We have marble in our master and no issues at all - no etching or staining. I say go for it!

I have a marble countertop in my main/guest bathroom. It isn't used for much beyond hand washing and hand washing clothing and has been in place for about a year and a half. It is in absolutely perfect shape. It's honed and I'm careful about using marble safe cleaning products and hand soap. I would recommend bringing home a sample piece, sealing it, and then setting it on your existing countertop near where you most use your vanity. Live with it for a while and see how the marble holds up and whether any damage bothers you. You could try putting products you usually use on it to see whether they will etch. At least that will give you an idea of how it might hold up. I thoroughly intend to do this when we get to the master bathroom remodel, and even if some of our products do etch, I will probably go with honed marble anyway.

I cannot give personal experience other than what I was told by the company where we bought our master bath countertop. They sell both marble and granite and my intention was to get marble. They highly advised against marble for a bathroom that gets much use- master bath no, guest bath okay.

We, too, are empty nesters. The only condition where their advice would be that marble would be ok in the master is if I could certify that DH never leaves the cap off the toothpaste or the top off the mouthwash. (: Marble can stain too easily; doesn't mean it will, but the risk is too high for them to advise marble in a much used bathroom. The marble I was considering was more expensive than the granite, so their advice was not to the company's benefit financially. We went with a gorgeous granite and will put the marble in our guest bath/powder room.

No problems with marble here. We are not particularly tidy people either. the way we've gotten around the toothpaste/make up issue is that we have large vanities. my toothpaste stays in my top drawer. My make up in the other top drawer. I just leave it open while I'm applying make up. Nothing sits on the counter. we do have a few tiny scratches when someone put a drill on my counter but you can only see it at certain angles. We even put marble our son's bath. He let soap sit on the counter and it did stain but over time, it fades and blends in with the veining. Usinf foaming soap helps as it drips much less.

Soonermom - I too wanted marble in my bathroom and did not get it. Now I wish I had done what I wanted. So what if you get a few scratches or stains, something could happen to anything you put in there. If you want marble in your bathroom, my advice would be - get it!!

I put marble floors in our main bath, just installed marble counters in our kitchen and am putting calacatta marble floor and a console sink in the basement powderroom.

No regrets. Go HONED vs polished on counters.