I can only answer part of your question. For White Macaubus, sealer is necessary. It's one of the more porous quartzites. The sealer won't have anything to do with etching. If it's real quartzite, it won't etch regardless of the sealer.

Either marble or quartzite can be honed. A honed finish is not any kind of indicator of the kind of stone it is.

I'm not an expert in finishes, but when you are down to the subtleties like honed vs brushed it might help look at some samples or examples. I don't think online photos are going to give you enough information to confidently decide.

You've picked a beautiful stone! Good luck figuring out what finish you want! I bet it will be beautiful either way.

My mother has had blue macaubus quartzite counters since the 90's. I used that kitchen all the time growing up and still use it from time to time. So I've witnessed over 20 years of macaubus use.

Her counter is polished, and she has always sealed it, although just because she is/was busy, sometimes a year or more went by without re-sealing. Regardless, sealing it doesn't change how it looks at all. Not more shiny. Not less.

Her counter doesn't stain or etch. Not at all. If enough time goes between sealings, then liquid left on the counter will sometimes darken parts of the stone for a few hours till it dries out. Nothing permanent. Her counters still look new.

They do not, however, look anything like patina'd marble. Quartzite just doesn't get beat up.

Thanks for the details! We are def. looking for a more durable stone- we beat our marble to death (we cook a LOT and it was a tiny kitchen, so it wasn't always the cleanest.) I'm not a huge fan of the patina, however I liked it better than the super-duper shiny polished granite kind of look.

Would love updates on how it’s holding up and if you sealed it