Granite is an excellent stone choice for a kitchen work surface. It is durable and nearly stain resistant; but if you are considering getting this type of product, or have already installed one, then there are a few things to know to help maintain your stone.

Can granite stain or scratch?

The answer is yes! But this is not entirely black and white.

When you buy your countertop, the stone should already be sealed, which means stains are more difficult to penetrate, although these sealers can degrade over time and therefore lead to staining.

If you’re interested; You can do a simple water test to see if your sealant is working or maybe it needs to be replaced. Place a few drops of water (just a few) on the stone. Wait a few seconds and then see if any; the water sits in tight balls on top or has disappeared from view. If this is the case, that it has disappeared (and possibly left a dark mark), the sealant may not be working and you should seek professional advice.

Scratches can be done from scratch. Some granite suppliers offer additional products, such as granite cutting boards, cut from the same piece of stone, to match. Although with that being said, any cutting board is better than cutting directly on the counter surface; sharp blows with a knife can easily score or in the worst case chip the stone, so these sorts of things should be avoided at all costs, hence the use of a chopping board.

What about the day-to-day cleaning?

It’s important to clean your granite countertop as you go, every day. Red wine and other potent substances can present a real problem if left on the surface of the stone for too long. Some granites can be more porous than others and if you don’t know how porous this is, then playing it safe is always a good option: powerful substances, such as; Red wine, chili powder and orange juice can seep in and stain the surface of your countertop, so care is essential to maintain the quality of the surface for as long as possible.

How about polishing and maintaining that new look?

I have written other articles that deal specifically with this topic, but for the purpose of this article, I will repeat myself; but with a little less depth.

This is my way of doing it; you need to get a ‘Hot-Spot’ cooktop cleaner (the stuff used to clean the glass on the front of cooktops) and remove any oil from the surface.

Once this is done, simply polish with your favorite kitchen surface polish; my preference is ‘Mr. Sheen’, although this is just what I use and this is not a biased comment.

What happens if I stain the stone and want to remove it?

OKAY!

In the unfortunate event that you do stain the surface of your stone, then there is something you can do to remove the stain, although at this stage, I would like to reinforce what I said above; Do not stain the surface!

Some substances can be extracted from granite using a poultice stain remover which basically uses an osmosis methodology to extract the stain: the poultice is allowed to dry and can then be scraped off, hopefully without the stain.

This is something that could be a DIY job, but in my opinion; this is something that a professional should do, to minimize the risk of making mistakes.

As a last piece of advice; always try and buy and seek their advice, from well known professionals, who offer good advice and quality stone.