We also have a leathered surface to our granite. It's been installed now for a few months and so far, I've been very pleased with it. No issues with scratching that I've seen - although we're careful, our GC are less so. Also, haven't had any issues with oil, etc., but they did seal the granite also, which I would imagine helps. I LOVE that it has a "soft, warm" feel to it - it's hard to describe, but I love to touch our granite. Though it's hard - obviously, it's stone...it has a dimension that is difficult to describe other than being "soft and warm". I imagine that others with the same surface would say the same. I love that when the light hits it, we have physical texture (the areas where we have mica bits in it tend to be lower), so the main surface is matte, but the relief area (the mica) is shiny. One slight drawback - I wouldn't want to work bread dough or anything like that directly on the countertop because I think that little bits might get stuck in the crevices...but I haven't tested that and don't plan to really - I use cutting boards, etc. when I'm working with things like that. I did the same thing when I worked with our laminate style countertops too, so it's really no difference now. The picture I'm attaching shows a bit of the textural element of the leathered surface of our granite.

Donho- I'm NOT going to ask the obvious question that you're prolly SICK of getting asked... like in the scene from "Office Space" where the "Bobs" are interviewing Michael and they ask him... "So..... are ya related?"... HA! Anyways - back to topic... What YOU are experiencing is the exact reason why for almost a decade I was a crusader against doing honed Absolute Black - for that very reason. I did three kitchens all at the same time - for the same client. He built three spec homes, and we did honed AB in all three, and they had the same exact issue that you are having. In fact - I was on my way up to Scottsdale on a bright sunny Tuesday morning to look over the work and listen to his complaint when the meeting was postponed in light of the events that taken place earlier that morning in New York, Washington & Pennsylvania - the date that day - was September 11th, 2001... You always remember what you were doing and where you were when events like that happen - President Kennedy's assassination , Neil Armstrong on the Moon, Challenger Blowing up, President Reagan getting shot, etc - I was going to look at "what the heck my customer was supposed to do about ALL THREE of his kitchens that had honed AB in them" on the morning of 9/11.... Anyways - there IS good news for you on your problem - and in my opinion - NEITHER an enhancer nor a sealer is going to help you in this situation - I have tried both without a great deal of success on Honed AB...... HOWEVER................. You CAN use Method Daily Granite Polish - it is ALL NATURAL and you apply it every day for around two weeks - after which time - you will have built up a "patina" of coconut oil - the active ingredient that will help to prevent the natural oils in your fingers from showing up on the stone and creating the smudges... MANY people have found that Method Daily Granite Polish DOES work in this situation!!!! I learned about this technique right her on GW from some of the home owners that had the VERY SAME problem tha you have!!!! try it....... hth kevin

Was your stone sealed by any chance? Black Galaxy is inert and really should not be etched at all. I am guessing it is a reaction that took place between sealer residue on the surface of the stone and the oxalic acid in the BKF. Black Galaxy is a stone that never needs sealing anyway, but a lot of people still do, ascribing to the motto "Seal it, it can not hurt anything". I beg to differ. Anyway - back to point: Find out if your stone was sealed or not. My bet is that it was and the removal of the sealer would remedy your situation. Well, it hasn't been sealed since it was installed and I would think that if they had sealed the slab before bringing it out that the Acetone I used on the remnant would have noticeably removed it from that part of the stone it had been tested on. So I am going to have to believe that there is no sealer in place on the stone. I hope that they find a way to fix it because even though it is a slight blemish (my wife hasn't even noticed it yet) it will bug me forever if it can't be removed. However, if they do have to polish it out won't that leave a "shallow" spot in the counter where the extra material was buffed down?

I put black galaxy in my last house and thought it was beautiful. They weathered through two baby and toddler boys fine. I just needed to do a thorough wipe-down at night and if someone was coming over, I'd do another wipe-down. Water spots and other kid-mess was very visible so keeping a relatively clutter-free counter was kind of necessary for the quick-clean-ups. My favorite thing about the black galaxy was that it reflected our ceilings. We had incredible plaster work on the ceilings (original to the 1886 brownstone), and the reflective nature of the granite gave the room a total wow-factor. That said, consider this when you choose your ceiling fixtures and the ceiling area in general. Good luck!