Guys, I still haven't heard your response to my question:

Why are you cutting on your countertops?

I have never in my life cut directly on any countertop. I'll repeat my statement from an earlier post in saying that cutting boards are far easier to clean, using plastic for raw meat and fish is more sanitary, and it's all moot because wood is a better surface to cut on anyway.

So yeah, I really don't understand what you guys are arguing about. IMO, the material for the countertop is purely about the aesthetics. As far as care goes, I still maintain that you can't do any lasting damage to granite as long as moisture is wiped up in a reasonable amount of time (like...an hour or something).