vrjames, I thought I had read somewhere that absolute black granite was not as durable as other granites and needed more care. I will do more research though. whenzuc, 18 years? Wow, that tells me everything I need to know. It obviously doesn't need to be handled with care as much as I thought. Thank you for replying! sonicstef, thanks for writing. I do think I was mixing the two up and see that honed granite needs the extra care. Thank you again~

Thanks again, Barb, for your helpful comments! Rebecca, that is great to hear that you also chose the Pental Carrara - and your kitchen is beautiful! I doubt I will be able to see a Pental Carrara slab until fabrication, but I think that's the way we're going....I also had thought our countertops were going to be the C. Stone London Grey, but I think the Pental sample is just as attractive. AGK, I would also suggest you look at Cambria Torquay, which is a carrara looking quartz. It is very nice looking. Some love it and others don't like the look as much, due to tiny "dots" within the pattern. I personally preferred the C.Stone samples for that reason, but photos I've seen of Torquay counters are lovely. I also considered neolith, but couldn't find fabrication info about it in my area - I've heard it makes a great counter.

I have Absolute Black granite countertop with Canac Cellini Honey-Gold Bird's Eye Maple cabinets. It looks amazing, but being black it does require a quick spritz and wipedown more often than lighter and more patterned granites. It only takes me a minute or two to wipe down about 12 linear feet of countertop. I also have 96" of River Gold granite on my island, which takes another 1-2 minutes to spritz and wipe down. But the River Gold has far more movement (as the Absolute Black has none)and it is rather difficult to see any dust or fingerprints on. I presume Absolute Black Granite and a similar black quartz would have identical cleaning issues. I have never understood why anyone cares about sealing granite. It only needs to be done once or twice a year and it is just like wiping down your countertop--no difference. It should be a non-issue to anyone considering granite. Greg

I am leery of honed quartz products in general. Silestone Suede finish seems to perform well and is forgiving. But generally speaking I'd test the non shiny quartz products before purchasing if possible. Maybe take a sample home and use oil, etc. to test them. Or just skip them and get shiny quartz. Or perhaps get a stone in a non shiny finish that a fabricator recommends. If looking for lighter colors, perhaps an acrylic like Corian or Hi-Macs in their normal matte finish would look good. But dark acrylics show scratches too easily. And we remember a glue failure from the late 80s early 90s. Many laminate tops were redone because of that. Perhaps that is the one referenced in another comment. I don't remember the brand.