Totally agree with Jillius. In my mind even £50 (UK, sorry!) is too much to pay for re-honing as by the very nature of marble it will only last a day if you actually use the kitchen. Honed marble with etches isn't a monster or shameful though. It is beautiful and characterful. Can you handle that? Can you handle people putting things down on the tops and not knock down small children in the race to get a coaster under the glass before it reaches the counter? And those same people that give your counter the etches not noticing them at all you will notice every one

i am getting Carrara installed early November ( everything crossed for then as we've been building since February!) . I know I won't mind any etches my slabs get along the way. Might be a bit precious about it for the first day though!

I honestly believe that you should never get marble if you have to ask "should I get marble?". The only people who should get marble are the ones who can't imagine anything else. I would never get marble. I LOVE how it looks in the jawdropping pictures, but I have marble counters in our bathrooms and HATE them. They are 10 years old, pocked and etched and always seem grimy and dirty to me because of all the tiny holes (crema marfil, my master bath counter pic below is ten years old and clean but notice all those tiny dark dots where they are etched, and dark emperador in the other 3 bathrooms). Edited: they were here when we moved in so their state doesn't bother me too much; if I had paid $$$ for them I would be livid. edited again: I do have to admit I loath the ivory and brown colors of our marble counters and maybe that is why I hate them so much!

As someone with marble countertops (Vermont Imperial Danby), it's difficult to advise someone else to get marble. I'd feel terrible if I told you not to worry, the etching won't bother you & then it did. I love my marble, no regrets. DH & I are empty-nesters. We don't have much etching - nothing that anyone else would notice or I can photograph. There are plenty of marble owners on this forum that have etching but still have no regrets. There are a few with regrets.

i plan to rehone if, when, the etching bothers me. I've been successful removing etching with a damp Magic Eraser. Others have had success with a damp green scrubbie.

Danby marble seems to have properties that makes removing etching more of a possibility. The pattern of Carrara does a better job of hiding/masking etching. I had my heart set on Calacatta Gold but DH preferred Danby. I did some experimenting with 12x12 Calacatta & Danby tiles before purchasing our slabs. I found I could remove etching from the Danby tiles, so we chose Danby.

For me, etching is not an issue. Staining would be, but it seems that with a good sealant that shouldn't be an issue.

My husband on the other hand likes polished, pristine, and perfect looking marble. I could convince him to go for honed, but most likely only if he knew it were possible to rehone if it ever got to the stage of looking too "imperfect" for him.

Polarstone has the most (the only) realistic looking marble "look" i've seen, and it still would never compare to a beautiful, honed carrara *imo*

I've been reading good things about Danby. I'm going to go and look at slabs tomorrow!

I came across this link about marble etching. I thought it was interesting & helpful, so maybe will be to you (or others.)

Agree with the others who say it's a choice only you can make. I read everything about marble I could get my hands on and went with it 6 months ago after deciding anything else would feel like settling to me. I braced myself for the anxiety I knew living with it would bring and had 3 slabs of statuario installed. Yes, if I really look closely, I can see the outline of a glass here, and a little etched dot there. But to my complete surprise, I couldn't care less! I love my marble. I never tire of looking at it, the imperfections this family of 5 is adding to it every day, and all. Good luck! The choices are stressful but exciting too.

There isn't anything else that looks like marble. That's why I'm getting it. Why would I pay for a counter I sort of like but will always only look okay..... When I could roll out dough and do all kinds of messy baking on beeeeeeeautiful marble? Even when it's etched and ugly it's beautiful... ;) I wouldn't get marble if I didn't agree with that.

I just had superwhite installed without knowing all the facts. I posted today with some of my issues further down. Because i didnt know all the facts, and it was a wake up call when i realized what it actually was despite what everyone else swore up and down it was. In my ignorance, i didnt do any testing prior to purchasing the stone, you are doing the right thing. But like everyone else says, its a matter of what you can live with. I am toying with the idea of honing mine down from its beautiful shiny polished finish if it will help ease my neurosis of seeing that first etch mark haha!

It is truly beautiful though, and we found nothing else like it!

Heres my island for beautiful veiny reference, apologies for the cellphome photo.

I've had my Danby more than a year and intended to rehone by now. Have no intentions to in the near future. It's very difficult to find the etches; have to bend down and have light hit just perfect. My marble still looks great. I'm also an empty nester but have a sloppy DH and others that aren't careful. It's no longer an issue. I will do marble again in my next kitchen. It's definitely a personal decision.

Sofi, it wasn't really your ignorance if you simply believed what you were told. It's a bummer of a situation, but it's definitely not your fault.

Sorry, that was OT. But I guess the take home message with anything marble-like is to do as much homework as you can. (But that still does not excuse uninformed salespeople!)

I was told it would be about $500 to rehone our island in the future if we need it. (Slab picked and paid for, waiting for installation). I searched and searched for a white granite that could mimic marble, I looked at faux marble quartz options and they all came up short. I have decided that I would rather have something I LOVE with some marks, then something that I was just so-so about that was bulletproof. I tell people, would you rather have a ferrari with a few dents in it or a perfect honda accord? ;) Full disclosure though, I am doing Virginia Mist on the perimeter so I have a space that I can not worry about at all. I cannot wait for my marble to go in, I swear every day I will walk into my kitchen and go "ahhhhh".

Does everyone here who has marble have it honed? Curious if anyone has honed their superwhite slab and what it looks like...

I totally agree with kiktx "I honestly believe that you should never get marble if you have to ask "should I get marble?". The only people who should get marble are the ones who can't imagine anything else." You have to be ok with it etching and possibly staining, not "maybe mine won't if I have a good sealer", assume that it will and are YOU ok with that? And you have to be prepared to defend your choice - and really mean it - when all the people who said not to get marble see your etches or stains and say 'I told you so'!

I had honed Venetino marble in my last house, no sealer on it, it wore beautiful... DD was "cooking" and got the food coloring out, and because it was the day after a big holiday party, I was 'on the couch' shall we say, but left puddles of straight food coloing on it all day, I think I cleaned it with bleach and a magic eraser and no stain! Just had honed carrara installed on perimeter counters and island (again unsealed) in June, they are etched all over, but no stains. But as others have said, I would not have any other counter material! I love the feel and look of my marble.

Good luck with your decision :o)

Part of the process for me was to vacillate between getting marble and not getting marble. I did ask myself many times if I should get marble. But, I don't buy many things without asking myself such questions. I read everything and looked at every photo I could find on or of marble.

Whenever I was in a restaurant or bar with marble countertops or tables, I made sure to pay special attention to how they looked and how they made me feel. I knew that marble in these places would have certainly received very little love or care, yet even with their etches and stains they still looked amazing to me.

I've had my honed Carrara marble for almost three months and there are already etches on it, but they do not bother me in the slightest. We do have a plank wood island that is supposed to be used as the main prep area in the kitchen, but my husband seems to prefer the marble. To be honest, the plank, wood island concerns me much more than the marble.

This is my kitchen island in honed Carrara. Those rings are from wine glasses, juice glasses, etc. I hardly notice them anymore, but this is also the second kitchen we've had where we put in marble.

We use coasters about 90% of the time. Would these etches bother you in your own kitchen? Then I would say to you, "No, don't get them."

I like to think of marble people as "faded jeans" types as opposed to "pressed linen pants with no wrinkles" types. :)

I went to the stone yard today to look at their marbles. I have to say I really REALLY dislike honed marble. In photos it looks great, but in person I found it to be lackluster. I did not like any of the Danby marbles either. I saw the most beautiful polished Carrara, but for me - nothing compares to the polished super white "quartzite"

The staff took me into their kitchen where they have had it installed for 5 years. It has not been treated gently, was covered in coffee splashes and mess, but it looked AWESOME. Sure, if you looked closely there were scratches, there was some etching but it looked stunning. More stunning than a perfect piece of quartz could ever look. The small piece I had tested on previously I left lemons on it overnight. That's never going to happen for real so i'm not overly concerned...

There is just no substitute for the real thing. I'm definitely getting the super white for our island :D (Double stacked but still to decide on the edge profile) and will do a black quartz for the perimeter counters! I'm so glad we are doing it.

Sofibebe - your countertop is a dream, it's perfection. I hope that you are happy with your decision. I'm going to scroll down and look for your other post now.

Congratulations! I bet you feel relieved & excited. Please post a picture of your slab(s) when you choose it. It's eye candy for us.

My honed marble is an etched mess and I love it better than anything I've ever seen or used. It spoke to me on Day One when it was pristine and it still does. I agree with the person who said if you ask "Should I get marble?", you shouldn't!

Ive never known anyone with marble, so I'm not able to see the etching that comes with it. I'm considering marble for the island. Could any of you that have marble countertops post good pics of the etching?