For natural stone we shy away from Honed finishes. Natural stone is best protected by not leaving oils, water etc for extended periods of time. Invest in a good stone cleaner and sealer. Mapei products work well. Like Porous plus etc. Have been haring that a lot of the Quartzites are getting stained by water bc they are natural not man made.....honing the stone will render the stone more vulnerable.

No way will you find anyone to do that in home. It involves a crap ton of wet brushing with diamond brushes. That’s difficult enough is a very advanced fabrication setting setting because it is so hard. It would be impossible in a home setting.

Your stone is beautiful with those cabinets! We chose honed Fantasy Brown (called leather I believe) and it has a seal on it that seems very durable. More than our granite. We've not had any issues with staining or anything, and we're rough.

When I was shopping for granite, the salesperson told me that the downside of honed is that it's not flat. So if you have kids sitting doing homework, you can get holes in the paper, or rolling out dough, it won't be completely flat, there will be pits.

Very true about the textured surface. It took getting used to but there's workarounds for it. Glasses and dishes land softer so we love it after having it for awhile. It's worth seeing in person to get a feel for it!

vkupets...that's very pretty. I like the slab you got of the Fantasy Brown. Would you mind if I shared your picture w/others on here who are considering this countertop material?

Robin,,,,is that you're actual kitchen photo ? if so, too hard to do in place as Sophie has mentioned. just leave it. if you have a spare piece, do a lemon test and an etch test on it to see if your stone is 'touchy' when it comes to those etching substances. Some are, some aren't . just keep up w/the sealing products and use cutting boards.

Leave the tops alone. Not loving that back splash with them........way too busy, though I understand the attempt. The counter was the star......needs a very quiet/solid understudy. Sorry.

Thanks everyone! We ended up not honing. It would have been done in the shop though. We’re in Houston and got flooded so everything had to be pulled out of the house.

Jan Moyer, nobody asked for or cares for your opinion. Lol not sure why you felt to give it because that wasn’t the question... show Us a pic of your kitchen!