What is a leathered stone finish?
A leathered finish is a textured surface worked over a honed slab. Rotating brushes carrying diamond or silicon carbide abrasive wear away the softer minerals in the stone a little faster than the harder ones, which leaves a slight relief that follows the stone's own grain and veining. Because the brushing also burnishes the high points, a leathered face has a soft sheen where a honed face is flat. Color reads deeper than on a honed slab and a shade quieter than on a polished one, and the light that a polish throws back as a mirror is broken up into a satin glow.
Leathered granite slabs
Leathered granite slabs at Stone Tile Depot include Black Cardosa, Patagonia Blue, Titanium Gold and Verde Evo, which cover black, blue, gold and green. Granite is a hard, granular stone, and leathering brings its crystals forward as texture instead of flattening them into reflection. Verde Evo is a green granite with an open, loose pattern that reads as broad movement across an island. Black Cardosa gives a black counter whose surface shows its grain under the light instead of a mirror finish.
Taj Mahal: quartzite and engineered quartz
Taj Mahal Supreme Leather Quartzite is a natural quartzite with a beige field, and the leathered face gives that pale stone a tactile surface on a kitchen island or a full-height backsplash. Quartzite forms when sandstone is recrystallized under heat and pressure, which makes it a dense stone with a fine, crystalline grain. Taj Mahal Leather Quartz is the engineered counterpart, a quartz surface made in the same beige look for buyers who want a more even pattern from slab to slab.
Leathered quartzite slabs by color
Leathered quartzite slabs run from greens to whites, grays and reds. Venom is a deep green, and Malachite Green and Dublin Green continue the green group. White Tiger is a white, London Gray is a gray, and Explosion Rouge brings red tones. Calacatta Giotto, Venus, Belvedere, Negresco, Bronzite, Chivas, Anubis and Amarula complete the group. The color and movement of a quartzite shift from block to block, so the slab photos are a better guide than a color name. Quartzite is harder than marble and close to granite, so a leathered quartzite counter pairs the look of a veined stone with a dense, durable surface.
Leathered marble and travertine slabs
Leathered marble slabs include Stradivari, Calacatta Cielo, Botticino Semiclassico, Orca, White Jade, Elegant Gray, Sea Wave, Sequoia Brown, Rosso Antigua and Diana Royal. Diana Royal is offered in 3/4 inch and 1 1/4 inch. The color range runs from White Jade through Elegant Gray to the browns of Sequoia Brown and the reds of Rosso Antigua, and the veining reads without glare. Mystic Brown Leather Travertine adds a brown travertine to the group.
Are leathered slabs good for kitchen counters?
Leathered slabs suit kitchen islands and perimeter counters, especially in granite and quartzite, where a hard stone meets a finish with less glare under pendant lights. On a dark granite the texture also makes light smudges less obvious than they are on a polished face.
Honed and textured finishes compared
A leathered finish falls between honed and textured. Honed is smooth and matte with no relief. Leathered adds a gentle relief and a soft sheen. Textured goes further, with a deeper relief that is more about feel than shine. Honed slabs are in honed slabs, the deeper finish in textured slabs, and every slab in stone slabs.
