Honed or not all backsplash tiles - especially stones should be sealed. And I think that would protect you from that. I wouldn't let it sit forever either. Maybe get a piece & do some experiments.

good Luck!

I have honed botticino marble subway tiles and so far so good. I have had some splashed of food and not stains. I do remove them as soon as possible.

Thanks granite-girl and hogar. If sealed, will it still look honed?

I went to a tile store today (to pick up my bathroom and mudroom tile) and asked about marble subway tile for my kitchen backsplash. He recommended getting honed and/or another sheen and not the shiny marble for us. It should be sealed but if it does etch, the shiny backsplash will be "blotchy" and more noticeable than the other 2 sheens. With my family and lifestyle I'm skipping the marble.

If you use tumbled marble, you won't see any etching, short of splashing battery acid on it. That's one of the biggest reasons it's so popular as a backsplash material.

Also, one correction to something granite girl said:

Honed or not all backsplash tiles - especially stones should be sealed.

With one exception (crackle glaze tile), ONLY stone should be sealed. Not ceramic.

Cali - I think the tumbled marble is a different story though isn't it? It seems like such a different product to me somehow!

bostonpam - I know...it's a risk. But it's the marble countertop that I'd (for me) be most concerned w/ my family destroying. Backsplash gets splattered now and again for sure (especially considering our countertops aren't very deep) but on white marble I imagine I'd see it/notice it often enough to keep it mostly regularly cleaned up. Also, I was wondering if worst-case scenario it couldn't be sanded up or bleach-stained in a certain spot. I'm sure the answer is "ack - no!" but I'd probably go for it if nothing else worked. ;)

We'll only be putting in marble (honed or satin I guess) backsplash if we do the countertop in stainless. I think that combo is so darn pretty.

Thanks!

We tested a sample of double-sealed (not enhanced) honed marble alongside our double-sealed polished white granite, and neither stained despite any number of red, orange and yellow sauces and spices. The only difference I saw was that the marble seemed to etch after spending all day and night with a lemon wedge; the granite didn't.

You'd probably only experience splattering of spaghetti sauce on the backsplash of the stovetop/range area. Have you thought about doing something different there? You could do a stainless backsplash in that area and marble in the rest of the kitchen. That's what we're considering at this point - and that's based solely on the looks of it.