I have polished quartz in my kitchen, but honed carrara in my bathroom. I don't know if honed granite holds up and feels the same as marble, but it is a luscious look and feel. I'm not enamored with the reflectiveness of polished surfaces.

I have had honed Wild West granite on my kichen countertops for ten years now.. I cook almost daily.. I have never sealed or treated them and they look as beautiful as the day they were installed.. I am probably going to install them in a condo I just purchased in Florida.. I wanted Super White quartzite but after reading all the nightmares, I am leaning toward the bulletproof granite..in honed.

Oops..did not mean I would install the same color granite, but that I may buy a honed granite if I can find a pretty white.gray slab.

Thank you, Linelle and ekscrunchy for posting.

ekscrunchy, I googled Wild West granite. That's gorgeous! I'm so glad to hear it held up well for you. I wonder if some of the negative reviews were because of Absolute Black's maintenance nightmares that so many owners experienced.

I have black honed granite in a bathroom and would not use it again; it is beautiful but shows every toothpaste smear and water drop. The patterned ones are so forgiving. I am also not a "shiny" person!

When you keep repeating how much you like it, really you do... well, I don't believe you really do. Get what you really want.

I can't give any insight into honed vs. leathered, but agree that you should go with your first love if it's not a budget buster or design killer.

lol, catbuilder, it does sound like I was trying to convince myself but I really do like the leathered finish. I just don't love it like I love honed finishes. But it is just a counter and what's most important are the meals I make on the counters.

ekscrunchy, I was purposely staying away from AB or any other mostly homogenous granite for that reason.

I saw leathered for the first time recently. I think it looks a little gimmicky, if you want the truth. But then I've seen it only at the slab yard, not in a kitchen.

We have both finishes in the same granite, yes the not liked so much two tier but it is what we wanted. It separates the areas and keeps some of the counter and sink mess hidden. Lower counters are honed, uppers are leathered or antiqued as they are called here. Love both other than you need to have multiple sheets of paper if writing on the antiqued.

cccrafter, your kitchen is stunning! How long have your counters been in?

I'm leaning towards honed. I stopped at the stone yard yesterday and was happy to see that they have lots of slabs of polished Steel Gray. They told me that it's no big deal for our fabricator to swap our leathered slab for a polished slab (the two are about a mile apart). I don't like their current stock of leathered Steel Gray. They have more texture, even though it's the same stone.

I also looked at leathered stones that I think - hope - will finish up very similarly to Bianco Romano. They are so smooth, they look and feel almost like honed. I could live with that surface for sure.

I don't know whether the leathered finish is gimmicky or a reflection of current trends, ekscrunchy (which could be one and the same now that I think about it). Our local stone yard has lots of polished slabs and a fair number of leathered slabs but the only slabs they have that are honed are soapstone and marble. Polished granite and quartz counters still seem to be the norm in my area. Not that that matters to me. I'm generally not a trend follower.

Thank you lisa_a, we are very happy with how it turned out, suits our needs perfectly. Reno was complete 1.5 yrs ago, we do cook a lot and they are holding up fantastic, nothing is babied here! Good luck with your choice!

I have a granite called Verde Lavras; the sample that I was given had a lovely, velvety, smooth finish on it. It was beautiful, and indestructible to my tests. The installed piece is okay but has small, palpable voids in the surface, as if small bits of inclusion had been pulled out. These haven't presented a problem as far as maintenance or cleaning.

I rather suspect that the sample I was given was from the original slab as it had come from the quarry, and somehow the fabricator thought that I wanted additional honing ( rather than what I meant which was no, I do NOT want a polished finish -- I was charged extra for a honed finish) and he did not equal the finish as it was originally. This fabricator fell short on several counts. I would have insisted that he get me a new slab, but no one had a piece -- the suppliers no longer carried it; mine was the last one, and I decided to keep it.

I'd like to amend my comment about about leathered granite. What I thought was "gimmicky" was not actually leathered granite but something else with a lot more unevenness and texture. I saw the true leathered finish today at a yard and it is not dissimilar to honed and looks really nice, and soft. I liked it a lot! Should not have commented until I was sure about what I was seeing!!

No worries, ekscrunchy! I've seen some leathered stones that are nearly buttery smooth and others that are rougher. The stone itself really determines how much texture a leathered finish will have. I much prefer the ones that are nearly smooth for kitchen counters.

raee_gw, thanks for sharing your experience. I'm sorry to hear that your counters aren't quite right but I did a quick google and wow, that stone is lovely!

I'm going with my first love. We're going to do both the Steel Gray perimeter and the Bianco Romano island and hutch counters in a honed finish. I have had zero issues with my sample honed tile and I've done everything shy of major abuse to it, which I'd never do to my counters anyway. And as my ID reminded me, any major scratches can be repaired (which isn't the case for quartz counters yet but I'm sure that technology will be here someday).

Just came back from the stone yard to pick out a polished slab of Steel Gray with my KD. My fabricator will do the swap and other than a small upcharge to hone the slab, we're set.

Yay! One more detail down, only a few more to go. And I'm more than half packed so I'll be ready for the tear-out to start on 4/27.

We just had "sueded" Sea Pearl quartzite installed a few hours ago. It is honed with a very slight texture. So pleased with it! It is buttery soft, even a tad softer than our soapstone island. Love the honed finishes! Glad you went with your first love; you won't regret it.

That sounds gorgeous, wags4fun! Please post pics.

The tummy butterflies are all gone so I know that going with my first love is the right decision.

Here are a few pics of my sueded, honed Sea Pearl quartzite that was installed this week. I will post a full reveal soon. My, how I love the honed surface! You will love your counters!

Oh, wow, your counters are drop dead gorgeous! Can't wait to see your reveal!

I found out that it's costing us only $99 more to hone a polished slab over the cost of the leathered slab. DH and I thought it would cost us more than that so we're happy. We have to pay a $99 change order fee, too, but that seems so reasonable since the fabricator has to load up the leathered slab and return it to the stone yard and pick up the new slab. It's budget creep but I'm not complaining. I feel so good about this decision!

Thx! We are very pleased. I don't want to put anything back on the counters just yet; we're in the "honeymoon" phase. :) Now it's time to select backsplash, paint color, & cabinet pulls.

That's wonderful re the cost difference for honing! That's seems very reasonable. I originally fell in love with a polished Sea Pearl quartzite slab but thought the polished finish, though stunning, wouldn't be the best match with our soapstone. I was quoted $800 - $1,000 to have the quartzite honed. Too much, so I switched to hunting for honed Danby marble; then a fabricator shipped in the pre-honed Sea Pearl for me, and I was sold the moment I saw it. Plus, no upcharge vs. the polished Sea Pearl. Meant to be for both our cases!

Great decision lisa_a! Spread across the years of enjoyment of your new kitchen, $200 will pay huge dividends.

Wags4fun - stunning counters! Now I feel I have to go find a stone yard... curses ;o)

Here is a bit of information that might be useful: The salesman at a large stone yard that I visited this week told me, when I inquired, that the cost of honing a granite slab I was considering would be "at least equal to the cost of the slab itself." I knew that was not true since I used honed granite in my current kitchen and, in fact, was quoted about $500 for this new kitchen countertop by my cabinet person. But imagine how misleading that comment could be to someone who was not aware of the fairly reasonable price to hone most stone slabs!!! Yet another reason to do your homework and not put your total trust in salespeople at the stone yards.

tmy_jax - Thx you! We love them. Enjoy your stone yard journey! I do admit that I will miss the hunt...and will probably continue to visit the stone yards for fun. :)

We have 4 x 4 island with shiny black flecked granite. It always has smear marks on it. Can I get the finish changed?

OT - cccrafter, what a gorgeous, warm, bright space you have created!

kathykleba51:

If I got a call like yours, I may come over and try some experiments to see if I could get a finish you like on site. This is very subjective, so it's quite a gamble. Expect to pay $300.00- $800.00.

You'd be underwater on costs at that price, Joe. I'm sure you know that Honing stone is a lot more difficult to get uniform than solid surface. Double the price, to start. And be prepared to concede defeat. :-\. No reflection on your skills. Even the stone experts that I know would have difficulty getting a uniform hone in the field on black stone when they couldn't use water.

There is a big cost difference between factory honed slab and in house honing. Cheap slave labor at the quarry is the whole reason that granite has come down so much in price. When that labor is transferred to American labor, even low cost immigrant American labor, the price goes up.