<p>I looked at a La Cornu. Very pretty. Regal, too, with brass fittings and all. I am going with an AGA, white:)</p>
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<p>We were in our former house for 15 years. We never re-sealed our granite and it still looked wonderful when we sold. We have granite and the same SS appliances in our new house and no issues with either.</p>
<p>Ah, it looks like the retailers give blanket advise to seal. But the need varies by particular granite “… the reality is less than 20% of granite actually requires being sealed. That means that upwards of 80% of the granite installed in homes requires no sealer at all.”</p>
<p>[Sealing</a> Granite Slabs - seal or not to seal?](<a href=“rockymountainbathrooms.com”>rockymountainbathrooms.com)</p>
<p>We have white cabinets, shiny black granite, and stainless steel appliances. It’s all pretty maintenance free. We wipe down the counters after cooking if necessary, if its really dirty we spray method granite cleaner on it. I think we sealed it once a year ago… Since its black its harder to tell when it really needs sealing, but doing it is easy and a non-issue once a year. It only takes a couple minutes and I’m not sure this granite even needs sealing. I’ve never wiped down my fridge or the front of my other appliances since we moved in a year ago and there are no finger prints, and my white cabinets still look immaculate. We seem to have a problem with scratching our electric flat top range, however. It looks like hell, but most of that was the previous owners.</p>
<p>We have light granite in the bathroom and that is a pain. We have sealed it twice already. You can’t get it wet or it stains, and it’s in a bathroom so it’s wet all the time. I’d never choose a light granite now.</p>
<p>My parents have off white colored laminate counters (oak trim and oak counters) and bisque appliances. Their counters are a pain, if you spill something colored it takes your breath away because you KNOW that stain is never coming out.</p>
<p>Interesting about sealing granite…I don’t seal my granite at the cabin, but I’ve never noticed dark spots from water. I guess to me granite is stone and theoretically is maintenance free. We put it in 15 years ago so I guess I lucked out. I will never, ever give up my colored Viking stove. It’s now 25 years old and it will be there til the bitter end. It’s cheerful and makes me happy – scars from use and all.</p>