With hard water we get mineral build up around our bathroom faucet on our dark granite. I'm going to have DH remove the faucet so I can clean it off as its impossible to clean with faucet in place. Our kitchen has light granite and while I'm sure the mineral build up is there, you can't see it. Our dark granite doesn't have to be sealed, our light does but only every several years. No granite is perfect. A slightly round edge gets less chips.

Blue pearl, polished. Had it for almost 5 years now. No stains, no sealing, no nothing to do to it.

We had blue pearl in our first kitchen. It was definitely bullet proof for us. Never sealed it, nothing damaged it, no trouble keeping it looking nice. And I think it is one that is pretty much always called the same thing.

what about Uba Tuba?

colonial cream- no sealing in 4 years and not a stain or etch to be found. And we are brutal on it.

6) orange water stains from hard water? Rusty pipes maybe? Our water is so hard, the dishwasher would remove the printing off of mugs and wine glasses... We caved and got a whole house water softener system. The shower still shows gray deposits (elbow grease and CLR gets it off, but endless battle even with the water softener).

We have absolute black in our media/room bar and so far, so good. Love it. Last house made me give up on granite. Streaks, shows dust, impossible to keep shiny, so this house we went with big rectangular floor tile made from porcelain with a modern schleuter edge. Nothing has ever been so easy to keep clean, and you can dance on it! Beat it! Tough stuff, and everyone who comes to my kitchen is amazed and asks "What is that countertop?" Everyone who comes here is envious.

The Absolute black in the pub: Just after installation. A little dusty, but now that it's in, not a lot of trouble.

orange marks from water usually indicates a lot of iron (I know because that is what I have) in the water

Suzi: Hi! I am interested in you counter that you used: "big rectangular floor tile".

How big was each tile and was it grouted? Could you post a picture of your counter? I love the color of the tile you posted. We are building and looking now at counter tops and I am interested in alternative to granite.

Thank You

If you want "bullet proof" you should get solid surface.

Joseph, I thought I remembered reading that SS shows scratches easily. Am I remembering correctly or incorrectly? I too would love to find what the OP is looking for, for myself. (as an alternative to laminate)

kzim_gw. The tiles measure 13 x 19 and yes, they are grouted, but with some kind of transparant stuff and they have square edges, so the grout is less than 1/16" thick. The tiles are really close together. I chose Eastside Brown on this page: http://products.daltile.com/documents/salessheets/dt_concreteconnection_ss_1210.pdf

We live in a very rustic hillside area, and I felt the style and color fit our location. The pattern on the tile looks sort of like leather/suede. We used the pewter accents to fancy it up, and a schleutered edge to modern it up. The maids come every other week and they tell me it's their favorite house to clean because the tile cleans so easy.

Sorry for the quality of the photos. I suck at photography! The tiles come in many sizes and here is how we used them in the kitchen. I didn't take a full kitchen expanse cuz it's a mess this morning. LOL!

I wanted more of the backsplash near the sink, but window placement and costs made me lose that idea.

It depends on your definition of "bulletproof". If you want a surface that can look new for every tenant, is easily repaired, and tough, solid surface is it.

Sure solid surface scratches more easily than stone, but that depends on the color you pick and the finish. Natural stone scratches too, and getting those out are not a job for a landlord.

I have Giallo Ornamental, dark version. It was sealed when it was installed. We have resealed twice, but as a precaution. Water and liquids still bead up, you have to run your hand on it to make sure you've gotten all the crumbs!

If you go with granite, I would look at the Giallo's, New Venition (Gold, Light etc.) St Cecilia. Anything with the word white will mean more delicate.

If you are set on granite for a rental, just mark your calendar and go in and seal every year. It's easy, spray on and wipe off. Takes a minute.

I researched Absolute Black and found that not every stone that is call AB s actually AB! I do love the honed AB look, but since honed is not sealed, you could get it stained by oil spills etc. The thing is, every thing has it's pros and cons. If maintained properly, you can get any granite.

Thanks Joseph!

What about going with quartz? We put that in our main bath because it looks pretty much the same and we were told it needs no maintenance.

Where did you find all that research, ellendi616? Is it on gardenweb?

So how would I know if an Absolute Black stone is really Absolute Black?

With that low absorbtion rate, I would have thought Absolute Black, polished or honed, would have been a good choice to prevent stains.

Does honing any granite make it easier to stain? I was thinking about getting a honed granite because I thought that was where the granite countertop market was moving towards and that the highly polished granite look was considered dated.

There's no point in updating the kitchen to make it more appealing and then stick a dated granite that makes it looks older than it really is.

Another vote for Blue Pearl.

When choosing granite last year, I asked three different fabricators for their advice on the most "bulletproof" granite. It was surprising that all three gave me exactly the same advice: BLUE PEARL! So that's what I chose, and I've been delighted with it.

Yes, some info on Garden Web but also just googling. When I find repeats of information, I look at it closer and then decide.

What is happening in my real estate market is white kitchen and marble counters. This has been going on for some time now. I would never consider marble! These are multimillion dollar homes.

Google the most expensive real estate in your area and see what those kitchen designers are putting in.

The discussion of dated comes up quite a few times a year. The consensus is that everything will look dated. Some more than others. Remember the light pickling trend? Glazing was big for a while ,the arched doors etc.

Get what you like, but if you plan to sell in a year or two, I would go more conservative. The color granites, although lovely, would be more of a turn off.

IMHO a person can live with a more bland kitchen (until they can remodel) than one that screams a color that they don't like. (The blues and greens)

"6. I've got hard water, the type that leaves orange stains on the shower tiles. Will that affect which granite I should choose?"

Is your water well water?

I'm asking b/c a neighbor of mine did a study (while in college) of the "orange stains" on her shower tile. It turns out it's NOT due to minerals - it's actually a bacterial growth! While it's not a dangerous bacteria, it's still a bacteria. (We also have it - I had always thought it was iron as well.) [We have well water out where we live; not city water w/chlorine.]

Look for absorption rates of 0.25% or less - those are the granites that do not need to be sealed. FindStone used to have a list of the most popular granites & their absorption rates, but the best I can find on their site today says you have to share their page to unlock the content - I'm not interested in doing their advertising for them.

"6. I've got hard water, the type that leaves orange stains on the shower tiles. Will that affect which granite I should choose?"

You need to calculate the cost of a water treatment system into any natural stone countertop purchase. Either that or go solid surface or sintered.

Absolute Black is a nightmare to keep looking clean, just fyi. I have it in my main bath. Shows every speck of dust and water spot. You need to wipe and then dry/buff to get a clean looking surface, but then the next time someone washes their hands it looks like h*ll again. Get something with some movement or speckles instead - Blue Pearl would work.

Honed blue pearl is gorgeous; my DH was not a fan of it polished, but he liked it honed. I would like to see what it looks like lightly leathered.