We put carrara in our last house and reserved a slab of Carrara for our new kitchen. Family with young kids.

Five months into our marble counters & backsplash. Loving the look and no problems with care. I did purchase several large silicone matts that I put done on our peninsula when we are have orange juice, sandwich making, etc going on. Easy enough to put them out and roll them back up.

If you can live with the possible and probable imperfections in the surface for the life of your kitchen, that go hand in hand with the use of the material ? It is for you. If the answer is no, then it is not for you. It is that simple. There are a thousand posts to as many threads on the very topic, right here on Houzz. Know thyself is , in the end.............the only answer.

K.n.o.w. T.h.y.s.e.l.f

I have honed Olympian white Danby marble in my 4-year old kitchen. It is exceedingly beautiful, and does not stain at all. BUT it etches like crazy from anything remotely acidic, even hard water. It also is one of the softest stones, so it chips easily. Yes, you need to know yourself--does the beauty of natural marble outweigh the etching and chips? It doesn't bother me, but my husband is disappointed. Do your research (there are SO many discussions on Houzz and other sites), and go into it with the full knowledge of whatever material you choose.

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Thanks for all the feedback! I'm getting ready to plan and bite the bullet soon on a kitchen. I have gorgeous marble showers (floor to ceiling), bathroom counters and every piece of furniture has a marble top (antique), and I'm a total fan because there is nothing more beautiful!

I'm also considering a solid color quartz counter/perimeter (I have no room for an island) and full slab marble splash. I'm just curious if people are having horrible experiences. I'm concerned more about the pitting and chipping around a sink or faucet..... (And I 'may' only live in this kitchen for 2 years and then sell or lease).

@Diana, do you still notice the etching on your honed Danby? I need to zip down to Anaheim and check out the Danby for sure..... If Martha Stewart has it in her kitchen, it must be good! ;-)

Thanks all! Have a great day!

Laura Mac, Yes, I still notice the etching on the Danby marble, in certain lights. From other angles, you can't see it at all. It's a matter of reflection. (Martha Stewart probably doesn't have a husband who isn't careful when he squeezes orange juice or opening pickle jars!)

We always recommend a honed finish for natural marble tops. It will still etch, but will not show as badly as a polished surface. Sealing routinely is a must.

I had a client who was absolute in her conviction that she would not be bothered by etching and staining on her polished marble tops. A month after installation, she called me to say she couldn't live with it. It's hard to ignore the ring left from a pickle jar lid!

Love my calacatta oro. Honed. It has etched. No chips. Some spalling. Would not have anything else. No stains. Six year old countertops.

Love's too strong -- I like them. But then, I didn't get them for love. I wanted a light-colored, not very modern-looking counter for our small, dark Spanish-style kitchen, and I wanted a material/look buyers would love. We weren't planning on marble specifically till we found some really cheap remnants of very expensive polished marble slabs (bright white, 3cm) that ticked all the boxes. I hear honed is better for etching, but we weren't looking a gift horse in the mouth.

We aren't careful at all with our counters because we're planning to have the whole thing honed in place right before we sell. I freely set cut lemons and spill tomato juice directly on the counter. My husband unfortunately doesn't wipe the counters after he uses them, so all sorts of stuff dries on our counters and mummifies if I don't use the kitchen for a couple days. (He wipes the counters only after he does dishes for some reason? There's so much higher priority stuff that I haven't gotten to addressing that weirdness yet.) As a result, there are tons of etches everywhere on the counter. There's also a big ding on the edge of the sink from when I accidentally slammed a pot into it. It was a VERY direct, VERY hard smack, RIGHT on the edge, so I think any stone would have dinged from that assault. Not marble's fault.

We don't care about the (very very very obvious) etching or the ding, but my mother has commented that the marks on our counter would bother her. I imagine there are a lot of other people who couldn't handle it.

There's only really three things that actually bug me:

1) Our counter seam wasn't done well and genuinely looks bad and isn't smooth so it catches grime. I learned afterwards that white marble needs to have the seam treated differently from standard stone, and the installer didn't know that. At the time, he was so upset and confused about why it was turning out so poorly and tried over and over to fix the seam without better results that I just let it go.

2) This is TOTALLY minor, but sometimes I am scrubbing down the counter with a sponge and realize that not-smooth spot I can't scrub off isn't something stuck to the counter but an etch. I never get that satisfaction of scrubbing everything off and then feeling that smooth sponge swipe feeling.

3) This is also extremely minor, but there is just never a good time to reseal our stone. We always need the kitchen, and as a result, we've sealed it only once.

If my next remodel is in a place I'm planning to sell and I found another great deal, I'd absolutely get marble again. I don't mind it, and it's catnip to buyers.

However, if all my options were the same price, I'd get a no-maintenance counter that buyers also like (quartz maybe?). OR if I were not planning to sell the place and had looooooots of money, I'd get this quartzite (below) that looks like the ocean and is so so so pretty in person. Quartzite doesn't etch. It does still needs sealing, but with my massive fictional wealth that enables me to purchase these quartzite counters, I'd also have plenty pay somebody else to seal my counter while I am off traveling to exotic places on my private jet.

@Jillius, thank you for all your input, very interesting about the seams.... I absolutely love quartzite, but I do know it's very expensive. (hence me thinking marble might be way more cost effective). I have NEVER seen a more blue quartzite in my life! WOW, WOW, WOW! Obviously the blues are the MOST expensive for a reason! Love! I do like Taj Majal quartzite since it's close to the marble-look in a lighter counter. And I did see a stunning slab of Tungsten (black quartzite) (same as the wedding rings that guys are wearing), but I have black granite counter in a small bathroom and hate seeing all the toothpaste drips/spit marks, etc.

I'm just in awe of natural stone. I perhaps will wait and put it on an island in another home and look around for some granite that might speak to me, but I'm not a fan of the speckly stuff or any 'faux' stone like quartz, but I would consider a solid color quartz just for 'supposed durability' and then do a gorgeous marble backsplash for the bling factor. I have to get some pricing on quartz vs granite vs quartzite and start the process. I've read every thread, and know that no counter is absolutely perfect and without fault. Just have to pick the better....

@Gerry, you are right. I know I'd love it, but someone else might not want to deal with the headaches if I do sell....good input.

My problem is when looking at slabs -- they are all gorgeous and I could go in a million directions. It's my art therapy. Just need a few trips to the slab yards to get the wheels spinning... ;-)

Anything will be better than the 'refaced cabinet/counter' job we did 25+ years ago using 'green' formica on counters+full splash....don't laugh. Yes, it's hideous. Before and after pics will be really good later once things are done. LOL Thanks all!