Marble is porous = stains easily. A white marble will grab hold of that spilled red wine and never let go. All natural stone requires "sealing", or a chemical applied to the surface at regular intervals. These intervals can be as short as 6 months or can be as long as 2 years. It all depends on the fabrication process offered by your stone provider. The maintenance must continue for the life of the counter top (average = 15-25 years between kitchen renovations). For a slab that requires sealing every 6 months, that means you have to commit to as many as 50 applications of product...and the time allowed for the cure (can be a few hours to a few days).

Even with sealing, staining is an obvious concern with very few options for "removal" short of sand blasting down a few microns and starting over with a fresh layer of stone.

These are the reasons why counter top sales people warn against marble. If you are a single professional or a pair of adults in a low key home, marble can be an amazing product. If you are a busy home with children (of any age...the big ones spill just as much as the little ones), this counter top may not be what you are hoping for.

Many people hear about the maintenance and choose against marble because they know themselves well enough to say, "I won't be able to manage the mainenance." Other people who are serious about keep their high-maintenance items in tip-top shape will have no problem dealing with marble's requirements.