The easiest way to keep your stone looking wonderful is to avoid bad habits that may damage it. Granite, marble, travertine, limestone, soapstone, are all natural stone and care should be take to make sure your granite countertops remain looking like new.
Tips For granite countertops maintenance
1. Blot up spills instantly. Acidic substances like wine, coffee, fruit juices, tomato sauce and sodas will not etch granite like they do marble, but they could potentially stain the surface. Cooking oils may also leave a stain if not wiped up.
2. Clean surfaces using a sponge or soft fabric. Employing a specially devised stone cleaner like Stone AND is commended to keep your tops in the best condition and protect the sealer, but hot water will do for quick clean-ups. Dish soap will not hurt your granite, but repeated or exorbitant use of soap will cause build-up and dull your countertop’s shine.
3. Use coasters under all glasses, bottles and cans. Again, granite will not etch and using coasters on dense and/or correctly sealed granite isn't an absolute prerequisite like with marble, but using coasters is just a sound procedure to protect all surfaces.
4. Use trivets and hot pads under pots, pans and dinnerware. Yes, you can take a hot pot off the stove and put it right on granite, quartz or soapstone without any Problems. Not true for all of the other surfaces. But you must consider other issues as well.
5. Grit that gets encircled between the pot and the counter surface may scratch the surface—even granite. Granite is very hard and can take tons of abuse without any damage, however it does contain some softer minerals that might be chipped or scratched. The likelihood is pretty slim, but it's possible. And All other surfaces are softer that granite. Better safe than sorry.
6. Use cutting boards. Again, avoid the likelihood of scratching the surface and protect your knives. Cutting on stone will dull and injure your knives ‘ edges swiftly.
7. Dust mop your natural stone floors constantly. Use a clean, dry, non-treated dust-mop. Some of the people opt to utilise a vacuum cleaner. But be real careful. Worn parts or grit jammed by the wheels may scratch the surface.