Beekeeper's wife and all--I've been trying to decide whether or not to put polished "Bianca Carrara" marble in my kitchen off and on for about a year now. I didn't like the look and feel of honed marble (reminded me of the fingernail on a chalkboard), but loved the look of the polished marble. I got a sample of polished marble, put all the acidic things on it that I usually use in my kitchen, lemon juice, vinegar, raspberry jam, ketchup, etc., so I could see what etching looked like. They all etched it--basically little spots with no shine. I found a simple product "Bar Keepers Friend" (an amazing cleaning powder, takes out rust, etc., in a gold can like Comet & Ajax--you can get it at Home Depot, Walmart, etc.) took the etching out when using the terry side of a terry and nylon mesh sponge, ("O Cedar - Mesh & Terry Non-Stick Pad"). You can also buy marble polish online, which will take etch marks out too. When I was trying to decide on countertops a year ago, I really wanted to do polished "Bianca Carrara" marble, as I have the same marble on my fireplace surround in the adjoining family room and that look would flow well into my kitchen--cherry mantle and cherry cabinets. I called several fabricators who tried to convince me to do granite, but I never found anything that had the look I wanted--too busy, too dark, etc. I have cherry cabinets and Brazilian cherry floors in my kitchen that have gotten a little darker since orig. install as cherry does. I had concerns about the radon most stones and countertops with stone in them released, since my DH had thyroid cancer some years back. All advised to do "honed" if I went with marble, but I didn't like the idea of having to seal it every few months. I finally talked to one fabricator who told me he had another customer who had put in the polished "Bianca Carrara" marble in her kitchen, and she said I could come look at it. It was breathtaking, and I absolutely loved it (2cm with mitered edges to make it look two inches thick). Still, I was afraid I might not like how the kitchen looked after living with it--stains, scratches, and etch marks, so I stalled. Finally, I thought I'll just go with white Corian, because I've had it in my kitchen downstairs for 12 years now, and it still looks almost like new, even with tenant use. Got three bids and couldn't believe it was the same price for the Corian as the marble countertop bid from the same installer who did the lady's I went to see and loved. The Corian bids were more than double what it cost me for the 2nd kitchen downstairs 12 years ago--inflation I guess. I stopped by to see the lady's kitchen again who had the polished "Bianca Carrara" marble on all her kitchen countertops that I'd seen a year ago. She had white shiny subway tile full height backsplash & decorative tile work over the cooktop. I thought if I saw how it looked after living with it for a year that would help me decide if I could live with marble in my kitchen. It was still gorgeous! We discussed how she treats it. In talking with her, I realized that she just enjoys it and doesn't really baby it. She told me she has three small children who eat at the island 3x a day, has pizza once a week and gets sauce all over it, cooks a lot with cilantro and limes, has had backpacks dragged across it, etc. She told me she has never sealed her marble, since installation and the fabricator didn't seal it either. She just cleans it with water. She's had no staining at all, but there were a number of small 1/2 inch diameter etch marks and one larger one about 2 - 3 inches in diameter where she had spilled lime juice. I was surprised that the etch marks were barely noticeable and didn't bother me much. I couldn't even see them unless I squatted down and got just the right angle. I am pretty picky by nature, but all I could see was the beauty of the polished marble. She had undercounter cam and ceiling lights and 3 hanging lights (probably a 60 watt bulb in each of them) over her island in her kitchen. No windows in the kitchen, but several big windows on the north, east, and west in the adjoining breakfast/dining room. I loved her countertops the same as I did when I saw them a year ago--etch marks and all. Her marble, which had beautiful veining and nice gray and white contrast, came from Dal Tile. I believe the lack of staining and not needing to seal the marble was in part because it was polished marble and because of the nature of marble--stains just seem to evaporate and fade. She said her children had spilled something red--maybe Kool-aid or punch on the bar once that looked like it had stained and a few days later it was gone. On the marble sample I have, I put ketchup, mustard, and raspberry jam on the backside of the marble sample too. They etched and stained it, but both have faded and disappeared now. I accidentally set a chunky red candle on the polished side of the sample piece of marble at Christmas time and haven't been able to get that stain out, and I can usually get any stain out of anything--just a caution about red candles to all who have marble countertops. I haven't tried the paper towel and warm iron trick yet, which is supposed to take candle wax out of tablecloths. Also, there were a few scratches in her countertops, but again, nothing I couldn't live with. My current countertops are tile, and there are numerous little chips and nicks in it. The lady said that her Mom had green marble countertops in her kitchen and had them repolished after many years of use, and they looked like new again. Since my husband had thyroid cancer years ago, I didn't want to use anything for my countertops that released radon. From doing extensive research all granite, quartz, and quartzite, release some when the stone decomposes slowly over time, but marble does not as it is calcium based. I am going to go with the polished "Bianca Carrara" marble! I use my kitchen too--I can raspberry jam (that etches), peaches, apricots, and peaches, in it, and we have a large vegetable garden every year and have tomatoes, which etch marble too. After all of my extensive research over the past year, I've come to the conclusion that no countertop surface is bullet proof or perfect. They all scratch, chip, have to be sealed, are noisy, cold, or have some other drawback, so why not get the look you love and just enjoy it!

I installed six 6" recessed lights in my kitchen using the Reveal 900 Watt Halogen Bulbs and white trim. I also installed one 6" Halogen Bulb over my sink and two halogen lights in my range hood over my stove. I love the warm 2900K color that is not too yellow but they get so hot. I plan to change them over to LED when I do my home office ceiling after my busy tax season.

Oh no! I just found this thread while searching for something else. KS.farms_cooks--if you are still around, my counters are 4cm Carrara marble. I'll link below part 2 of my incomplete kitchen reveal thread where you can see more pictures of my kitchen. This thread contains another link to part 1, which has many photos. If you click on any of them, you'll be taken to my photobucket account with all my pictures. Again, I apologize for not seeing this earlier. We had a busy July. Here is a link that might be useful: Part 2 of my incomplete reveal with a link to part 1

Wow, you all are so sweet! I feel like some ridiculous charity case... :-/ DH brought home his laptop and air card tonight so I could at least check my email. Missed some important reno-related messages. And I missed GW!! Little DD is starting to settle in today, and 6 y.o. DS is loving getting to watch cartoons for 3 hours a day while I deal with reno issues, trades and phone calls. Without going into too much detail, moving day had many hiccups. I still can't find most of what I need on a daily basis to feed the kids and get them dressed. Who would have thought that I needed to ask that boxes marked in big letters "KITCHEN" actually make it somewhere into the vicinity of the kitchen. A whole room full of boxes, floor to ceiling and wall to wall, makes it hard to find things. After getting in the house, I'm overwhelmed with all the things not done. We were just trying to get out of the house we were staying in regardless of the state of our house. I wish I had been able to manage window shades and closet organization before we moved in, but those are minor comparatively. Day by day progress: Monday: -DW and cleanup sink plumbed -Cleaning the temporary house -Cleaning our house -Have heat pump serviced so we can heat the house -Wait for final inspection Tuesday: -Marble installers worked for several hours on fixing several issues -Wait for pantry door install -Applied first marble seal coat -Clean our house -Wait for final inspection Wednesday: -Applied second marble seal coat -Pantry door installed -other small carpentry jobs done -clean our house -exterior door handles on finally!! it's cold here and blue tape covering handle holes is a bit drafty -Final inspection (failed) -Gas rangetop and fireplace plumbed Still to do: -correct wood floor finishing problems -rangetop put back together so I can cook! -pantry shelves so I have some place to put my food -correct several mis-wirings of switches so lights work -find all my kitchen gear! -closets put together so clothes and toys can be unpacked -INTERNET ACCESS -final paint coat on every room, some need first coat too -washer and dryer installed back in laundry room Somehow, the more luxury issues like pretty light fixtures and counter stools have faded into the background! DH says he's taking next week off so maybe the computer and internet will get hooked up and I can post some pics. Thank you all for the wonderful thoughts and support. I'm both embarassed and humbly grateful. And a special thank you to Kellie for her support. :)