Common features of Ge growth on vicinal Si(001) and Si(111) surfaces are discussed. We show that surface vicinality has a twofold effect on three-dimensional islanding in this system. As long as the atomic structure of the singular surface is preserved, epitaxial islands undergo a morphological change which is dictated by the misorientation from the singular surface. When also the surface reconstruction is so affected by miscut that surface and interfacial energies are drastically modified, the islanding pathway diverges from that occurring on flat surfaces. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.