Another reason to get honed instead of polished marble is that when certain bathroom items (mouthwash, toothpaste, hairspray, creams--and for little boys, urine mis-aims) land on marble, they will etch the marble. With a polished finish, the etching will be obvious. With honed, you will hardly be able to see it if at all. I have marble floor tiles in my bathroom. They're not slippery cause they are smaller tiles than the 12x12 you are considering. As you mentioned, the frequency of the grout for the smaller tiles creates a non-slippery surface. I really like my marble floor. Also, the veins and coloration in the marble hide dirt or hair. In my other bathroom, I have white tile floors. The worst. Basically if you just walk in there, and one single hair falls, or you make one drip, it shows up glaringly on the white tile.

Honed will be less obvious. If it's etching, sealer or honing won't prevent it. I'd question whether it's just water, and what is in whatever you're mopping it with, too. (I only clean the marble with marble cleaner.) My only spots are around the toilet... Nothing to prevent that short of sitting. This post was edited by KevinMP on Wed, Apr 24, 13 at 23:04

I used polished carrara on my last bathroom remodel and it does, indeed, etch pretty badly. There's a polish powder you can buy online but I never used it. At any rate ... HONED ;)

Hi Kateskouros, I think it's a lovely idea as the honed tends to lose some of it's drama of the veining and the backsplash would be a great place to show it off! I think I saw early pics of your slabs and they are beautiful! One thing to think about, our polished countertops have been in now for 5 months and still look fabulous, even have stood up to spills that I thought it wouldn't. Now, we have an etch or two, but they are small and nearly impossible to find. We used a polished marble backsplash tile - Thassos and I put a different sealer on it than is on the counters. Remember, on the backsplash, you can use something that is more durable and not necessarily food safe because you aren't going to prepare your food right on it. The sealer we used sits a bit on the surface, I would not have liked on the counters because it takes away a bit of the glorious marble feel. I don't care on the backsplash a bit and it makes everything wipe off beautifully! As for stains or etching on the backsplash, we don't have either. Good luck! I can't wait to see your end result because so far your selections sound lovely!