Ok, I'm weighing in here because I actually have the STT SB sealer on all the countertops in our house. We are going to add the second part - the FE- to our marble island. We hadn't planned to initially, and I will say that everything we've thrown at it so far in just the SB state(with the below EXTREME exception) has come off easily, including a tomato "stain" on the counter that ultimately self destructed. We've had dried on spaghetti sauce on our backsplash that has wiped away with no trace.... Coffee on my coffee bar - no problem. The reason we are getting the FE is that we were traumatized before closing and after original sealing: our builder's cleaning crew took the burgundy felt covers off our Rohl faucets and must have left them sitting for hours or days in a puddle of water on the countertop. RED DYE leached from the "protective" covers that had been removed - and stained the bejeezus out of our new, unused, honed statuary island. Horrifying doesn't begin to cover it! If you wet one of those covers and wring it out, dark pink dye comes pouring out into the sink! No porous stone would have been unscathed with that sitting on it, unattended.... John, (aka your advisor "doitright" over on JB forum), spent 4 days at our house restoring the tops. Stain is gone! Took a whole lot of chemicals (and even flames- don't ask!) but it looks perfect. A lesser human would've given up that first day, but lucky for us, he became obsessed with removing those stains completely. So- we are adding the FE because we were so stressed by the experience, but without the SB already in place, we all think we'd have been totally S.O.L. John has rags he uses to apply it that have been repeatedly washed - you can't GET them wet with water - everything beads up on them! And after the intensive stain removal we've been through with him, I value his opinions on all things stone more than ever. We had really debated about whether to spend a lot of money on a sealer (STT products are expensive!!) but are very glad we did.

nancy_east -- thanks for your nice words! How exciting about your kitchen -- this will be fun to watch develop! The widest walkway we have is 36 1/2" (countertop to countertop), with it going down to 34 1/2" where our apron front sink "jumps" out. From our cooktop to the widest point of the bowed island countertop is 35 3/4". The only times (or rather, areas) our aisles feel tight are when the dishwasher door is open and there's only 12" of clearance (between the open door and the island cabinetry). But so far, no barked shins! We're careful and aware. The other area is our refrigerator (which is 30" wide, all refrigerator so it's a wide door): when it's open the only one who can sidle by (and then it's just barely) is our two year-old. But neither of those conditions are permanent (meaning, the dishwasher is mostly closed and the refrigerator door is mostly closed as well). While 36" for an aisle isn't "ideal," for us it's working out fine. Our only alternative would've been to give up the island and that wasn't an option! We need the storage space. Your aisles will work out fine; if it there's an impediment in the 36" aisle (like a dishwasher), then you all will learn the same careful two-step we and many others have as well! Good luck with your kitchen-in-progress! (and whole house, too!)

I purchased both of my marble mosaic off of ebay from Phoenecian Arts (I probably am spelling that wrong...but do a search for marble mosaic and you'll find them...they sell thousands). They are both fabulous quality. I'd highly recommend him, and his prices were quite good! So how to choose, well I have a busy granite as well, but you can have more than one bling focal point in a kitchen :) I'd limit it to three or four but no more. So if you have crazy granite, lighting that's unique, the other BS is beyond eye catching, and your knobs are bling bling...well maybe keep it simple. For me, I wanted the range to be a major focal point, and for some odd reason I wanted chickens (they say kitchen to me). We did debate over the Ronald Regan and the Pope mosaic though...heh heh Anyhoo, I decided size based on the size the mosaic was available in. I did this for both of mine (one is a carpet) and then made them fit the space with the use of a boardering trim. I have a hood as well, so the height was determined by the distance between that and the stove, and then some astetics were involved (if you look at the top black granite you'll see it's actually inside the hood about an inch....that was for framing purposes, and was a bugger to do because the granite had to be shaved down to fit over the already high steel). I haven't removed tape and stuff, but here's an idea of how nice a mosaic can look: (OK I think they're nice LOL) They're not grouted and cleaned here. Today they get their enhancements :)

What about fireplace surrounds and mantles? I lived in two houses built in the 1830s with marble fireplaces and large flues made for big fires. Most residential ranges do not require anything more than drywall as a wall surface vertically behind the cooktop. I have never seen a conventional freestanding range that required anything more than it's own short back guard and several of the slide ins with 1" or so back guards that I looked at (and there's not all that many in dual fuel) did not require anything specific behind the and the vertical side wall clearances were something like 3" for most of them. They are designed so the vertical wall clearances are essentially met. Overhead horizontal clearances for cabinets or whatever are a different story. Pro style and true commercial ranges are a different story, but very few slide ins that actually overlap the counter are actually pro style.