ALthough I'll agree with most of that post, there are a couple of things I don't. First, there IS a big difference between the "high dollar" sealers and Home Depot's Best (Tile Lab). The better sealers will last alot longer. Same thing with the difference between water based and solvent based. The solvent based sealers penetrate much deeper, and as such, last alot longer. One last question-- who makes an unsanded epoxy? Lastly, I don't know what you're calling "tile sealers". The only tile sealers I've ever seen ARE penetrating sealers, also used for sealing stone, and in fact ORIGINALLY meant for sealing stone.

We used quite a bit of the grecian marble (incorrectly spelled greecian on the Home Depot website if you are searching for it). We used 12x12s that we cut into 6x12 bricks, 3x6 that we used in one bath as a herringbone pattern and one bath installed in a subway pattern, 6x6, chair rail and the 1x1 hex on the floor. In one shower we installed the Homedepot river rock/pebble mesh mosaic on the floor. We installed the tile in Feb/March so its been up for almost a year and it looks great. There is, however, a great variation in color. It is not a pure white. Some tiles are almost all gray and some have quite a bit of brown in them. Our installer was fantastic at pulling the out and arranging them so that the colors are scattered. We like the color disparity and movement but that's personal preference. Just don't expect a pure white. We did find several boxes that contained noticably thinner tiles (mostly with the 3x6 tiles). We simply packed these back up (save the little boxes it comes in)and returned them to Home Depot. This is a stocked item at our HD so it was easy to get if we needed more and easy to return. The hex mosaic tile was an online only item and we had a HUGE problem getting it delivered. It was through a freight company and they kept promising it and it wouldn't arrive. This could be just an issue in our area (Cincinnati) but it held us up for about a week. (It arrived two weeks later than promised). If I can figure out how I will post pictures as I think the bathrooms turned out great! No extra maintenance. Just sealed it. We were cautioned by the installer about rust which is impossible to remove from marble (often things like shaving cream cans are still metal and can rust). I'm sure newhomeowner is finished with the project but thought I'd throw in my 2 cents for anyone considering the grecian marble.

I guess I'l be the one who hasn't had any maintenance issues with honed AB. I love it! And I don't baby it, either. Like you, I wanted a not-shiny dark stone: my first choice was slate, but I was told it cracks, flakes, sheds - I can't even remember all the things it does, the saleswoman scared me off it so fast! Didn't want marble. Didn't want synthetic. Liked the reasonable price of granite. Read all the reviews here on GW that said it shows every fingerprint and watermark and fleck of dust... but this simply hasn't been true for us. We have it on our sink run and our deep sink splashes plenty. We mop up the water after doing the dishes - but I wouldn't call that a maintenance nightmare... I would mop up water or spills on ANY counter... Not sure why AB gets a bad rep - I think it looks sharp, we have had ZERO problems. Now, I wish I could say the same about my wood island top.... This isn't a great picture, but since you asked:

Hi - thanks for responding! The Lansdale has a creamy, taupey tone which I think (hope!) sort of blends with the copper. Regular Carrara didn't because it is all gray and white, but Lansdale seemed to blend it all-- the brown tones bring out the copper, and then then the whiter tiles tile in with the cabinets, while ones that are grayer tie in with my stainless steel.. I know the galaxy has the sparkle/flecks, but in general I think of it more as a neutral since you pretty much just see black counters. I didn't want anything too sparkly/glass/iridescent even though I LOVED that at first, but it competed with the sparkle, whereas the Lansdale is muted while still being warm and bringing some interest. Thoughts? I can't think of anything that would incorporate copper as I don't want to do a dark backsplash, and don't want accents because it is a very small area. I wanted neutral, and soothing and something to warm up kitchen.. I saw a picture of something who used it on this forum and looked similar to mine. Granted she has very dark chocolate counters (not granite) but i was thinking of my copper like the brown.