Killer Countertops

Granite kitchens. Everybody knows that means countertops, black and shiny beyond belief, accompanied by stainless steel appliances and brown woodwork, the crabgrass of kitchen specifications. What was once stylish is now hopelessly pedestrian. And, according to the New York Times and CBS, potentially radioactive, a charge that the Marble Institute of America calls "ludicrous". Actually, the common black stuff is probably okay. Seems the most likely to be really hot are the dramatic striated granites from the tropics. It's no longer enough to know where your tomatoes are from.

What's Lurking in Your Countertop? [NYTimes]