FYI, your counters can be re-honed onsite -- no removal necessary.

What a shame about your marble. DH was at HD with me one day and started talking out loud about using some kind of bleach product on our granite to disinfect it. Uh, no, sweety. It just comes out of nowhere, doesn't it?

If you want a light granite for the island, then I would look at Kashmir White which is mostly white but sometimes has a greenish cast to it. You'll have to seal it plenty because it is very porous. Bianco Romano is light with some garnet spots that might look good, too.

My first thoughts were the same as the poster above. Then I thought about one of the green granites. Perhaps something like tropical green or uba tuba? Good luck, that is a real bummer and I'm sure you are disappointed but perhaps it is a blessing in disguise.

Don't trash a perfectly good piece of stone. Your marble can be fixed. Call a reputable stone restoration specialist in your area to come look at it. This will also be cheaper than replacing. If your fabricator did not educate you on how to properly care for this top, ask the specialist that fixes it for you. This top CAN still bring you years of enjoyment.

I'm curious, what did he use to scrub them out???

If you do get a granite- get one of the lighter ones and have it honed-it will resemble marble without the maintenance issues.

Oh, please don't give up on your marble! As others have said, it can be repaired and won't have the same cost implications as removing it and replacing it with granite. There's a gal who has a GORGEOUS kitchen with marble counters, Momto4kids, and I saved several bits of very useful information she posted. Here's one of them:

if you do get marble counters and some huge etching catastrophe happens, the counters can be rehoned in place. My builder's fabricator did a lousy job honing my marble. I had another company come out (after we had already moved in) and rehone them. It's a wet process. The guys taped off and cleaned up...you couldn't tell they did that kind of work in my kitchen! Once I saw that, I realized that nearly any worst-case scenario could be remedied, I relaxed. I love, love, love my marble counters!

I have honed Carrara, too, and I love-love-love them, etches and all.

I'm certainly not an expert on the marble, I don't have it, just love it... My daughter has honed Carrera marble on her island and perimeter. They have 5 children, ages 2-8. I read this post earlier today and went over to my daughter's house tonight and told her about it. She asked if you sealed your marble well. Her's is also about 4 months old and looks great. She said they have spilled red wine, pasta sauce, etc., on it. The children also eat at their island. She said she wipes up soon after spills, but is not fanatic about it.

Like some of the previous comments, I would try to work with your marble...Call a restorer... Maybe 2 or 3 coats of sealer??? I wouldn't give up yet.. Good luck to you!
SharB

Colleen, Ouch! Please do consider what the posters who have suggested restoration have to say. Don't give that lovely honed carrara away! Get it treated but then educate your family about how to treat it - you'd have to do the same thing with granite, too! or corian, for that matter. And tell your husband that if he does this again that you're going to trade him in, not the stone he damaged! :-)

Colleen:

dmiller and others are all telling you the best advice
I think you can get... give your Carrara Marble a chance
and have a qualified restoration contract take a look at it.

In my opinion, you have a "classic" look in the color
combination that you currently have in your kitchen:
Carrara & Soapstone... very nice aesthetically!

I have attached a link that may be helpful to you in
the care & cleaning of your tops - it's found at the
Marble Institute of Amercia's web site under videos -
it's free to watch, and helpful - especially IF your
Fabricator did not give you much in terms of "after the
sale/care & use of your tops/education"

There are products that can help protect your Carrara
as well, like:
Stone Enhancers (Tenax Ager, Aquamix En-Rich & Seal)
and
Sealers (Miracle 511-Porous Plus, Surface Treatment Technologies)
that will keep everything looking good.

Hope that helps ya

kevin

Kevin M. Padden MIA SFA
Fabricator, Trainer & Consultant to the Natural Stone Industry
www.azschoolofrock.com

Here is a link that might be useful: MIA's Care & Cleaning Video

If one of the reasons you got marble was because you like the patina, I encourage you to wait it out a while longer before you have the stone rehoned.

I work for a gourmet kitchen store - you know the one. When they renovated the store they put in Carrera counters. Absolutely beautiful. Two to six months later it looked awful - vinegar spills, scratches from dragging pans across the counters, chips at the edges, pen marks, you name it. After that "initiation" period the stone started to look less bad, and then actually started looking better! It is as if the marble needed more blemishes to bring them all together and have that "patina".

It's kind of like wood cabinets or furniture. One or two scratches or scuffs and we consider it damaged. Once it is covered everywhere with scratches and scuffs we call it distressed and pay good money for it!

I also have Carrera, installed about six weeks ago. I have the random etchings and a few oil spots that are taking a long time to fade. I do find it a bit upsetting because they are so isolated and obvious. I keep telling myself that it will look better with time and more use.

Nicole

Thanks for the encouragement, everyone! I did place a call to a stone restoration outfit and hopefully will hear back from them. DH wouldn't admit to anymore than dish soap and a scrubby sponge. The etchings, and other marks wouldn't bother me so much except that the light coming in from the kitchen windows exxagerate them so. The installers sealed it once and told me not to do anything else for 6 months or I could ruin the stone with too much sealer. Could more sealer help at this point?

Coleen, depending on the scrubby sponge, you can do a heck of a number on ANY surface with the harsh side of the green scrubby sponge. I went to town on a bit of my BLACK GRANITE with the green scrubby side of my sponge and I roughed up my black granite counter - trying to remove some sort of ink or something like that stains on my brand new black granite - not even a month old at the time! The green scotch-brite is some sort of a very abrasive polymer and will scratch virtually anything (except diamonds, again), certainly quartz and most definitely marble. I believe your DH used the scrubby and made a mess on the marble because I used the green scrubby (hard and for quite a while) and made a mess on my granite. You can't use this stuff and certainly can't go to town scrubbing with such abrasive components and you won't be safe with even granite counters if you do. So, I do think you should restore the stone if you're contemplating getting rid of it, and then just effect appropriate behaviour modification! Which you'd have to with a replacement too. But don't lose that gorgeous stone!

FWIW, I've "hidden" all my harsh chemicals, including things like 409, Soft Scrub, Chlorox wipes, etc. I know where they are but I don't want someone else to use the wrong thing--even though they're trying to help.

And even the blue scrubbie can eventually scratch if you use enough pressure, or so Viking warns on its website.

Oh Coleen!

Yes, as everyone above says...give it a little more time! Plus the light direction/intensity changes throughout the year and what you see as eyesores now will truly diminish.

I don't know how big an area you're talking about, but you've gotten some good advice above. Before you schedule a restoration company (or, dare I say a fabricator to replace it), try a little experimenting. Can you take some fine-grit silicone sandpaper and hand buff the area (especially the perimeter of the area) you're talking about? Would that help diminish the marks? Also try resealing the area. I do think that would help, too. Plus the area that was scrubbed too hard is more vulnerable to staining now.

Don't bare down too hard so as to create a valley on the stone, but see if some light pressure can even out the marks. Your worst case scenario now would be you'd have to have the restoration company come in, rehone and reseal. It is really not a big deal. It sounds a lot scarier than it actually is.

When I've "buffed" out a few spots, I've resealed the areas to keep them protected. Somedays I notice every little etch. Other days...most of the days, I should say!...I don't see them at all. I really love my marble!!

Give it a little more time! Good luck!

You do need more than one coat of sealer.

Oh, I'm sorry Colleen!

I agree with Nicole: a few scratches is damage. A few hundred scratches is patina. I went nuts the first few times my boys scratched our newly refinished floors. Now I just say, "Bring em on!" I love our floor now. I'm hoping to feel the same way about our soapstone.

My favorite marble is from counters I see in museum type houses (with hundred year old counters). I can literally see "the love" of time and usage on the stone. I think it is beautiful.

So I think your marble needs more loving!

Either marble (or wood) are the perfect complement to soapstone. I'm not sure I would pair soapstone with granite. Ok, I'm trying to sound diplomatic! Truth is, I never would. :-) I just like to keep "old world" materials with other "old world" materials.

What would happen if, say, a gallon of orange juice were to spill on the island for, say, 3 minutes or so. And then get wiped up. Would things blend in better? (I've heard of acid-washed marble, but don't really know what acid is used, or for how long, etc.)

Francy