Granite is made of large mineral grains (which is where its name came from) that fit tightly together.

 

Granite always consists of the minerals quartz and feldspar, with or without a wide variety of other minerals (accessory minerals). The quartz and feldspar generally give granite a light color, ranging from pinkish to white. That light background color is punctuated by the darker accessory minerals. Thus classic granite has a "salt-and-pepper" look. The most common accessory minerals are the black mica biotite and the black amphibole horn  blende.  Almost all Granite is igneous (it solidified from a magma) and plutonic (it did so in a large, deeply buried body or pluton). The random arrangement of grains in granite—its lack of fabric—is evidence of its plutonic origin. Rock with the same composition as granite can form through long and intense metamorphism of sedimentary rocks. But that kind of rock has a strong fabric and is usually called granite gneiss.

 

Granite is massive, hard and tough, and therefore it has gained widespread use as a construction stone. Granite has been extensively used as a dimension stone and as flooring tiles in public and commercial buildings and monuments.

Polished Granite is also a popular choice for kitchen countertops due to its high durability and aesthetic qualities.  It comes in many natural colors depending on their chemistry and mineralogy.