I have a glossy black countertop which I inherited from a PO. I dislike the way it sucks the light out of the kitchen, but other than that, it's ok to live with.

Interestingly, a friend hated her beige/brown/black busy granite because she felt she couldn't see where the crumbs and dust were to clean them up, and she envied my counters because you can see where you need to clean up. So I guess it's what you like.

In addition to the points made above, a glossy solid black surface is very reflective. You will see the ceiling lights and the undercabinet lights reflected in the glossy black counters. Also, whether glossy or matte, I personally do not like how that much a solid black surface absorbs light in the room.

Everything has a trade off and associated costs. Black counters are you must be willing to clean constantly, or not let the dust bother you. And you have to add extra lighting. Otherwise it is eyestrain waiting to happen.

We had glossy absolute black in our previous kitchen. I loved them and would get them again. I did spray and wipe them down regularly, but I do that anyway in the kitchen so I didn't really find it to be an inconvenience.

You might want to look into leathered finishes... those don’t show fingerprints! I don’t have black counters, they’re dark, just not pure black. I have steel grey leathered granite, and it’s a BREEZE to clean, and to keep looking clean. The only very minor issue is on a small section of it that I don’t always wipe down daily, it happens to be where I keep my roll of paper towels too, so if it’s been a few days since I wiped that part of the counter down then I see paper towel dust on the counter there. I have another section of counter that doesn’t get used frequently, so it also might go several days without a wipe down, but it doesn’t show dust. None of the areas show fingerprints, AND I can still see crumbs easily to wipe them up. (I had the issue another poster mentioned with my old granite counters, crumbs were so camouflaged that I couldn’t see them, only feel them. I found it quite frustrating since I clean with gloves on for all tasks.) here’s a before/after collage that shows my counters pretty well! I love the feel of the leathered!

My girlfriend has black gloss granite countertops and can't wait to get rid of them.