You can expect much worse. Thresholds aren't exposed to nearly as much as countertops.

ok, thanks. I'haven't seen much worse than this. I wish people would post pics. I've seen worse etching - but I've not seen any good pics of staining or general wear.

My marble counters are 80 years old, and I took a couple of photos for you. There are chips and etching. Mine are a grayish marble that is not common today (it's possible they are local Tennessee marble, although they aren't the typical pink; also, these were listed as soapstone in the real estate listing!).

Here is a link that might be useful: Marble counters

Also, I think one of the spots that looks like possible etching is actually dirt. Whoops.

I do not think it looks bad at all for being that old! The marble is so nice!

I've got marble and soapstone for counters. Soapstone is more difficult to keep looking great than it is purported to be (I don't care since is am more of a relaxed person). OTOH, I find marble to be much easier and not as prone to marking as I'd been led to believe here. I will admit though that my marble is on some lesser used counters than the really heavy duty food prep areas.

Yes, those teeny white marks are dings.

As one who has traveled in Europe a lot, I can tell you that people have used marble for centuries, so it does last. However, it may not have the eternal perfect look that some people here seem to demand.

Unless you're planning on puncturing your marble counters with fork tines and/or dancing on them you'll be OK :)

Your counters are going to be sealed (and you should reseal them every year or so as a precautionary measure). You will more than likely not get stains if you seal. You WILL get etches!!! I yell this at you because the mere sight of a lemon or a glass of wine or a tomato makes marble etch. It will pit and/or scratch in places where you drag countertop items. Not a very noticeable scratch like those that can happen on soapstone, but a surface scratch or pit.

Oh, and it will be beautiful despite these things! Do you wear jeans? Or do you wear dry clean only silk pencil-pants? If you wear pencil pants, stay away from marble. If you wear jeans here is my advice: Keep it clean, keep it sealed, don't poke it with forks or dance on it, and don't let acidic things sit on it for long and you'll be fine.

needinfo1 had a great point about Europe and marble. It's true, they have had counters made of marble for centuries and they look gorgeous. I stayed in a villa in Italy that was 400 years old. The counters in the kitchen area were at least 100 years old. They are what solidified my decision to get marble in our last house.

My last house had soapstone and marble counters. My soon-to-be-finished kitchen is getting...guess what? Marble and soapstone counters! I don't plan on dancing on them, but I may dance NEXT to them :D

Good luck with your choice!

I had a thirty year old marble counter and sink for a year. It was in a shared apartment and no one had ever babied it--or at least not since the first tenants. It was yellow, though, so less likely to have high contrast stains.

It looked pretty much like your threshold. Lots of little pits. Plenty of scratches. No etching per se because whatever polish it might have had was long gone. Other than having to work harder to clean the pits, it was just a counter. Functional. Looked fine for what it was. If you're nicer to your marble--which will probably be better quality to start with--you probably won't get pits. :)

Old thread with marble tests in the middle

The bathrooms in old college buildings are often marble and not pretty. I am sure the cleaners do nothing different than they would use for any other substance,and the students also.

Not all marbles are the same. Not just in color, but in what the real material is.

The white threshold is probably a metamorphosed limestone. Mostly it's been abraided by dirty shoes hitting it.

Alerievay's is probably from east Tennessee. The styolitic seams are a strong hint that it's from quarries here. Lots of variation in colors of the non-metamorphosed limestones, that because they sawed up and finished like metamorphic marble are called marbles. There's enough difference in color that they were used in the National Cathedral in Washington to make exquisite patterns in the floors there.

Marbles vary within a quarry. Marble was used throughout history because it works easily and can make wonderful things. Marble thresholds and window sills were chosen to outlast wood in the same uses.

To me, the question is what look do you like?

Thanks, anntn6b! That's what we think. We are in Nashville, but we know they got this material cheap and likely locally; there was a shower in the basement made entirely from large slabs of this marble. We took that apart and now have plenty of slabs to add a few counters on our new cabinets. We are putting butcher block on the island, though.