, this is my way of getting it out, "grieving" the loss of my expectations, and moving on. Hope it helps someone else. [It does look lightyears better than the 40-year-old cracked white tile we had before (already cracked when we moved in). And I am loving that we had the countertop made into one level surface rather than retaining the dysfunctional raised bar area behind the sink. Our job entailed two 3cm slabs @ 124" x 74" (63.72 sq ft). We went with the demi-bullnose edge.]

I have had Blue Pearl granite in my kitchen for about 5 years and I absolutely love it. My kitchen is sunny, and the ever-changing features of this granite continually amaze me at different times of day and in various weather conditions. It looks different on cloudy days than it does when the sun is bright. Sometimes there are little fiery copper-ish specks in it that you normally don't see. On some days the blue leaps out at you while on other days it looks more gray-ish. It's beautiful, and I love it even more today than I did when I first got it. We have a stainless steel sink, which looks good with it, btw. I have a set of blue Le Crueset cookware, with matching blue utensil crocks, sugar bowl, tea kettle, spoon rest, etc, that look really striking with the Blue Pearl granite. One other great thing about this granite is that it doesn't show waterspots or spills. I have to remind myself to wipe the counters, because the busy-ness of the flecks kinda camouflages crumbs and little food spills that occur while cooking. I'm not sure I'd want Blue Pearl in a kitchen that DIDN'T get a lot of light, because you'd miss a lot of the beauty that comes out in it as sunlight plays across the surface. I do a lot of cooking, and I have yet to become so mesmerized by the granite that I've burned the soup, so I say "Go for it!"

Is there a way to put a granite sample next to a copper sink? I'm not familiar with copper sinks, but I will tell you my experience with Emerald Pearl (which is gorgeous, BTW) When I started updating my kitchen I decided I would keep my golden oak cabinets because they were in great shape with a good layout. So, in come the ss appliances and emerald pearl granite (which I had to have). Oak floor, BTW. When the lighting made my cabinets look 'light beige' then it all looked 'ok'. When the lighting made my cabinets look orange, it looked 'not so good'. My theory was that the emerald pearl is basically a cool color which wasn't working with my warm cabinets. Well...the refacers finished this weekend and I now have fabulous dark cherry cabinets (well, doors and veneer anyway). The cherry, ss, and emerald pearl combination is absolutely fabulous! I took the long way around, but ended up with a beautiful kitchen. I don't know how copper fits into the picture, just wanted to offer food for thought.