We also have a leathered surface to our granite. It's been installed now for a few months and so far, I've been very pleased with it. No issues with scratching that I've seen - although we're careful, our GC are less so. Also, haven't had any issues with oil, etc., but they did seal the granite also, which I would imagine helps. I LOVE that it has a "soft, warm" feel to it - it's hard to describe, but I love to touch our granite. Though it's hard - obviously, it's stone...it has a dimension that is difficult to describe other than being "soft and warm". I imagine that others with the same surface would say the same. I love that when the light hits it, we have physical texture (the areas where we have mica bits in it tend to be lower), so the main surface is matte, but the relief area (the mica) is shiny. One slight drawback - I wouldn't want to work bread dough or anything like that directly on the countertop because I think that little bits might get stuck in the crevices...but I haven't tested that and don't plan to really - I use cutting boards, etc. when I'm working with things like that. I did the same thing when I worked with our laminate style countertops too, so it's really no difference now. The picture I'm attaching shows a bit of the textural element of the leathered surface of our granite.

Hi repaintingagain, I promised an update. Bottom line: our absolute black leathered/antiqued counters will require a lot more care than I was led to believe, I hate them because of this because I am so not the type to patrol the countertops-that's why I sensibly talked myself into them and out of what I thought were higher maintenance materials (marble and soapstone.) So, the expert came out (kind/knowledgeable/professional) and basically there is a choice between the lesser of two evils: 1) leave unsealed and have to deal with darker fingerprints/oil spots darkening the counters (much like what I was trying to avoid with unoiled soapstone) or 2) use an enhancing sealer that helps to minimize/mask darker oil marks BUT the sealer still etches from acidic substances which show up as lighter/hazy marks on the granite (much like I was trying to avoid with marble, and what you have going on with your countertops, repaintingagain.) As we suspected, expert guy used acetone to strip off all the previous sealer, and then the counters looked mostly fine until people started resting their hands on it and it looked splotchy/dirty again. So we had him put an enhancing sealer on one area (we left the rest unsealed) and he gave us the weekend to conduct various "mess tests" on the different finishes to see what looked/cleaned up best. (we used ketchup, olive oil, and a lemon wedge.) The enhancing sealer (Dupont Stonetech product) did NOT make the counters wet/shiny as I feared/was originally told. The color difference was slight, not dramatic, but enough to help minimize the oil spots/look of darker stains. We left half a lemon wedge on the color enhanced countertop with a round circle of ketchup next to it for 15 minutes and both left lightened/hazy/etched looking areas that could not be cleaned up with dishsoap and water (repaintingagain, these spots looked like the spots on your counters.) The olive oil cleaned up well and fingerprints did not show. On the unsealed side, the lemon wedge and ketchup left for 15 minutes cleaned up well and I was so excited, but the olive oil left a splotchy blotchy darker mess that could not be cleaned up with dishsoap and water and fingerprints were a problem. (This is NOT to say that a stronger "grease cutter" product might not have worked-I don't know-we were just using some regular Joy dishsoap) Since we have young kids who will be leaving little fingerprints everywhere, we opted to use the enhancing sealer, (because they eliminated the dirty fingerprints look) and we're figuring we are just going to have to be extremely careful not to slop any acidic substances on the counters. (Again, we are not naturally neat/tidy folks, so this is extremely disappointing.) Confession: My 4 year old saw me crying over the counters and said "Mommy, what is wrong???" with such fear on his face that I felt just awful. So having to explain and reassure him that everything is fine, these are just counters was a good reality check for me. But I am deeply, deeply disappointed to have wasted hundreds of hours of my life researching countertops-not to mention thousands of dollars- to be stuck with countertops that don't meet my expectations for the next 30+ years. My husband feels terrible for me that I'm blaming myself for making a "bad" decision and has committed to periodically just stripping the enhancing sealer all off and reapplying when our etching gets too bad/the counters look too dirty. He likened it to power washing the deck periodically, just a part of the maintenance of the item. Which did help me feel better. I just didn't know we'd have to deal with this, so since we do, I wish either 1) I would have put in a harder soapstone (Original P.A. was the hardest we personally tested, but I understand Julia and Belvedere are two that perform similarly. I'm sure there are others too) or 2) that we would have selected the antiqued/leathered Virginia Mist/Jet Mist (around here it was renamed "Nebula") because at least the veins/movement would help to mask both the oil spots or the etching (depending on whether we'd left it unsealed or sealed.) repaintingagain, I did want to tell you that you/your husband could certainly strip off your sealer with acetone and start fresh and experiment with whether you want to leave your counters unsealed or seal with a regular or color enhancing sealer. Our guy did it with his bare hands and a cloth, I was in the room and the odor wasn't bad with any of the products and I'm fairly sensitive to smells/chemicals. For any lurkers who've read this far, I hope my experience helps someone else. Interestingly, we have gotten lots of compliments from some of the subs that are coming in at the end of the project finishing up details saying how cool our counters are and how great they look in the kitchen etc. Absolute black leathered/antiqued could be the perfect quiet, non shiny, non busy countertops for someone who is prepared to accept their maintenance as part of life. I wasn't and in the end our satisfaction with things are really just a result of how well the result meshes with our expectations.

Rupes, After you tested the lemon juice on the sealer did you try to remove it? I'm wondering if it'll be permanent or if it can be dealt with. When our honed AB counters were first installed we had quite a few "stains.". For example, grease splatters. I could not get them out. They have since disappeared...whether they were absorbed into the stone or what, I don't know. I do periodically use the Method cleaner so I'm wondering if that helped. What I do now to clean the counters is use hot water and a tiny bit of dish soap, then use the Method cleaner every few days or so, with a microfiber cloth. I haven't seen anything on our counters like what you showed with the test above, even though our marble counter has etched quite a bit. I've heard the Cambria Black is less prone to fingerprints,etc., if that's an option for you.

Verde Butterfly: Stone Type & Age:Metamorphosed Quartz Syenite ... Charnokite. Archean Circa 3000 million years. Brazil: technical name. charnokite vs. granite ". Conducive to a superior surface finish (Flaky stones like Verde Butterfly get resined to eliminate surface crystals from flaking off. This provides a smooth finish to the polished slabs)" "The rocks in the collection are described as mafic charnokites (which is confusing in and of itself, since a charnokite is defined as a hypersthene bearing granite-diorite, and is therefore felsic with mafic elements) and related rocks, such as altered granulites, norites, and others" "Garnet is a naturally occurring gemstone. Its name comes from Latin "Granatus" meaning seed. Garnet is the name which can be applied to six similar mineral species, namely almandine, pyrope, spessartine, grossular, andradite and uvarovite. To further complicate matters, many garnets are actually a combination of these minerals. Rhodolite Garnet, for instance, is a combination of almandine and pyrope and is sometimes referred to as pyrope-almandine garnet. There are also many trade names and other commonly used names such as Rhodolite, Tsavorite, and Mozambique which only add to the confusion." After: reading all this: and about honed and resin and polish: and seeing "granite" all the time. I believe the process completed at the factory before slab gets to stone yard or to fabricator that makes slabs shinny >brings out the color in the garnets more: Honed process is different. I understand the pits better now: and I understand Verde Butterfly better after reading. It's about minerals and reactions to chemicals. And the reason they put exopy or resins on the stone. I don't know what the answer is to enhance the garnets the way you want them to look?: (I promise you even in highly polished verde butterfly: I have seen slabs that I couldnt see the garnite: they looked black to me! Garnets are formed uniquely) I believe a color enhancer will soak into the stone and may make the garnets brighter. Acetone on the stone: wipe off: let dry a day or two: could put fan's on the granite to dry. DO NOT SEAL wet stone. Buy a really good VOC compliant color enhancer maybe off the web. Not retail brand. Maybe you have a natural stone store in your area that sells commercial brand color enhancer sealers? Sounds like Verde Butterfly: is flaky. I personally have Blue Pearl and Verde Butterfly pieces in my kitchen & bathroom that has raw edges: exposed Rock: I put jewlery & personal stuff on stone and in kitchen I put my kitchen stuff on them for deco the verde butterfly next to my stove. I got the edge look with scraps from left over slab scraps & by "dropping" the scrap pieces of stone on the floor until I had a good look all around the stone. But my exposed rock was milky: hard to see the beauty of the layers. (also: I don't really see the Flakey layers in the Verde Butterfly???? that they are referring to: I am not arguing: but to me : "Gold and Silver" Granite from Brazil with net backing to keep together and full of resin to hold together that falls apart when fabricating!!!!!!!!! I have some of that: Beautiful but super flakey! Layers of flake that you can pick at!) SO : My point is: I soaked my pieces in color enhancer for a day! & now they look dark, rich, pretty and layers of rock are visable with garnets. Although the raw sides don't match the smooth polished resined top of the pieces: but I don't care. So, I believe what I am trying to point out: I can see my raw stone and I color enhanced it & looks pretty after I manipulated the stone's color myself. (all matter of opinion) FYI: by Boss/Owner here: she has Verde Butterfly in her kitchen 11-12 years now! She cooks constantly for big parties and has three "sloppy" kids! I am not kidding! Her countertops look great! I've been over there. She uses Olive oil daily! And her kids make hugh messes! She has a hugh Sink Elkay: $750 sink from 10 years ago: and never has dropped! and still looks great! Raw Travertine on the floor: not polished! Very abused and looks great to me! So, she is living proof. I promise: her countertops get abused! They are polished vs honed but still. Everything has been spilled on the verde butterfly and I am sure lemon too! (lol) : I promise! I truly hope this helps you and really : You island looks great and matches the fireplace texture look!Love your fire. ~Happy Holidays~ i am allowed to state that I personally used pro stone color enhancer commercial brand: and No I am not advertising for them! I believe any commercial brand would be good that you can get your hands on. Not retail. My opinion. Search the web or ebay for some. I could throw more names out there. But I don't want to be "advertising" I do not sell sealers or cleaners: I tell people were to go and what to use and what not to use. Also: daily cleaner for natural stone should have a 4.5 ph nautral level not 7.5 ph : and VOC compliant: that is my opinion as well. Especially dealing with all the minerals and chemicals in stone! You can read all about that as well. and make up your own mind on cleaners. BIG ARTICLE: http://www.thefabricatornetwork.com/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Print.aspx?tabid=81&tabmoduleid=155&articleId=125&moduleId=420&PortalID=0