I have polished Absolute Black Premium stone and I love it! I would put it in again if I had it to do over. Yes, if you don't wipe down the counters daily you will gather & see dust. However, our counters are wiped down at least once a day (usually after dinner) and we don't seem to accumulate dust...if you live in the desert (or other dusty locale), though, you might have a different experience. As to fingerprints, water spots, crumbs, etc...yes, you do see them but... Crumbs...really only visible if there are a lot of them or they're large crumbs Water spots...visible only while wet! They look a little darker than the surrounding counter but once they're dry they blend in. You can see a faint outline and little bit less "shine" if you search for a dried water spot, but it's not obvious otherwise. Fingerprints...again, yes, they do show up if they're particularly greasy. However, "normal" fingerprints don't show much at all. If you're someone who likes a pristine/always perfect looking kitchen, you may not be happy with a polished dark stone. However, if you're OK with a somewhat lived-in look I think you'll be happy with it...like we are! BTW...we're also not "clean as you go" type of people. Sure, I'll wipe up a big spill or brush off a large volume of crumbs or dry a large water spot, but by and large, I let the crumbs, water, and spills stay until I get around to wiping the counters in the evening. If I'm having a party or want my counters to be extra-clean/shiny, I use a microfiber cloth plus Method Daily Granite Cleaner & Polish. Day-to-day, though, I just use a small amount of detergent on a dishcloth and wipe the counters down. Sometimes I dry them after (using circular motions), sometimes not. If I over-do it on the detergent, I sometimes get a very light haze...but I've learned pretty well by now how much is "just right' (through trial & error). Oh...some people use a 50/50 mix of water & alcohol on their counters...I keep meaning to try it b/c it's much less expensive and I could probably use it daily.

Hi repaintingagain, I promised an update. Bottom line: our absolute black leathered/antiqued counters will require a lot more care than I was led to believe, I hate them because of this because I am so not the type to patrol the countertops-that's why I sensibly talked myself into them and out of what I thought were higher maintenance materials (marble and soapstone.) So, the expert came out (kind/knowledgeable/professional) and basically there is a choice between the lesser of two evils: 1) leave unsealed and have to deal with darker fingerprints/oil spots darkening the counters (much like what I was trying to avoid with unoiled soapstone) or 2) use an enhancing sealer that helps to minimize/mask darker oil marks BUT the sealer still etches from acidic substances which show up as lighter/hazy marks on the granite (much like I was trying to avoid with marble, and what you have going on with your countertops, repaintingagain.) As we suspected, expert guy used acetone to strip off all the previous sealer, and then the counters looked mostly fine until people started resting their hands on it and it looked splotchy/dirty again. So we had him put an enhancing sealer on one area (we left the rest unsealed) and he gave us the weekend to conduct various "mess tests" on the different finishes to see what looked/cleaned up best. (we used ketchup, olive oil, and a lemon wedge.) The enhancing sealer (Dupont Stonetech product) did NOT make the counters wet/shiny as I feared/was originally told. The color difference was slight, not dramatic, but enough to help minimize the oil spots/look of darker stains. We left half a lemon wedge on the color enhanced countertop with a round circle of ketchup next to it for 15 minutes and both left lightened/hazy/etched looking areas that could not be cleaned up with dishsoap and water (repaintingagain, these spots looked like the spots on your counters.) The olive oil cleaned up well and fingerprints did not show. On the unsealed side, the lemon wedge and ketchup left for 15 minutes cleaned up well and I was so excited, but the olive oil left a splotchy blotchy darker mess that could not be cleaned up with dishsoap and water and fingerprints were a problem. (This is NOT to say that a stronger "grease cutter" product might not have worked-I don't know-we were just using some regular Joy dishsoap) Since we have young kids who will be leaving little fingerprints everywhere, we opted to use the enhancing sealer, (because they eliminated the dirty fingerprints look) and we're figuring we are just going to have to be extremely careful not to slop any acidic substances on the counters. (Again, we are not naturally neat/tidy folks, so this is extremely disappointing.) Confession: My 4 year old saw me crying over the counters and said "Mommy, what is wrong???" with such fear on his face that I felt just awful. So having to explain and reassure him that everything is fine, these are just counters was a good reality check for me. But I am deeply, deeply disappointed to have wasted hundreds of hours of my life researching countertops-not to mention thousands of dollars- to be stuck with countertops that don't meet my expectations for the next 30+ years. My husband feels terrible for me that I'm blaming myself for making a "bad" decision and has committed to periodically just stripping the enhancing sealer all off and reapplying when our etching gets too bad/the counters look too dirty. He likened it to power washing the deck periodically, just a part of the maintenance of the item. Which did help me feel better. I just didn't know we'd have to deal with this, so since we do, I wish either 1) I would have put in a harder soapstone (Original P.A. was the hardest we personally tested, but I understand Julia and Belvedere are two that perform similarly. I'm sure there are others too) or 2) that we would have selected the antiqued/leathered Virginia Mist/Jet Mist (around here it was renamed "Nebula") because at least the veins/movement would help to mask both the oil spots or the etching (depending on whether we'd left it unsealed or sealed.) repaintingagain, I did want to tell you that you/your husband could certainly strip off your sealer with acetone and start fresh and experiment with whether you want to leave your counters unsealed or seal with a regular or color enhancing sealer. Our guy did it with his bare hands and a cloth, I was in the room and the odor wasn't bad with any of the products and I'm fairly sensitive to smells/chemicals. For any lurkers who've read this far, I hope my experience helps someone else. Interestingly, we have gotten lots of compliments from some of the subs that are coming in at the end of the project finishing up details saying how cool our counters are and how great they look in the kitchen etc. Absolute black leathered/antiqued could be the perfect quiet, non shiny, non busy countertops for someone who is prepared to accept their maintenance as part of life. I wasn't and in the end our satisfaction with things are really just a result of how well the result meshes with our expectations.

I am debating on my countertop. I really like the look of Black Absolute honed, but do not want the fingerprints. My countertop contractor advised me that applying a semi-gloss finish to the honed surface eliminates the fingerprints (and also provides a tiny bit of gloss, which I am OK with). Anyone ever hear of this? Much appreciated! Thanks NO! July 2007: customer demanded we do this: turned into a nightmare: I promise: sealer didn't take everywhere (AB is very dense: and sealer hard to absorb in the first place): you need to find and google every article on AB granite! There are stories after stories. This really happened; I promise We fixed the countertop enough for customer to sell house! Guys stripped the "shinny sealer" and let dry for 3 days: granite turned milky white! Customer was having a heart-attack! Installers re-applied an expensive color enhancer sealer: $100 gallon and that worked. Enough to satisfy the customer to be able to sell the house. Why do you want black granite: I am not saying that to offend anyone: I promise: you have to ask yourself those questions. And read all the articles re: AB. There are so many beautiful granites out there. I think others on her have had ok luck: but not everyone and if you read the stories on the internet: then you will know. Also, I think others have had better luck with caesar stone black or soapstone black. Ask: Also, there is "fake" AB out there that has been dyed to appear more black and the sealer messes with the ink. True AB comes from Africa and is never truly jet black. You will see that in the many articles that I have found re: AB granite. Good Luck: (google "absolute black nightmare stories" and "absolute black fake dye" here is one: I've always kept: customer: "I am a General Contractor and have over the years installed many many stone tops and other stone surfaces on my projects. Not until now have I ever been faced with a stain problem. On a multi-million dollar condominium project, I have encountered stains that look like simple water stains on the absolute black granite tops. Already I have completely replaced two of the tops because no amount of in-place polish or buffing would remove these stains. Last week my Superintendent discovered at least two other tops with similar stains. Replacement of these tops is very expensive not to mention time consuming and I am looking for some other repair method. I have heard about a black stain being used on some inferior stones in the fabrication process to enhance the color and appearance. Is there any method out there that I can employ to less expensively repair the discoloration spots in these tops? Help, I have already invested over $5K in two tops and appear to be on the way to more. Please respond soon" Responded: "I've got one good news and two bad news for you. The first bad news is that your "granite" countertops are either maliciously doctored, or they are "mutt" stones. (Some black "granite" with mineral binders within, which react to acidic substances.) The "stains" that you have are not stains at all. In fact, a true stain is always darker than the stained material - never lighter. If it is lighter, it's a mark of corrosion (etching). It could be the doctoring agent (some sort of black "shoe shine" applied by the factory to make a gray stone look black) that's coming off (you know, the one that you would like to do?...); or it could be the type of stone that's sensitive to acids. The second bad news is that even if I knew about some "magic black shoe-shine" to bail you out for a couple of months at best, I wouldn't tell you. Sorry, but I'm the creator, co-founder and major responsible of marblecleaning.org, and therefore I am a consumer advocate. Stone doctoring is right on our hit list, and a very high priority at that. Trust me, you don't want to be in our line of fire!! I can't be part in any way, shape or form of such a despicable practice, which is a full-fledged criminal activity - sorry. Which brings us to the good news! You're not responsible for what's happening! Well, you are in relation to the owners of the condo's units, but you can easly go back to the fabricator and the stone yard that sold that stuff to you and hold them fully responsible on consumer fraud charges. It's a pretty black and white case, and in this scenario marblecleaning.org would be only glad to help you. And... FYI, there's no such a thing like black granite (all black granites are not granite by a long shot). And selling stones like that as granite is consumer fraud right there. If you add to that the fact that those particular slabs do not perform like black "granite" is supposed to perform..".

I like that look too! So go with black but leave the treads and bannister alone. Black exterior doors, white interior doors and black hardware. If you aren't happy, its only paint and you could always switch back to white. I really like the staircase, I think it is a classic look. The trim is wide enough and the round bottom step is a nice finish. The floors are good too. I just put a mostly black rug in my living room and am liking the way it pulls the room together. What kind of light fixture do you have?