Choosing between honed granite and polished granite can feel like a significant decision. One gives you a calm, matte look.
The other gives you that glossy, show-stopping shine. And since the finish changes how your granite looks, feels, ages, and even how much you clean, it's a decision worth understanding. Since 1995, we have installed thousands of countertops in Greater Boston and MetroWest. We have seen homeowners discuss this many times.
So let's walk through it in plain language. By the end, you'll know exactly which finish fits your home, your lifestyle, and your style.
Honed granite has a soft, velvety, matte surface with a natural feel. It's the finish for farmhouse kitchens, relaxed spaces, and busy homes where you don't want to chase fingerprints all day. The big advantage is how well it hides scratches and smudges. The tradeoff is that it's more porous and needs sealing more often—typically every three to six months.
Polished granite is glossy and reflective, making colors pop dramatically. It's what most people picture when they think of granite countertops. This finish works beautifully in formal kitchens, with dramatic stones, and in darker spaces that need light reflection. It's more stain-resistant and easier for daily cleaning, but you'll see every fingerprint, water spot, and smudge more easily than on honed.
Honed granite is granite that we intentionally stop polishing before it gets shiny. It ends up smooth, matte, and soft-looking—like choosing matte paint instead of gloss.
The finish gives you a velvety, subtle, understated look. You still see the stone's pattern, but it doesn't jump out at you. It absorbs light instead of bouncing it back, which creates that calm, organic feeling people love in modern farmhouse or spa-like bathrooms.
We create honed granite by running the stone through the polishing process but stopping around 400 to 600 grit. This smooths the surface without creating that mirror-like reflection. The process closes some of the stone's pores but leaves it more open than polished finishes, which is why sealing becomes more important.
Polished granite is the classic shiny finish most people picture. It's fully polished through all the finer grits—often up to 3000—until it looks almost like glass.
The result is deep, rich, glossy, and dramatic. Colors become bolder, patterns get stronger, and mineral crystals actually sparkle. Light bounces around your kitchen, which can help brighten darker spaces. Dark granites like Absolute Black or Blue Pearl become particularly stunning with polish, showing incredible depth and shimmer you just don't get with other finishes.
We take the stone beyond the honing stage and use ultra-fine abrasives and polishing compounds. The final buffing actually reacts with the granite's natural minerals to create that signature shine. This process also closes the stone's pores more completely, making it naturally more resistant to staining.
Polished granite brings big drama with bold color and sharp reflections. It's fantastic for dark stones or kitchens that need more brightness. When you want your countertops to be the star of the show, polished delivers.
Honed granite creates a soft, calm, organic look. It works beautifully in relaxed kitchens, bathrooms, and farmhouse designs. The matte finish won't compete with other design elements, which makes it perfect when you want the stone to complement your space rather than dominate it.
Here's where lifestyle really comes into play. Honed granite is more porous meaning it can absorb liquids a little faster if you don't seal it because we haven't closed all those microscopic pores through the final polishing stages. This means it needs sealing every three to six months versus six to twelve for polished.
You'll want to wipe up spills faster, especially oils, wine, or acidic liquids. Some honed surfaces develop a soft patina over time, which many homeowners actually love as it adds character.
The huge advantage with honed is how it hides scratches and everyday wear. In a busy kitchen with kids, you're not constantly wiping down counters to maintain that perfect look. Fingerprints and water spots just disappear into the matte surface.
Polished granite has tighter pores and better natural stain resistance, making daily cleaning easier—just wipe and go. But here's the reality: it shows everything. Fingerprints, water spots, and even tiny scratches catch the light and become visible. If you keep your counters relatively clear and don't mind a quick wipe-down after cooking, polished stays gorgeous with minimal effort.
For busy family kitchens with kids, honed granite often performs better day-to-day. You're not chasing fingerprints, and minor wear doesn't show. For showcase kitchens or homes where countertops see lighter use, polished granite maintains its beauty without the constant maintenance.
Either way, granite is granite. Both finishes are incredibly tough and heat-resistant. The stone itself doesn't change—just how it looks and how visible everyday wear becomes.
One of the best ways to understand the difference is seeing the same granite slab with both finishes. When we show clients samples side by side in our showroom, the transformation is striking.
With a polished finish, colors appear twenty to thirty percent darker and more saturated. Mineral crystals sparkle and catch light. Veining and movement become dramatically more pronounced.
The surface reflects overhead lighting, and the stone looks "wet" even when completely dry. If you love your granite's color and want to show it off, polish amplifies everything.
The honed version of the same stone shows colors that appear softer and more natural. The surface has an even, consistent appearance without dramatic highlights.
Patterns remain visible but understated. It creates a "dry" look even after sealing, and it absorbs light rather than reflects it. This is why honed works so well in spaces where you want a subtle, sophisticated backdrop rather than a focal point.
We've had clients switch from polished to honed and completely transform their kitchen's feel without changing anything else. One busy family had dark polished granite that felt formal and required constant maintenance. After converting to honed, the same granite became relaxed and forgiving—perfect for their lifestyle with three kids.
Conversely, we had a client with honed granite in a dimly lit kitchen who switched to polished. The reflective surface bounced available light around the space, making it feel twice as bright without adding new light fixtures. Same stone, completely different energy.
Let's be honest here because I want you to know exactly what you're getting. Absolute Black honed granite is extremely popular because it looks clean, modern, and elegant. But like a black car or black clothes, it shows everything—fingerprints, smudges, oil from your hands.
I always warn clients about this upfront. And even after hearing the warning, some come back surprised a couple of weeks later saying they didn't realize how much it would show. I'm not trying to discourage anyone from choosing it—it's not a bad choice, it just needs the right expectations.
If you love the look and don't mind wiping it a little more often, it can still be absolutely stunning. But I'd rather you know what to expect than feel disappointed after installation.
The good news is that regular wiping with a damp microfiber cloth keeps it looking perfect. And yes, the sealer helps. Dark honed granite, especially Absolute Black, will show everyday use more than lighter colors or polished finishes.
This article focuses on granite, but we should also mention marble. The finish conversation applies to marble as well, and we get asked about it often.
About ninety percent of the marble we sell is honed. Why? Two big reasons.
First, polished marble etches. Marble is made of calcium.
This means that anything acidic, like lemon juice, vinegar, or some cleaners, can leave dull spots on its polished surface. Honing hides those inevitable etch marks much better. In a busy kitchen, this matters tremendously.
Second, clients simply prefer the honed look for marble. Honed marble has that classic, timeless, elegant feel. It fits historic homes, modern homes, farmhouses—everything. It just looks "right" in a way that polished marble sometimes doesn't outside of very formal spaces.
If you're considering marble for your kitchen countertop materials, honed is almost always the way to go unless you're extremely careful about what touches your counters and you love that high-gloss look.
Here's the good news: the stone costs the same regardless of finish. Your granite slab costs the same whether it leaves the supplier honed or polished.
The only cost difference comes if you're changing finishes after the slab is already processed. Converting polished to honed or vice versa in our shop adds labor cost, typically ten to twenty dollars per square foot. This is why we always recommend choosing your finish before fabrication begins it's significantly more economical to order pre-finished slabs.
There's also the long-term maintenance cost to consider. Honed granite needs sealing more frequently, which means either more DIY time or more service calls if you have us maintain it. Over ten years, that can add up. Polished granite's less frequent sealing schedule means lower ongoing maintenance costs.
Both finishes handle heat the same because granite's heat resistance comes from the stone itself, not the surface treatment. You can place hot pots directly on either finish without damage, though we always recommend trivets as a best practice.
For scratch resistance, here's what actually matters: both finishes resist scratches from normal kitchen use equally well. The difference is visibility, not performance. On a polished finish, even a tiny scratch can catch overhead light and become noticeable. On honed, that same scratch virtually disappears into the matte surface.
This doesn't mean polished granite scratches more easily—it just shows imperfections more readily. It's the same reason matte paint hides wall imperfections better than glossy paint, even though the wall underneath is identical.
While honed and polished dominate the market, there's a third finish worth knowing about: leathered granite.
Leathered granite combines elements of both finishes. It has a matte look like honed, but with texture—little peaks and valleys that give the stone real character. The texture hides fingerprints even better than honed, adds warmth and depth to the stone, and feels amazing to the touch. Many clients love the tactile quality.
The only downside is that the textured surface can trap crumbs a bit more than smooth finishes, so your cleaning technique needs to adjust slightly. You'll use a soft brush occasionally instead of just wiping. If you want a finish that looks unique and stands out from typical granite, leathered is worth considering. We have a complete guide to leathered granite that covers all the details if you're interested.
A casual, organic, soft aesthetic that works in farmhouse or modern matte kitchens. Honed makes sense for busy homes where you don't want to chase fingerprints and water spots all day. It's ideal if you love the idea of stone developing character over time through natural patina. You'll need to commit to more frequent sealing and faster spill cleanup, but in return you get a surface that hides everyday wear beautifully.
The stone's color and pattern to really pop with that classic elegant granite look. Polished gives you the easiest everyday maintenance—just wipe and go. It works beautifully in darker kitchens that benefit from reflective surfaces and in homes where counters stay relatively clear. You'll need to accept that fingerprints and smudges show more easily, but the tradeoff is less frequent sealing and better natural stain resistance.
Think about your lighting first. Dark kitchens benefit tremendously from polished granite's reflective quality, while well-lit spaces can easily handle honed's light-absorbing surface.
Your granite choice matters too. Some stones simply look better with one finish or the other. Lighter granites with subtle patterns often work beautifully honed, giving them a sophisticated, understated look. Dramatic stones with lots of movement or mineral sparkle really shine literally with a polished finish that amplifies their natural beauty.
Consider your actual cleaning habits honestly. If you're meticulous about wiping spills immediately and don't mind sealing every few months, honed works fine. If you want a more forgiving surface that needs less frequent attention, polished is better.
Finally, match the finish to your overall design style. Polished reads formal and traditional. Honed reads casual and contemporary. There are exceptions, but that's the general rule.
Honed granite is natural granite with a matte or satin finish. This finish is made by stopping the polishing process before the stone gets glossy.
The fabricator uses progressively finer abrasives to smooth the surface but stops short of the buffing stage that creates the mirror-like shine. The result is a smooth, velvety texture with a softer appearance compared to polished granite. Colors appear more subdued and natural, and the surface absorbs light rather than reflecting it.
A honed finish is a matte surface treatment for natural stone achieved through grinding with progressively finer abrasives, typically stopping around 400 to 600 grit. This creates a smooth but non-reflective surface that feels soft to the touch. The process fills some tiny pores in the stone but keeps them more open than a polished finish. This is why honed stone needs sealing more often to stay stain-resistant.
No. Honed and polished granite typically cost the same when you order slabs with the finish already applied. The granite slab price is identical regardless of which finish you choose—the only difference is the finishing process at the supplier level.
If you need to change a finished slab from polished to honed or the other way in the shop, it will cost more. This usually adds ten to twenty dollars for each square foot. This is why choosing your preferred finish before fabrication begins is more economical.
Honed granite is more prone to staining than polished granite because its pores are more open. The polishing process closes the stone's microscopic pores more completely, while honing leaves them slightly more accessible to liquids. To prevent staining, seal your surfaces every three to six months.
Clean up spills right away, especially oils, wine, or acidic liquids. Many homeowners believe that the subtle patina that forms over time adds to the stone's character and charm.
Yes, but it's a significant undertaking that requires professional equipment and expertise. To change polished granite to honed after it is installed, you must grind down the whole surface. This process creates a lot of dust and needs the area to be completely cleared.
It's far more economical and practical to choose the right finish before fabrication and installation. If you're considering this, contact us for an assessment, but in most cases starting fresh with the desired finish makes more sense.
Honed granite hides scratches dramatically better than polished granite. Both finishes resist scratches from normal kitchen use.
However, scratches are almost invisible on honed surfaces. This is because they blend into the matte texture.
On polished finishes, even minor scratches catch overhead light and become noticeable because they disrupt the mirror-like surface. This doesn't mean polished granite scratches more easily the scratches just show more readily, similar to how scratches on glossy paint are more visible than on matte paint.
Honed granite typically needs sealing every three to six months, while polished granite can go six to twelve months between sealings. The exact frequency depends on several factors including your specific granite type, how heavily you use your counters, and the quality of sealant used. Darker stones often need less frequent sealing than lighter ones. The best test is the water bead test—if water no longer beads up on the surface and instead soaks in, it's time to reseal.
Yes, though it's relatively uncommon. Some designers intentionally use polished granite for perimeter countertops and honed for the island, or vice versa, to create visual interest and define different functional zones. This works best when the contrast feels deliberate rather than accidental.
Make sure your fabricator uses the same granite for both areas so the color and pattern remain consistent—just the finish changes. We can show you examples of this approach in our showroom if you're considering it.
Both honed and polished granite offer the durability, heat resistance, and timeless beauty that make granite such a popular countertop choice. The finish you choose comes down to your aesthetic preferences, lifestyle, and how you actually use your kitchen day-to-day.
At Granite Guy Inc., we help homeowners throughout Greater Boston and MetroWest navigate these decisions every day. We’ll show you samples of both finishes in your selected stone, and because we carry a wide selection of granite, marble, and quartzite, you can compare how each finish looks and performs across different materials.
We’ll talk through how you actually use your kitchen and help you visualize how each finish will work in your specific space. Sometimes the decision becomes obvious once you see the stone in person under your lighting conditions.
We have thirty years of experience. We have completed over ten thousand installations. We are ready to help you with your countertop project.
Our team has the expertise that comes from many years of hands-on work. We help you choose the right granite and the perfect finish.
📞 Call us today at 508-460-7900 for a free consultation and quote.
Swing by our showroom in Southborough anytime. We'll show you honed and polished granite samples side by side so you can see the difference instantly. Or schedule a free in-home consultation where we'll bring samples directly to your kitchen and see how they look in your actual lighting.
Granite Guy Inc.
Proudly serving Greater Boston & MetroWest since 1995
Southborough, MA
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