Shouldn't marble not stain if it's sealed? I think the real issues are etching and scratching. Those pictures are helpful for people, but they should also realize they're kind of the "worst case" scenarios. Carrera will etch, every bit as much as those pictures show, but it usually won't look as bad as those pictures, if that makes any sense. The pictures have to be taken at the right angle to get the etches to show for a picture. That last picture looks so awful because it's stained, which doesn't seem to happen to most people who have their counters sealed when needed. The first three pictures are fairly representative of what friends with carrera-type marbles live with, but their etches are not very noticeable when you walk in their kitchens. On the whitish marbles at least, those etches would not be noticeable in most light conditions to someone who's just walking through the kitchen. (I don't know about the third one that's brownish--I've never seen anyone with a polished counter in that color of marble.) A good friend of mine has carrera counters in her kitchen that gets lots of light, and she has hundreds of etches. Unless you bend your head and crane your neck to look for them, you won't notice them. Her honed finish makes a big difference to this--with a polished finish, the difference in finish between the etch and the rest of the counter will be more noticeable. She also doesn't have direct sunlight hitting them through most of the day. I also have marble counters, but they're dolomitic marble, so they're a bit slower to etch. In other words, we can spill lemon juice on them, and it won't etch if we wipe if up within a few minutes. Our counters are just as soft as non-dolomitic marble in most places, and we have thousands of tiny scratches on our polished finish counters. Most of them are like the ones visible in the fourth picture, and with the veining of our counters, they're not noticeable unless you look for them. Over time, the polished finish is developing its "patina" and getting less shiny. They're still gorgeous, and I'd do them again in a heartbeat. But I would not have risked polished counters with carrera. I did want to mention the scratching because I think it sometimes gets overlooked as people worry about etching. Both will happen to marble, no matter how much you baby it.

happyallison, I had written a reply but went to get some pics and it disappeared. Bottom line is that I love it. The leathered finish was strongly recommended as it makes the surafce more resistant to staining and etching. I did all the tests and nothing etched or stained it. I don't know if you've read the threads started by 'Karin' (I think) who is a geologist about various stones for counters, but she suggested seeing if the stone would scratch glass. Here is what I did with the sample I had. Here is a not-so-great shot I took for someone when I just had the sample, so she could see the leathered finish, which is not perfectly smooth.This very close shot makes it looks much 'bumpier' than it is in real life. It has many soft colors in it, and in some places, almost a translucent quality. It has white, cream, taupe, tan, green and some darker brown areas. I love it with the green cabinets. In this shot, from the left edge to about the middle, you see some green. I live in Maine and it makes me think of the ocean water swirling on a beach.

for the handles, may I suggest something to pick up on the hues in the flooring? A little more copper toned. you have light cabs, light floors. I think throwing in a dark ORB w/o actual copper highlights would be too much of a contrast. IMO. cypress park Sandra, I like the porcelain one better than the other one. Does the backsplash have to be done immediately? If the tones in the porcelain tile you picked clash w/the ivory tones in the counter, it could be a problem. However, I did find some copper toned ones that should be avail. these are porcelain/SS, and treated so as not to stain or tarnish. I LOVE these for your kitchen. timeless and gorgeous. They are probably not super cheap, but it would be worth it for me. http://www.miusartmosaics.com/arabesque-lantern-beacon-copper-tile-in these would also work. the site is here: maybe they have them in stock.http://www.westsidetile.com/arabesque-tiles/ i like this one too. notice the copper faucet. beautiful w/the glass mosaic. if you got the cream countertop, this would look amazing w/your floors. this last one is a copper colored slate/quartzite.

We are remodeling our 5x11 master with the same layout as yours right now. We are also using LVT. I used it in my guest bath five years ago and have been very pleased with it. It's warm, has some texture so it's non-slip, and it's grouted to look like porcelain tile. I used Armstrong Alterna in Multistone White. It's got white, cream, and gray and works with warm or cool tones. The more that LVT tries to mimic stone, the more it looks fake. DH doesn't like painted cabinets and we wanted the warmth of wood. For the guest bath, we used cherry in a kaffe stain. Needing only a 36" counter, we chose a remnant and had to pick from what was available because we had guests arriving. It's a little warmer than I'd like though. We have an acrylic tub with a surround so coordinating the shower wasn't an issue. We may update it in the future. So we have embarked on the master bath and that is much more difficult because we are doing the shower. I didn't find an LVT I liked better so we are using the same one. I wanted a lighter counter this time though. None of the quartz colors had the right undertone. I find it easier to use granite because it has more whites and creams in one stone. We also wanted a remnant and it needed to be a warm white. Again we settled somewhat and found a White Galaxy remnant. With a solid floor, you need pattern in the counter or you use a patterned floor with a solid counter. Since I hate the patterned LVT, the counter needs the pattern. I hope the granite will provide enough pattern. I wanted to go lighter with the vanity. We chose alder with a medium stain-didn't want a red or yellow undertone and alder is pretty neutral. We also changed our plumbing from two sinks to one. This is the sink base and it has two drawer stacks. I haven't picked out shower tile yet but it will be a larger format in a warm white. Our shower is 34x60. After much consideration and fear of leakage and cleaning a tiled base, we've decided to use a Kohler acrylic shower base. I would have preferred cast iron but they don't make one with a center drain and I'm not a fan of the Bellwether with the deep drain on the short end. I do love the 32x60 Ballast with the resin concrete core and the low threshold but didn't want to lose 2" in my shower. It would look great with your cultured marble walls and give you a plain base to help simplify the materials.