marthavila -- my friend! First, I have to say I LOVED seeing your beautiful pictures from the NYC get-together. Looks like you all had such a good time. And thank you for all the nice things you said about my kitchen. WOW! Boy did I totally mess up with my previous post: I absolutely forgot to mention that YES, it (all the marble) is honed and sealed. I only sealed the backsplash once (with the ubiquitous Miracle 511) at install -- I am way too lazy to do it again ... although I probably should. Oh well! (I've done the countertops twice but honestly, I did not notice a difference between the first and second [meaning, I didn't do the second because I saw etching / staining]. I only did the second after I dropped a rusty brillo pad on the countertop and boy did it suck up the rust! But we got some Iron Out and honestly, it was like magic how quickly and thoroughly it removed the rust. Truly phenomenal!) Etching: I have not a single concern about etching because the finish is honed, and the few spots which are already etched (surprise surprise -- it's been me who goofed, not my husband [who was in fear of being the first]) we have to look really, really hard for, with the right light and the right angle. I never, ever naturally stand with my head crooked in that position, so no worries for me! But seriously, given how messy a cook my husband is (he does 99% of the cooking) and how delinquent a cleaner I am (talk about a marriage made in heaven), if anything ugly were going to happen with the cooktop's backsplash, we'd already have seen it. And all we see is the gorgeous slab! I did even go just now to the kitchen to carefully examine that section of backsplash and again, crooking my neck this way and that with sundry lights on / off, I couldn't see anything suspicious. We're finding the marble (countertop and backsplash) to require much less maintenance than we'd thought and, most likely, require less maintenance than any other countertop material we considered (e.g., soapstone). We like that it has enough movement to hide a multitude of sins (like crumbs) but not so much as to make us feel wobbly. We like that it feels good to the touch. We like, with the backsplash, how easy it is to wipe a big, flat surface with no grout lines or (raised) relief in the tile. I am not kidding: in that other kitchen I really thought I was going to kill everyone around me (and this was not just when I was PMSy!) when I tackled the cooktop's backsplash. It was white tile, some with a raised design, and white grout. Even just getting grease splatters off was an exercise in frustration (for me). And trying to keep the grout clean? I think my blood pressure just went up thinking about it. It's funny how some things end up paying dividends in ways you never (could have) imagined, and for us, the ease of this slab backsplash is precisely that. janefan -- the butcherblock (ours is maple) is pretty terrific, I think. But I use it to cut on and it does already have some staining, like from where I cut strawberries. It doesn't bother me -- actually, I kinda like the spots; I'm not sure why, but I do. I think it bothers my husband some, though. They are subtle -- none of the spots are bright or dark. Oh wait, the maple does have some black lines on it where metal was dragged across it (like a cookie sheet), but those do rub out. Of course, a consequence of rubbing that hard is that it makes (that portion) of the countertop a little lighter in color. Again, I think you have to look for it (which I occasionally do). Ours is a small island (I'll have to measure it but I want to say it's something like 5' or 6' x 28") and the part closest to the eating area of the kitchen is, naturally, a catch-all for crap. The half "inside" the kitchen is kept free and is a workhorse. If we had a sink or plans to use the island for anything other than chopping / prep we might've chosen a different finish. But all along, this is what we wanted. Every month or so I coat it with "butter" (a concoction I learnt about here on GW -- again, I'll need to go downstairs to remember its real name) but I should probably do it more often given how dry our air here (Colorado) is. Oh well! I think the round stain is iced tea -- better check it out! And the pink in the photo is NOT in real life. Another example of my poor photographic skills.

Forgot to mention, Ccdip, that one of the reasons I built my cabs deeper--therefore setting the range a little further away from the marble slab--is that I heard from a good number of people, including people at Wolf, that there has been some discoloration of light marble b-splashes when the heat source is close to the b-splash. I'm not sure if it's the sealer that discolors, or the marble itself. FWIW, Wolf also specifically mentioned that the all gas ranges that vent out the back have caused discoloration of light marble b-splashes from the heat and grease emanating from the vent. I changed my order from AG to dual fuel (vents out the bottom, front, left) for this reason. I also wouldn't do any major flambee or super high-heat wok kind of cooking on my back burners--not that I've ever actually made a flambee ;)

Hi Jade BR. We are in Mountain View, CA. Somehow our marble slabs were much cheaper at this store (MSI International) than marble slabs at other stores. I think calacatta costs more in general. Also, the price I mentioned above did not include fabrication, so that's something to keep in mind. Total cost including three slabs, fabrication, honing, and sealing was $10,068. Thanks everyone! Yes, there was so much drama. :) Now we are happily just living in our kitchen and so happy to not be remodeling!

I used a regular 2 cm marble slab as a backsplash in previous kitchen. It wasn't huge space but there were no issues installing it. (Where I live, the 2 cm slabs are the most common.) It wasn't expensive.