Thanks! Virginia mist is almost double the price per square foot so it is a pretty big difference. However I am trying not to have a granite "look" and more of a soapstone or quartz look without the price. I like the horizontal movement of the Virginia Mist but can't seem to find another granite like that that is less in price.

Hmm Lisa...I am guessing SSwiddows has very good sealer. My slabs are honed, not leathered. I chose these because I really like soapstone but did not want the maintenance. I may as well have bought that with the maintenance I have with the silver grey. I put a crockpot on it with a towel underneath. It took over a week for the dark spot to go away. Again, I will be spraying on a sealer and hope that will make a difference. Will have to look in the search for "good sealer" and hope to find some suggestions.

Only commenting because I have leathered steel grey granite, looks similar to your last photo. I have a busy kitchen with five kids... I love it because it seems impervious to any staining, doesn’t show fingerprints at all, doesn’t highlight crumbs but it also doesn’t make them impossible to find. (I used to have a granite that I would think I was wiping clean just fine, but I wear gloves when I clean, and as soon as I took my gloves off and ran my bare hand across the granite you could usually still feel crumbs even though you couldn’t see them. Drove me nuts!) Anyways, my leathered granite is super easy to clean, and stays looking quite clean even when it’s not really. I’d get it again in a heartbeat. Sorry, I don’t have experience with the other stones you’re considering.

Thanks Beth. The problem with the pics is that the marking doesn't show up (not that the pics don't load). Unless you see a large amount of it from standing back you wouldn't notice it. We got a lot of variable advice on sealing when we were considering this leathered finish on this particular granite. The general consensus was that it's one of the most non-porous varieties, and that sealing it would head us back towards a shiny finish, which is not what we wanted. At the start we pooled water on it for over 30mins with no apparent absorption, and in general it wipes up really well. It may be that this marking is down to soap rather than water, but it's hard to tell. If there's such a product that seals without changing the appearance I think we'd go with it. Do you have any specific recommendations?