My sealed soapstone is as low maintenance as any stone counter, in the 4 years that I have had it I have sealed it twice with enhancing sealant. It stays dark, is matte, and easily wipes clean with a dishrag without any water marks, etc. It actually hides a lot more crumbs and spots then I had expected which I do not always see as a positive.

Athomeinva, your soapstone is beautiful! I'm having a hard time finding any locally that isn't very green. The search continues!

LWO, that's what I was afraid of.

Does anyone have any experience with richlite?

I LOVE the leathered black pearl granite on our perimeter. It does NOT show fingerprints at all, and really doesn't show water spots or rings either.
Perhaps your water is harder than ours?
Anyway, here are a couple of pics of ours.
This is pretty much how it looks. No green at all.

The photo below was shot when bright afternoon sun streams through the window to show the lack of reflective glare. The countertop really never looks as light grey as it appears here in the sun, nor does it look as nearly black as it does here in the shadow.

Again--NO water spots. And my DH is not a careful feller about splashing.

This post was edited by Bellsmom on Wed, Sep 4, 13 at 18:19

I also have leathered black pearl and none of the issues you are describing. We do have very hard water, so if I let some sit, it will make a small mineral spot, but I find them easy to remove and TBH, they kind of blend in with the natural variations of the stone. In fact, I often find myself attempting to wipe up what I think is a water spot only to discover it is just part of the granite.

jackson2348-

Check out real Vermont/NY slate, it comes in black, gray, green, red (no movement, solid color) and a purple/green/gray mottled version. Is is naturally a matte finish, and does not snow fingerprints or oil rings and does not stain. It does, however, slightly surface scratch from very hard things like knives or stainless utensils, but as it's the same color throughout, the scratches are not really visible.

If you are super anal and can't stand the thought of seeing a tiny scratch, slate isn't for you. If, however, you don't want to have to seal your stone, worry about staining, oil rings or maintaining a shiny finish, you may want to consider Vermont/NY slate, not slate from Brazil, India or anywhere else, they don't have the same properties as the VT/NY mined stuff.

There are many mines in that area that sell directly to the public, just Google "Vermont/NY slate", or a large stoneyard or tile dealer in your area might have access to samples.

Good luck-

sandyponder

Caesarstone
Basalt Black

Has a textured surface that looks like small dimples all over the surface of the quartz. I like it because it looks like stone, but has none of the drawbacks.

Sorry, just found out the Basalt Black was discontinued.

Here is a link that might be useful: Options

Thanks for the help! That leathered black pearl is beautiful, I'm glad to know its easy too! I'll try to run some samples of that down. Sandy ponder, I think I'm just anal enough that scratches would bother me on the slate.

I do have some quartz samples I'm playing with now. I've got a couple of different blacks and then some taupey browns if the black proves hard to maintain as LWO suggested.

I haven’t heard anyone mention heat. Can you lay a hot pan on any of the surfaces mentioned? I want something that looks like my blank honed granite. The only issue with that is that it has some small chips on the edge where it meets the sink. I love the look though, just want something that I don’t have to worry about someone damaging it.