The honed or leather finishes are not for everyone. So, from a resale point of view I would stick with the polished surfaces, especially in the direction you are taking. I will warn you on the "large vein quartz". It is difficult to do seams with this type veining and make them look right. If your island is not going to need a seam (hopefully not) then it can work. Personally with that look, I would choose the polished look. I think it makes for a more "finished" look. If we were talking about a bar in a game room, the leather finishes work great in that setting. But to each his own. You could mix polished and leathered, but I would think hard about that. Guess I'm kind of on the fence. Let's see if it were me, I would do polished because I think with the looks you have going, it is more formal and interesting polished.

I like the leathered look of steel grey granite

It's your kitchen, you will live in it every day, get what you love.

I had it installed in 2 spec homes in South Georgia. The ppl that viewed the homes and the ppl that bought them love it. I have never seen anyone else use it there or here in Avon In. I priced it here in Indy and the cost was considerably more than polished granite, maybe that's the reason. I personally think it is a great look. It's your house and you're the one looking at every day. All the best.

Sounds lovely. Honed is not "passe" in my opinion. I would consider the rest of your home's style/decor; if more traditional, I might go polished. I would also consider maintenance/ staining of honed as opposed to polished. The grey w/your dark cabs will be beautiful!

I definitely agree with greenfish on using different/contrasting materials and not marble with marble "like".

skmom : How are you finding the leathered granit to keep clean? Any problems with grease spatters from the stove?

Thanks skmom! I too cook a lot of asian, tex mex, southern (DH favorite is chicken fried steak - wondering if an air fryer is the way to go) so grease was my main concern.

"Out"? No. I always find these questions so interesting. You should get what you like. Personally, I think both honed and leathered granite can be gorgeous. I have seen many leathered granites that I wouldn't mind having, and I am not a big fan of granite, generally.

Good thing I finally decided on the the leathered steel grey because when I went back to the stone place they had reclassified the luna grey. They moved it from granite to dolimite - think Super White (which is just a step about marble). Definately would not last in my kitchen. Thank-you all for the advice!

@skmom If you are still out there, I'm in the Indy area and looking at leathered granite. May I ask where you sourced your granite and who did the fabrication? Thank you!

@Marti Gutwein, they were called Surface Encounters back when we bought from them. I’m told they’ve merged and changed names to Cutting Edge Countertops. We went to the Noblesville location. We are still extremely pleased with our countertops from them! We did not have a specific fabricator, surface encounters did everything after we picked out our slab. We were doing our kitchen remodel as a diy, so we didn’t have a general contractor... we were it. They were very easy to work with. Also, I just noticed that you asked this question a year and a half ago... sorry, I never saw it. Hope this helps someone else!