Donho- I'm NOT going to ask the obvious question that you're prolly SICK of getting asked... like in the scene from "Office Space" where the "Bobs" are interviewing Michael and they ask him... "So..... are ya related?"... HA! Anyways - back to topic... What YOU are experiencing is the exact reason why for almost a decade I was a crusader against doing honed Absolute Black - for that very reason. I did three kitchens all at the same time - for the same client. He built three spec homes, and we did honed AB in all three, and they had the same exact issue that you are having. In fact - I was on my way up to Scottsdale on a bright sunny Tuesday morning to look over the work and listen to his complaint when the meeting was postponed in light of the events that taken place earlier that morning in New York, Washington & Pennsylvania - the date that day - was September 11th, 2001... You always remember what you were doing and where you were when events like that happen - President Kennedy's assassination , Neil Armstrong on the Moon, Challenger Blowing up, President Reagan getting shot, etc - I was going to look at "what the heck my customer was supposed to do about ALL THREE of his kitchens that had honed AB in them" on the morning of 9/11.... Anyways - there IS good news for you on your problem - and in my opinion - NEITHER an enhancer nor a sealer is going to help you in this situation - I have tried both without a great deal of success on Honed AB...... HOWEVER................. You CAN use Method Daily Granite Polish - it is ALL NATURAL and you apply it every day for around two weeks - after which time - you will have built up a "patina" of coconut oil - the active ingredient that will help to prevent the natural oils in your fingers from showing up on the stone and creating the smudges... MANY people have found that Method Daily Granite Polish DOES work in this situation!!!! I learned about this technique right her on GW from some of the home owners that had the VERY SAME problem tha you have!!!! try it....... hth kevin

I was also considering a lighter granite like Kashmire white with my shaker white cabs. I too worried about the upkeep and staining. After much research (mostly on this awesome gardenweb site) I ended up getting a leathered dark grey/blackish granite called Negro San Benetito or something like that (sorry cannot remember exact). I found it at my local granite yard, although I did see Lowes carried it. I absolutely love, love, love, it! It is so easy to care for that I feel I should clean it even though it looks perfectly clean. Nothing so far is staining it which is miraculous in my household! Oh and it has tiny iti-biti flecks of bronze and actually blue too, but only when sun is shining directly on it. Very cool! Sorry I thought I had a picture on my iPad to post. If you want to see let me know. I have a long ways to go to finish my kitchen, so not really posting much pictures yet. It has been a two year process already just to get counters so...yeah...its a work in progress. But I'm happy, happy!!!

I'm going to give you some advice that you probably don't want to hear- never buy a slab that you haven't seen in person. Stone has a way of changing color depending on the slab, the light, how the picture was taken etc. Veining can also heavily change from slab to slab. So many people come onto Houzz after their countertops are installed and it's not what they were expecting because they didn't view it in person. I understand it's frustrating and stressful, but I highly recommend you only purchase a stone you can personally visit.

A crack would be all the way through, from one side of the stone to the other, creating two separate pieces that moved independently. That is a fissure. Any attempt to do anything to it other than Joe’s sharpie will only make it more apparent. It’s fine. Don’t sweat it. Granite isn’t waterproof to begin with. Honed already has a physical texture that will get contaminated with stuff by itself. Nothing has changed about any property of the stone. It just has a more interesting look to it than you thought it had.