A stone's aesthetic perception can significantly be influenced by its surface treatment. In addition to altering its color and pattern, a finish also alters the physical properties and the performance of the stone.
It is always recommended that you see the actual stone before making the decision to use a special finish on your countertop.
Surface Finishes
We offer many different surface finishes for stone in addition to the factory finish: polished, honed, leathered, caressed, Tuscan. Please refer to the definitions below for more information on each finish. Note that some finishes are only available as factory finishes.
Factory:
The finish put on the slab at the processing facility (factory) before being exported. Generally polished for most marbles and granites, and honed for most shist and limestones. Slates mostly come as cleft face. Additionally some materials are available in multiple finishes (ie a stone may be mostly exported polished, but a smaller quantity is exported honed).
Polished:
This is the standard factory finish for most granites and marbles. A polished surface is highly reflective and the least porous of the finishes available. Polished marbles can be etched with many household acids and cleaners. On-site surface refinishing is NOT recommended and can be spotty at best.
Leathered:
This finish adds texture to the surface. Additionally, it closes the pores (compared to honing) and retains the color better than honing. While a leathered finish has a sheen to it, it is nowhere near as reflective as a polished surface. A good analogy would be that a leathered finish is like a matte finish on a photograph whereas a polished surface is like a glossy photograph. Please note that the amount of texture will vary from stone to stone and some stones will not leather (especially extremely uniform materials). Leathering is preferred to honing for blacks and other very dark materials. For example the amount of texture on Absolute Black is minimal and very fine grained, and the finish is much more uniform than honing Absolute Black. Leathering starts with a honed surface and adds texture, and is a completely different process than river washed
Caressed:
This finish adds gloss to the leathered finish above. Starting with a leathered finish and then "polishing" the high spots. This of course closes the pores more than the leathered finish, but not as much as a polished finish.
Honed:
This is the standard factory finish for schist’s and most limestone’s (most of which will NOT take a polish). Honing a polished material opens up the pore making it more susceptible to staining than the same material in a polished finish. At home re-finishing is possible, and the end result will vary from stone to stone (see re-finishing in our care and cleaning section). Honing will "grey out" or fade the color of the stone, this is more noticeable on darker materials than on lighter materials. A color enhancing sealer is available and may be used to restore the color (if desired). Also note that very dark materials (especially blacks) tend to end up with an un-even finish and a honed finish is not recommended.
Tuscan:
The Tuscan finish is similar to the River Wash finish in that it is a brushed finish. However the Tuscan finish starts with a bush hammered finish rather than a flamed finish (that is the basis of the river washed finish).
Flamed:
A flamed finish is created using an extremely hot flame. The heat stresses the material causing crystals to pop out. Flaming creates a very rough texture best used for exterior purposes only. A flamed finish is excellent for exterior walkways. Flaming can only be done on granites.
Antiqued:
This is actually a style of finishes rather than a particular finish. Leathered, river washed, and tumbled finishes are all examples of an antiqued finish. A factory finish smiliar to a leathered finish is sometimes called an antiqued finish.
Brushed:
This term is sometimes used to refer to either a leather finish or a river washed finish. Unfortunately, this leads to ambiguity as there are distinct differences between leathered and river washed finishes.
