That's a very nice seam. Run a black Sharpie on the dark parts and it will disappear. Spit on you thumb and rub if you go over.

It could be a bit darker. They did an excellent job matching up the two pieces. Very nice.

That's a shame after having the pieces matched so beautifully. I guess the fabricator really knew his stuff but the installer not so much, not paying attention to the colors there. Good news is it can be remedied. People here say the sharpie works.

Sharpies work. Ask me how I know. :)

"If the fabricator returns, can he fix this without permanent marker or is that my best bet?"

If he's smart, he'll use the permanent marker. I do this all the time; it's no big deal. You may need a little acetone on a rag if the thumb spit doesn't clean up the overage.

And let's not forget, the standard here is "inconspicuous", not "invisible". Even in Corian, a variegated seam like that would show.

I would go for the sharpie myself. They did a great job on the seam with both sides matching up beautifully. I wouldn't want them to try anything else, I'd be nervous if they tried to start removing it and either chipping the stone or who knows what - I'd just use the permanent sharpie on the dark parts and leave the light parts as is.

So the glossiness of the stone is from sealant and you wanted it natural?

I didn't realize they were installing the stone yesterday and if I'd been there, I would have made sure they tested to see that it needed a sealant. Everything that I've read says the darker the stone, the less porous and less necessary to seal.

The sealer was applied no later than 4:00 and I arrived a few hours later. It was still wet to the touch. When I spoke to my contractor today, he said the crew sprayed and then wiped up the sealant. Obviously not well. :( And since it's Friday afternoon, he won't be back to wipe it up until Monday.

The stone is leathered and while I know that's not honed and can expect some shine, I was not expecting to see streaks and blotchy spots (obvious in person and other pictures). I've asked the contractor to have the fabricator remove the sealant (I assume this can be done with acetone or another chemical without ruining the stone or its leathered finish?). He says he's never heard of not sealing granite, even when it's black.

Our leathered Calacatta Gold countertops were installed pre-Thanksgiving, and we’re working with our fabricator to find a good (both oil
and water repellant) impregnating sealer. We brought home a sample
treated with Tenax ProSeal, and we were surprised that: 1) it has a glossy
appearance (much like in your photo), and 2) it feels like a semi-gloss paint
would. Paraphrasing a pro from another
forum: impregnating sealers such as ProSeal should not change the color or
feel of the stone. It sounds like the
sealer is just sitting on top of the stone.
The fabricator’s crew likely applied the sealer too thick and/or didn’t
properly wipe up the excess. Remedy:
apply another light coat (of the same sealer), which will active the sealer
sitting on the surface; then wipe off any extra product so that none is left on
the stone.

Any idea what type of sealer your installer used? Streaks and splotches may be an indicator that your stone was dense enough not to need sealing. Do you by chance have a sample of your stone unsealed, such that you could test for water and oil absorbency? If not, perhaps you could ask for a remnant piece for testing purposes.

If you decide your tops don't need sealing, acetone should strip what's on there now (shouldn't affect the leathering which is achieved by a mechanical, not chemical, process). BTW, might as well wait on the Sharpie trick as acetone will likely also remove the black ink.

However, if you decide your tops do need sealing, but perhaps the sheen is a result of the excess sealer not being properly removed, I'd go with the advice from the pro above. BTW, that's not the first time I've read about this process of 'reactivating' the cured sealer by applying a new/wet coat...makes sense.

A month later and they fixed it!!

Love this. What is the stone??

The slab had two labels - Via Lactea and Ocean Black. The fabricator's paperwork called it Ocean Black.

So it's "leathered" ocean black granite? I really like it. Is it holding up well? Staining etc? Thank you.