Suzlovesflowers,

Honed or polished was a tough choice for me.
I love the feel of my honed jet mist granite but the
polished gives it an elegant feel to the room.
Choices!!! Choices!!! I know how you feel.

One way to consider the choice is the other elements
in your kitchen. I have shiny stainless appliances,
shiny backsplash tile and my painted white cabs are
on the shiny side. I wanted a honed finish to soften
the other elements in my space. It works better than
a polished stone.

If you have lots of wood and other flat matte type
elements in your space the polished might be what your
kitchen craves. You said creamy white and wood counters.
Tough because either polished or honed would be amazing
in what you describe.

Here are some links from GW with others in your
quandry.

~boxerpups

Honed or Antiqued Virginia Mist

http://www.thathomesite.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg0613100723497.html?3

Honed versus polished granite counters?

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg0717443227589.html

Honed Ebse enhanced her jet mist honed granite
http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg0821425918081.html

Polished (not Jet mist but notice the black and cream)

Jeanteach showing the enhanced option

Here is a link that might be useful: Jet Mist

Can anyone tell me if there are brownish aspects to this? I was looking at the pix and see them in one kitchen and not the others.

Stevie- I know what you mean about the feel of the honed; I have been a soapstone fan, but gave up on that for several reasons....The woman's comment to you is interesting and similar to what my husband thinks ("Why would anyone take the finish off granite so that it doesn't look like granite anymore?") You are right: either way is beautiful- I just need to decide!
Boxerpups- both you and Stevie brought up the cool, warm factor of other elements in kitchen. Good point I hadn't considered! The finishes in my kitchen are mostly matte except for the stainless steel range and fridge. Hmmm...
This is so weird because I hadn't even considered the polished, and now I can almost visualize it! Our home is a very traditional cottage-colonial going a bit more toward the formal side. Either would work...how will I decide??
Thanks for the links-very helpful as always :)

I'm still open to any other thoughts or ideas as to which way to go!

We used the honed Jet Mist on our perimeter counters of our 1930s house after I read about it and saw pictures on GW. We absolutely love it. It looks a lot like soapstone without all of the maintenance. Because our kitchen is somewhat formal, I went with a completely different granite on the island - polished crema bordeaux. Cabinets are cherry and both counters look great with the cabinets.

We liked the honed Jet Mist so well that we may use it for the counter in an upcoming bathroom remodel.

I love the look of honed especially on solid colored granites, but a couple of my friends did honed and they regret it because fingerprints (especially oily) show up more on them as well as water drips. (theirs are both a dark more solid colored granite)
I put absolute black honed in my powder room with a very large wading pool style sink so not a lot of drips, and it looks great.
The granite we are putting in our kitchen (sienna bordeaux) will be polished because I think it shows the beauty of the stone more. But this is just my opinion.

love, love, love our honed Va. Mist countertops. jeantech is the one who's lead i followed on the dupont enhancer. they are awesome.

yes they show waterspots and fingerprints - but you just wipe them down when it begins to bother you. the maitenence is no different to me then when we had polished granite tops.

the FEEL of honed is like satin. i can't say enough about the finish - we also have creamy cabs and are doing a honed marble backsplash.

*Gah* So jealous! I want that granite, and cannot find it at all in my area! Suppliers and fabricators look like I'm nuts when I ask them if they have it. *sigh*.

I agree with the posts above; look at what else you are putting in your kitchen, and what overall look you're trying to achieve. I've always thought polished=more formal, honed=more old world/traditional/informal.

If you can see an example of both, that may help you decide. I've seen granites look completely different b/c of finishing.

Good luck with your decision!

Suz - did you make a decision? I was all set to go honed and even tagged a slab last week and then just yesterday, while at another stone yard, I wetted part of the honed to see what the slab would look like "enhanced" - the guy showing me around said that if I wanted it enhanced then he wouldn't let me leave without seeing the polished...he showed me a slab of it and I was floored. I fell in love and changed my mind on the spot and went with the polished Jet Mist. I can't believe how different they were - beautiful stone either way, but the polished was exactly the depth I was looking for and will go beautifully with my honed counter of another stone. Just wondering where you ended up!

Thanks everyone for all the helpful replies! We have been so busy making decisions and ordering everything from flooring to faucets, that I haven't thought about the granite too much lately! Am pretty sure we are going with the honed (which I have never seen in real life, only photos...) The slab with our name on over at the stone yard is polished and is breath-takingly beautiful, which makes the decision more difficult.
The honed just seems to fit the look we are going after- casual, warm, cottage...That being said, we still have a few weeks before final decision needs to be made... Oh, and quincin, nobody in my area had heard of Jet Mist either, but I persisted, and one place (out of about 4) was able to get a large slab shipped to them. If your heart is set on it, don't give up!

Sorry I'm late to the party on this but I'll just chime in that I do love our honed Jet Mist. As everyone has said, the feel is amazing. Even after a year I still find myself rubbing my hand over my island. Of course it looks like granite; honing granite doesn't make it look like formica, no way. By the way, if you like the darker look you can do the enhancing, as zenstella suggested (hey zenstella, I'd love to see your counters!) Good luck!

Hi Zenstella,

I have a question about your last posting - is it your experience that, after you enhanced it, you still get finger prints and water spots?

I thought the Stonetech enhancer/sealer is supposed to get rid of that?

Thanks!

How do you clean the honed ... I'm having issues with water stains ...

I am also having water stain issues with my honed Jet Mist. Anytime a glass with condensation, or anything with some moisture on it, is placed on the counter, even for a brief period, it leaves a mark that cannot be removed by normal cleaning. The counter was professionally sealed on installation and I have since sealed it myself. This has been a huge source of frustration since I was talked out of soapstone due to "maintenance issues". I think I have spent just as much time dealing with the granite as I would have maintaining the soapstone.

Ok so its 2017 but I had to add my thoughts to this forum for anyone considering Virginia Mist honed granite for kitchen countertops...it absolutely DOES look like formica when it is enhanced. I wanted the dark soapstone look, but enhancing the honed slab only made the speckles pop out more. I am living with the decisions I made but want to warn others!

Deanna Saul can you post some photos?

Yes, I would love to see pictures as well.

Has anyone figure out a way to safely remove oil stains from these counters? I recently bought a home with these kitchen counters and I had no idea what I was getting myself into. They are beautiful, but I didn't realize how porous they were and now I have quite a few spots that aren't coming out.

Try posting a new thread with photos. I don't have that issue with my counters.

We are considering jet mist but have a small kitchen and wonder if we should go with white quartz to keep it light and airy. Does anyone have a picture of it in your space? All of the pictures on here are stunning and worthy of spreads in Architectural Design, but not an apples to apples comparison to what what our kitchen would look like!!

Here's mine!

@caligirl5 your kitchen is goooorgeous

So charming!

@caligirl5 what are your lower cabinet fronts made of?

They are cherry with nutmeg from Conestoga

Thank you! I’m getting cherry fronts on my lower cabinets too so it’s great to see yours.