Fantasy Brown is gorgeous! Sorry about the etchingâ¦and hope that you will continue to love it -- and be able to relax -- over time. Not sure if this is helpful to folks on the forum, but I took home an unsealed sample of honed White Macaubas quartzite from my fabricator this weekend, and I spot tested it for about 12 hours with a bunch of liquids (lemon, balsamic vinegar, oil, water, tomato sauce, prune juice). The only thing that left a stain (and a light one at that) was the tomato sauce. I didn't notice any etching at all. We plan to have our countertops sealed, so hopefully staining won't be a problem either. Still nervous, but hopeful... Also happy that honing our slabs (vs. leathering) seems to be a much less expensive option, given that our fabricator can hone the edges, thus avoiding the need for a mitered/built up edge.

jerzeegirl: DH actually fell in love with a leathered surface, but the one sample (different stone, of course) at the shop had too many pits in it -- deep enough holes where I'd have difficulty digging embedded flour/gunk out (I bake from scratch a ton!). So, a good jumping off point (to remove ourselves from polished/shiny) was honed. Our guy has every machine/tool on-site, so his worker honed the 3"x8" strip in a matter of minutes. I hear that going the next step (leathering) would/should bring back some of the sheen and depth that I love BP for, so that's where we're headed with our next visit -- our fabricator is very patient and, most importantly, wants to be sure we get exactly what we want. We'll ask him if he can't process a lightly leathered piece, if there's such a thing. That said, we've fallen in love with the honed -- soft as butter!

Thank you all so much for posting your comments here, reading all your comments finally helped me make a decision! We decided to go for leathered Taj for our kitchen renovation. Bacskplash, countertops, island…We have dark, honed marble now and ceaserstone and the marble etched and stained horribly. We were thinking of dolomitic stone ( similar to marble, not as stain resistant as quartzite) but after reading comments here, I decided for leathered TM. I do not want to worry, we cook a lot and are not super careful….Thank you. I will Post photos when ready, but here is the slab for now. It is polished, the stone place gets it honed or leathered. I like the look and feel of leathered stone.

Main Line, thank you so much for your “critique” of my kitchen. What a shame I didn’t have you to design it...not! i am not a KD. I hired the best in my city. One has serious limitations when one is working with a 1948 house and no walls can come down. One is also limited in how one vents a hood in such a house. One is limited by budget. I had two choices: put the stove where the kitchen door to the outside is, or leave it were it’s been since 1984. If the stove were moved, there would now be no direct access to the outside. It would also mean turning the double window in the adjoining breakfast room into a door. Of course, that would entail removing the concrete flight of stairs from the existing place (they are tied into the foundation), and building new ones. NOT a good choice in SO many ways! Or I could have had my large bay window and sink removed and put it where the sink is, leaving me with a dark kitchen and a sink without a window over it on another wall, causing still more problems. Clearly, leaving the stove where it is works best. The hood is able to be vented through an HVAC closet on the 2nd floor and straight on out the roof. That works very well. In the future, if someone buys the house and wants a different stove, they can easily move it over a bit, leaving counter space at the end, and it can still vent the same way. The stove is a monster and has safely resided there now for 35 years. Having the space in the center (the griddle) in which to put a hot pan is useful, but only needed for things coming out of the oven. It’s never been a problem. Pot handles are always turned toward the griddle. Children and grandchildren were taught not to racer through the kitchen to go outside when someone is cooking. No one has ever been burned or knocked off a pot. Having cooked in this kitchen for decades, I knew what worked and what didn’t. The main reason to remodel was to get the refrigerator off the end of the stove counter run and to get drawers in the lower cabinets. I wanted a longer counter next to the stove for prep and for plating up dishes. I needed to open up that back corner to the hall. It made the kitchen feel cramped. Is it ideal to have the refrigerator at the opposite end of the kitchen than the sink? No...but in an older house compromises must be made and that was an easy one. When I cook, I get everything I need out before I start. I have a long counter run and my island cart on which to place things. Easy, peasy. What works brilliantly about this kitchen is that even only being 11 x 15, three people can be working in that kitchen at the same time, and a 4th can be carrying plates back and forth to the dining room, with no one ever having to say “excuse me” while dancing around another. The refrigerator placement actually facilitates this as one person can be preparing a salad or dessert on the long counter opposite the stove wall, and have easy access to the refrigerator. The person working at the stove can easily grab something quickly, all without being in the way of another. Someone can even enter from the back hall and grab more ice from the freezer for the bar, without getting in the way of those cooking. There is room at the sink for a clean-up person to have room to receive used plates, rinse and stack those needing hand-washing, and access to the DW without opening it being cumbersome. Not one of the kitchen you designed, works this well. I may may not be a KD, but I do cook (or used to do so before getting old). I know how a kitchen functions, whether it’s dinner for 1, 4 or a dinner party or holiday meal. I know where to place storage for the best ease of access. I bake and know that means needing to be able to spread things out - that long counter works a treat, and has mixing bowls and baking pans right beneath. Are the cabinets for plates as close the the DW as your “rules” might prefer? No, but they’re close enough and again the island cart and that long countertop provide a place to put things and then put them all away. Glassware is close - right next to the sink. i lived with this kitchen for 32 years prior to remodeling. I knew how it “worked” or didn’t work. I knew how I used it. And months were spent planning this remodel, I needed the KD for cabinet sizes to order, not to layout my kitchen, but he and I spent many hours problem solving and trying various placements. No prof KD could ever afford to give this kitchen the thought I did prior to doing the work. As a designer, I know the “rules” well enough that I know when they can be broken. And when remodeling, they often must be as most people, contrary to HGTV, are not removing load-bearing walls and putting in huge steel beams, nor are they gutting the house to the studs. A good designer can work with the structural limitations and use creativity to make things work. Only a very inexperienced designer or one lacking any creativity or imagination, allows herself to be hamstrung by “Rules”. In my experience, many, if not most, KD’s do not actually “cook” or do much home entertaining, probably because they work full time. My daughter is in the high end hospitality industry, and I know that every time they design a new hotel restaurant (and all are “destination“ restaurants, not just a place for hotel guests to eat), it’s the Executive chef who is hired BEFORE the kitchen is designed, who designs his kitchen. He knows how he runs his kitchen, and where things need to be. No KD on earth knows this. The thought he puts into this is the difference between a chef who cooks delicious things, and one who can do that AND run an efficient kitchen so his helpers are not tripping over one another, and things get to the table at the proper temp. No KD’s CAD skills can equal this knowledge. Of course commercial KD’s then come into play - building Codes, OSHA rules - it’s highly complicated. But the functioning design comes from the chef, and he chooses his equipment. There is a great interview online, with 3 star Michelin French Laundry chef, Michael Keller, telling how he designed the new kitchen at the French Laundry. Clearly, we have very different taste where the aesthetics of kitchen design are concerned. I don’t find the kitchens on your website to be very attractive. Of course, I heartily dislike “open concept” kitchens, and one would be awful in my very traditional home. The aesthetic of my kitchen is very harmonious with my house, filled with antiques and beautiful fabrics and wallpaper. It follows all the principles of good design - light, space, compatibility with adjoining rooms, and most importantly, it functions very, very well. It pleases me, and in the end, having a client pleased is very important. I hope you’re not as rude to your clients as you’ve been to me. I know many people who live or have lived on the Main Line, and I have never found them very tolerant of rudeness.