I sure hope that kitty urine is good for roses because I empty my kittie's litter boxes in my rose beds and they seem to love it!! Are your roses well fed? and with what? I use a lot of Milorganite and Alfalfa Pellets and Black Hen, absolutely no granular fertilizer, also my roses are grafted on Fortuniana, I have 8 Knockouts planted back in the 80s and they are blooming their heads off...sally

Lhylcn- sealing should ideally be done both by the fabricator in his shop, and again in your kitchen once installed. Most sealer manufacturers I've spoken to say there's no exact number or times it should be done, but it usually takes several applications until every part of the marble is sufficiently sealed. This is tested by letting water sit on the surface of the marble and making sure it beads up well rather than soaking right in. Honing is just a process that makes the marble "dull" rather than shiny. It's a personal preference. My Vermont Danby marble is very honed, very little sheen. Red- two things that have etched my marble instantly are tomatoes and lemon juice. I'd think ketchup would etch, too, being tomato-based. Etching, though, seems not to bother most marble owners, myself included. You can only see it in certain lights, and it's a part of the patina of the living stone. As far as staining, my counters are sealed with Porous Plus 511, and could easily handle ketchup sitting on them for awhile with no stains. I've had coffee droplets that splashed from the Keurig sit overnight and just wipe up the next morning. I have no stains at all. The counter have only been in for about 2 months or a little less, but I've cooked a lot in these months, have had house guests and hosted Easter at the house, no stains! That said, the Vermont Danby marbles are known for being less porous--and therefore a bit more stain-resistant--than many other marbles.

Well, I've been away so long that I'm sure nobody misses me any more, but I'm trying to come back! Had a little confusion getting registered but that seemed resolved, so I posted to say I'm back. Now I can't find that, so who knows! I used to post as Ann in NC but fled to the wilderness when KT went "pay to play". Lately, though, I've been lurking. Will a couple of y'all shift over a little and let me back in?

I grew up with painted cabinets. White ones, even. After a while (several years), the paint didn't looks so good. So they were repainted. Each time took a few coats of paint and the paint started building up. The inset drawers started sticking and the molding details lost their crispness. Later I bought a house that had cherry cabinets. They must be twenty years old and still look great. Moral to this story was that factory finish is much nicer- smoother and more durable- than hand applied. The pics posted of painted cabinets is typically just after painting-not 3-5 years later. One time I do advocate painting wood cabinets is if the cabinet finish has deteriorated beyond repair or yellowed and would need to be completely removed to revarnish. In that case, it's much easier to paint. The other time is if the cabinet is a really cheap grade of inferior wood. (Your cabinets look good in the pic, but I realize it could be different in person.) Whether you paint white or blue depends more on the rest of the house. I do think white has a more generic look to it than a color like butter or sage. I've seen pics of great white kitchens but they've also been expansive with lots of detail. I've also seen several pics of ho-hum white kitchens that are lacking "something". Wood graining does add a subtle texture that standard paint doesn't. Since you're going to paint the walls anyway, why don't you do that first. Then reevaluate whether to paint the cabinets white, a color, or not at all. Maybe photoshopping would help show how possible changes would look.