Leathered granite, also called antiqued granite, is a great counter top choice for kitchens. It’s durable, beautiful & works with different design styles. Here’s our experience with purchasing, installing & living with leathered granite.
Every time I post a picture of my kitchen on Instagram, I have multiple people asking me for details on our counter tops. It’s one of my favorite parts of our big kitchen makeover!
All about leathered granite counter tops:
I knew that we wanted to do something matte in our kitchen. I wasn’t a fan of super shiny finishes, and didn’t feel like it would fit in our farmhouse kitchen. Our family also needed something low maintenance and durable, since we heavily use this kitchen and are raising our kids in this home.
Soapstone vs. Leathered granite:
I loved the look of soapstone, but when we went to a place to get prices, I was quickly discouraged by the crazy price tag that came with it. Not only that, but they told me that soapstone could be hard to maintain over the years, and it may be tough with little kids being rough on it. I quickly realized that soapstone was not the right fit for our family!
Granite is actually really relatively inexpensive right now, so we began to look at that option. The man at our local granite source pointed me to leathered granite (also called “antiqued granite”). I had no idea what that was, but I was interested. When I found out it was about half the cost of the soapstone, I was so excited! And then when I found out it was super low maintenance and durable, I was absolutely sold.
Installing leathered granite counter tops:
We had a HUGE amount of square footage to cover in our kitchen. Our island is massive! The men who installed it said it’s the biggest full slab they’ve ever installed – we were so glad to be able to get it in one piece so we didn’t have to have a seam down the middle:
We have a seam by our kitchen sink and you can barely see it:
Here’s some more pictures from when they were installed:
Durability of leathered granite counter tops:
Now that we’ve been living with this kitchen for over 3 years, I can tell you we’ve had zero regrets about our counter top choice. It’s super durable, low maintenance, and it looks just as great as the day it was installed.
Maintenance for leathered granite:
There are products you can use to seal your granite counter tops to make sure they are protected. I thought these were really expensive, but then I found out that you can get them really reasonably priced on Amazon! Here’s my affiliate link so you can check out all of their selection.
Cost of leathered granite:
When we got our counter tops installed, it cost just about $3,000 for our counter tops. That’s from start to finish – installation included. That sounds like a lot, but remember that we have much more counter top square footage than the average kitchen!
So if you’re looking for beautiful, quality, durable counter tops, see if you can go find a slab of antiqued or leathered granite! Obviously it will vary by location, and you should always do your research, but we are thrilled with what we bought!
If you liked this post, you’ll also love seeing more details from our farmhouse kitchen makeover, like our:
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Hello! How do you clean your copper sink? I have a copper sink too, but I haven’t found the best way to take care of it, yet.
Hey Amy! I want to write a whole post about how we clean our copper sink – but it’s really pretty simple! I’m honestly not sure if I’m doing it the “right” way though so I want to do my research before I write it 🙂 As for now – I’ll tell you that we regularly clean it with soap & a brush, and use Copper Armor to protect it. I’ve linked to it in my copper sink post here: christina-maria.com/2016/02/our-copper-sink.html
They look textured, kind of like leather…are they?
yes! I’ll have to edit the post to say that – I didn’t realize I left that out. Yes, they are slightly textured. Not enough that food would get stuck in grooves though (which was my worry) but definitely not polished like your typical granite counter tops
Hi there! What color did you go with? I am looking for a black leather. Yours look beautiful!
I don’t remember the name of the color – so sorry Christine! Ask to see samples and go from there – it’s always best to do that in person 🙂
I just chose this for our bar. It’s not even in yet, but I’m so excited! Here (in Canada) it is called Cambrian Black Leathered Granite. I like that, unlike polished black granite, it won’t show streaks and every droplet of water. So glad you like it, that comforts me!
Morning –
1. Kitchen counter – demo, installation & granite slab = $3,000. You said, it sounds like a lot but you had a lot of space to cover. Measurement wise i don’t know how much you had to cover but i have a small kitchen and I am finding that demo & installation alone is running $3,000 not including the granite slab! Did you have a contractor and or fabricator do the work? And your kitchen cabinets the white one’s are they IKEA & the handles where are they from (can you post a close up shot of the handles. thanks for any helpful info you can offer.
Hi Holli! The granite and installation was $3,000. We did the demo ourselves 🙂 We went through a local place called Prestige Marble & Granite. We also got our cabinets made from an Amish woodworker who makes solid wood cabinets – and also has his own hardware supplier. Sorry I don’t have hardware details for you!
Did you need two slabs? We are in the process of remodeling our kitchen and we just selected a mid-grade leathered granite. I was told by a friend that just the edge of the counter top is expensive because of the special materials they need to give it the leathered look. Did you find this to be true?
Also, is the 3k including the cooper sink?
Thanks 🙂
Sorry – I don’t remember if we needed two slabs. I’d want to say yes because our island slab was SO large, but I’m not 100% sure. And no, it wasn’t including the sink – I bought that separately 🙂
You definitely got a deal on your counter top. I am looking at that and it is double what you paid and not as big as a slab as you had. It is costing as much as marble. Not a reasonable cost for the average person.
That’s disappointing, Mary Anne! Sorry you’re having that experience 🙁
Love your kitchen! I was granite shopping the other day and had never heard of leathered granite and fell in love. The only color they had was black – do you find it hard to keep clean? I was nervous that you’d see droplets of water and all the crumbs. Any feedback on that would be appreciated. I have small kids too. Thank you!
Thanks, Debbie! I do not find it hard at all – and I’m not a “cleaner”! I think the fact that it’s matte really helps – if it’s shiny I think you can see more. I’d definitely recommend it – and it’s very kid friendly! 🙂
Thanks so much for sharing your experience! We are looking at granite for our kitchen and have fallen in love with a leathered Titanium granite, but my husband is worried about the texture. Do plates and glasses wobble on the granite because of the texture? Your feedback would be a huge help! Thanks!!
Nope! No wobbling at all! Ours isn’t a crazy texture though – and I’m not sure of the kind you’re talking about…but ours has no wobbling 🙂
I bought black pearl leathered granite almost 2 yrs ago and it is wonderful! I actually have to run my hands over the counters to find food or dirt. What can be better than that? Periodically when cleaning my butcher block island top I run the rag with mineral spirits on it just to shine it up a little, but not necessary. we have leathered granite on order for our bathrooms. One in Sage silk and the other black pearl (master bath per husband request)
so glad to hear this. I selected black pearl leather also but it will be a few months until the renos will be completed. Whole house is gutted right now so I am waiting to see what it looks like.
so exciting!! I bet you’ll love it!
How about baking and rolling out dough? Have you ever tried it on the leathered surface?
I havent! Sorry – I so don’t do baking like that haha!
Great post! I went through the same process but was scared of the leathered look and how to keep it clean. SO we went with honed black granite and I’m not the biggest fan. I read all of the people saying that it shows everything and I would hate them but I didn’t listen. And now I’m kicking myself because guess what? They show everything and I’m constantly wiping. I had traditional black granite in my previous house and never had to see all the crumbs ALL of the time. So if you’re still reading this and you love the look of black countertops choose the leathered or a simple granite! (And don’t even get me started about using the leftover for our bathroom sink. Black and toothpaste do NoT mix!)
so good to know!! Sorry you had that happen but thanks for sharing your wisdom with everyone else! 🙂
Do you have an enhancer on your stone? I really love the dull look of honed absolute black but hear that without an enhancer the honed and leathered granite show fingerprints and that they are almost impossible to remove.
Beautiful kitchen. Wow, that is a huge slab on the island. I was wondering if you had to do any reinforcement work below to support the weight? Did you check with an engineer to see if your span, assuming you have one, would support the weight of not only the island but also the potential live load, people gathered, furnishings, appliances. etc. I had to laugh at your comment regarding the baking. C’mon now, that is a ‘farm” kitchen, I can smell the apple pie.
yes – good point! We had to put in some extra support beams in the basement to make sure the weight was OK for our existing structure 🙂
Do you know if brushed is the same as leathered? I have kids and it was between leathered black granite or white quartz on the parameter countertops in the kitchen. I wanted low maintenance. Both had pros and cons. Your post actually inspired me to go with the leathered, thinking brushed was the same as leathered. We chose the black brushed, which at the time I assumed was the same as leathered (I’m still so confused about the terms). Then I read online where brushed is very hard to keep looking clean. Now I’m not so sure that we made the right decision. Thanks for your advice.
We chose negresco brushed. Ever heard of it?
Also, thanks for this amazing post!
Sorry, Casey, I have no idea! I’ve never heard of brushed granite so I don’t feel like I can help with your question 🙁 Sorry!
My new countertops will be the same color as yours. Did you find that water darkens it immediately? Have you ever sealed your leathered granite? Any suggestions on which product is best. I have seen conflicting info online and one sealant company said not to use theirs.
I am grateful to hear you love yours. Any info you can pass along would be most appreciated.
I’m not sure what’s different with other finishes, but we LOVE ours and would use it again in a heartbeat! We do zero maintenance – we did not seal it but I am honestly not sure if they sealed it at the store??
Hi I know this is a long time ago post … but what color white are your cabinets ?? I love your whole kitchen !!
Thanks , shawnah 🙂
they’re Benjamin Moore White Dove! 🙂
Hi there I am trying to decide between soapstone and Black pearl leather granite, and I have read 2 things now that talk of there being an outline of their kitchen aid and coffee maker after 30 days. Also the scratches. Have you noticed any of that? Thanks so much. Yours if beautiful.
Mine didn’t have any of those issues! But I can’t speak for the specific product you’re talking about. I was told soapstone would be much harder to keep “pristine” looking
I too have black pearl leather counter tops. We have had trouble with water marks and also marks are left when an appliance or other item is on the counter top. Any ideas what would be causing this?
We didn’t have those issues with ours – I’m sorry!