Gee whiz CEFreeman, I'm sorry if my question offends you in any way. We are spending a great deal of money (to us) on something new that I want to keep nice. If I choose to seek friendly advice as to what others do, so I can make informed choices I will do so. If I finally decide to use bleach, comet, or sandpaper I will. If I want a LECTURE I can find enough people to give me one. So please either keep your comments to yourself, or at least not be so nasty about it. The subject of this thread is clear what it's regarding, nobody forced you to read it. I now know not to read any of your posts when I see them. - My choice. To all others, thank you for the suggestions. I have other reasons for wanting to go another route besides bleach or other cleaners, as well as keeping my countertops nice. I am definitely going to give some of them a try.

Thank you :) I do have the samples. It is sooooo hard to picture it on my whole countertop. I ordered another sample of each as to try and visualize it with a larger area. If this doesn't help, I will head to a local building supply store to see if they have a larger sheet in stock to look at.

Etchings is a good wearable kitchen surface finish. Riverwash and Honed are a bit more questionable in a well used kitchen. They tend to be softer, scratch more, and show the scratches much more than the Etchings or Radiance finishes. Most people would never notice the scratches, but people on the Kitchen Forum here aren't most people! The Azul granite is a love it or hate it laminate color. It really doesn't look at all like Azul Bahia granite does in person. It's similar in coloration, but because of the constraints of the repeating pattern in laminate, it's a lot more uniform in appearance and it tends to look a lot more man made. And blue is a color that evokes intense feelings about it. I'd call up Formica and ask for a large sample before committing to it. You may love it in the 1 1/2" x 3" chip, but in the 5"x7" it may not speak to you. There's always the option of Azul Bahia granite tiles. I saw some on Stone Locator for around $100 per 12 x 12 tile. Do an island in that, and something less expensive for the perimeter.

>I don't know if the price has skyrocketed or if it's just the fact that I live in a very high labor cost area, and our kitchen has irregular shapes such as a window to the dining room - but it was certainly not an inexpensive option. It's not cheap around here (East coast FL) either, unless you go with the prefab grab and go laminates from the stock areas at the big box stores. Otherwise, one reason formica is less popular in this area is that it's perceived as over-priced these days. Some of those styles are very handsome, but there's nothing budget-friendly about them in this particular market.