I am a fabricator. Unless you can accept scratches, stains, and etched areas you don't want marble in a kitchen. The extraordinary beauty of marble is most closely approximated by some of the true quartzite materials (which is why they are so popular even with the cost premium.) YOu are 100% correct that engineered stone lacks the beauty of natural stone but for many people the durability is the most important attribute. IMHO the advertised superiority of engineered stone over the various "granites" is vastly overstated and, in fact, many natural stones are actually superior to "quartz" surface because they are just as stain resistant and far less vulnerable to heat damage.
Q