Black absolute is basalt and its extremely hard. Did you see the slab before they cut it? I am a fabricator and I try not to ever touch the top of the stone specially BA because its takes a lot of work to get it to match factory polish. How big are the rough spots? It could be also left over glue from them working on the top. If stone was already rough to begin with they should have returned it to the supplier and requested a better slab. Again BA is not the type of granite that has a lot of pitting the top should be almost like glass. Hope this helps.

I assumed you were talking about bianco antico. I'm sorry you're having thugs problem - I can imagine how bummed you are. You're making me nervous - I'm getting bianco installed in a few weeks (my cabinets are being installed next week). I look forward to hearing the answers from the other ba people here! Good luck. I hope its just glue or something!

I think it's normal. I can feel the places where the crystal is at the surface. I too had the preconceived idea that it should feel like a piece of glass to the touch. It's a stone, a piece of nature it is full of crystals (or whatever they are technically called, but they do look like diamonds or crystals).

If you are feeling a fissure, that catches your cloth that runs along the surface, then maybe that is different.

There was a thread awhile ago from paintpanther about this very topic. I couldn't find it on GW's search engine (big surprise) but I found it in my google search.

Call the fabricator just to put your mind to rest, but I think it's probably going to be fine.

Here is a link that might be useful: thread about BA surface

I'm sorry, I should have stated that my granite is Bianco Antico. I forget BA could stand for a few others.

I guess what makes me question is that 85% of my granite (at least) IS SMOOTH as glass. ALL edges & the majority of my working space. But the top piece of counter on my step up bar, the piece under my glass front cabinet and the piece on my bathroom vanity feel rough to the touch. I did see my slabs in person, but I really don't remember touching them.

For the record, my Absolute Black (sometimes called "Black Absolute") is smooth a glass...except at the seams.

What's "normal" for one granite, or one slab vs. the next, can change. Absolute black has very consistant and small crystalline structure. It's "normal" appearance is very smooth, with some rougher larger crystalline areas being possible. It's a minority in granite in that it's usually very smooth to the touch with no pits or fissures visible. Most granite will be anything but 100% mirror smooth. If that's one of your top requirements for your counter, then engineered stone would come nearer fulfulling that requirement than natural stone.

Bianco Antico has a larger crystalline structure and isn't ever going to be considered glass smooth. It's normal to have pits and fissures running through the slabs and those areas can always be seen with the naked eye against the light, and they can also sometimes be felt. That's normal and is far more typical of most "granite" being sold today, and that's part of the charm of Mother Nature. Some stone yards inject resin into their stones both to help them hold together during fabrication and to fill in some of those pits and fissures. It's not a wrong or right approach. It's just two different approaches to stone.

my bianco antico is far from smooth as glass. in fact, on my island there is one spot so rough that the fabricators said i may want to choose a different slab. but all the slabs had rough spots, cracks, fissures, etc. so i kept this one. everyone notices the spot, but i don't care...it's a stone. a natural stone.

you can kind of see the rough spot in the pic below. it's the corner of the island that is closest in the pic (on the short end) but on the same long side as the sink.

Thanks so much for all of your feedback!

I'm much relieved to know this is a characteristic of Bianco Antico. And I wouldn't trade or change it for anything else. I'm in deep deep love with this granite.

Since I've never had granite before, I guess I also "assumed" it would be shiny and smooth all over. Shows what I know. And I absolutely agree that's a huge part of the beauty - that it's a natural stone. That's exactly why I couldn't find any engineered stone that spoke to me. Because they ARE so uniform (please no offense to those that have it!) Thanks for reminding me.

Srg215 - thanks so much for sharing pics. Your kitchen is really fabulous!

Thanks again all!