We have a dark brown with red fleck granite in our kitchen, and we seal it yearly. We sometimes cut on it, but everyone is right ... the knife dulls so quickly that it discourages you from doing that! We have never noticed any staining and while we have had the granite for only a few years, it is over 10 years old (it was a "pull up" from my SIL house that happened to fit our kitchen with minor mods).
My SIL is a designer specializing in high end renovations, and she echos the comment here about Silstone. It is the most forgiving surface she uses. But in her own kitchen she used black granite.
There is one thing that I have been warned about ... don't allow anyone to jump up and sit on the relatively narrow piece that runs in front of the sink. Its not supported well enough to take the weight, and will crack at the corners.