It does not need to be granite. In my opinion, it's more ideal to do it on a laminate surface because then it's a 100% upgrade. There's a valid debate to whether doing it over granite is making it less valuable (I would say that it does devalue it some), but in the case of our house since we did not like the granite and were planning to replace it anyway that wasn't a factor for me. According to the Giani website, you can use this on pretty much any type counter—vinyl, wood and different types of real and fake stone.