There are no standards because stone isn't all the same: this is why it isn't approved for use in commercial kitchens-- no one can promise, with a degree of legal certainty, that a stone slab they haven't even seen will be free from cracks or fissures that might harbor bacteria, or be free from inclusions, etc.

But contrary to the synthetic manufacturer's scare tactics, we haven't had waves of illnesses attributable to natural stone countertops.

So I wouldn't be too worried about warranty: most dark granites don't stain to speak of, and if you want to seal it for extra piece of mind, it will only need to be done once a year, and take an hour [depending on how big your kitchen is, of course].

If you were going with a lighter granite with a reputation for being delicate, it might be different.

Check out the SFA website. They have members across the U.S. and have their own bullet proof sealer I think called STT. They can probably get almost any stone you want and can put STT on it.

Another sealer that has some type of warranty is Granite Shield. Don't know much about it but it gets a lot of press.

Here is the SFA forum website: http://www.stoneadvice.com/forum/

jb

My impression is that the whole warranty thing w.r.t. granite is entirly a marketing issue. They often choose granites that are pretty carefree and bulletproof to begin with, and then apply their fancy-smancy super-duper sealer, and then offer you a 15 year warranty, that usually are fraught with weasel words and easy-outs for them. I heard one person paraphrasing one of the warranties thusly: If your granite ever gets a stain in 15 years, we will come out and try to remove the stain, unless you ever use a cleaning product other than the one we sell, in which case you get nothing.

I feel that it is far more important to find a skilled fabricator to create the countertop. All the advanced space-age sealers in the world won't help you at all if the countertop is cut to the wrong shape, or if it cracks due to poor installation. And as I see it, the one big, insurmountable problem with Home Depot is that they don't do any fabrication or installation. It is all subcontracted out to others, and while many people who have posted here do have great countertops they purchased through Home Depot, that simply means that the fabricators and installers that Home Depot happened to select for their particular job was sufficiently skilled. There is no guarantee that they won't select a complete bozo fabricator for your job.

Regarding color, from your description you might really like Tropic Brown granite, which I chose for my kitchen, and which happens to be very stain resistant even without any sealer.

Here's a picture:
{{gwi:1567518}}