Tag Archives: taking care of your countertops

How Do You Keep Granite Countertops Smooth and Shiny?

When you install granite countertops, you want them to retain their smooth and shiny look for as long as possible, right? The cool thing is that it’s possible. Some of the things you need to do include:

Protect your countertops from damage

The easiest way to keep your granite countertops in good condition is to protect them from spills, stains, and scratches.

The kitchen can be dirty, so it’s critical to take precautions to safeguard it. Some of the basic techniques to protect your granite kitchen surfaces include:

Clean spills immediately.
Use coasters
Cut veggies and other foods on cutting boards.
Avoid placing hot pots and pans directly on your countertop surface.
Be cautious of impact damage around the edges.
Avoid standard household cleaning agents, which can cause etching.

To protect your granite countertops from frequent stains and impurities, have them polished and sealed. Before you even do this, you must first ensure that you properly clean them.

How to clean granite surfaces

Different granite composites may require special treatments, so check with experts before trying new products.

Regardless of how clean you want the surfaces to be, never use cleaning agents with ammonia, vinegar, or citrus on your granite surfaces.

This is because these acidic cleaners will degrade the finish on your new granite countertop. You should purchase a cleaner made exclusively to clean granite surfaces.

To clean your granite countertops, spritz or mist the cleaner over the entire surface and allow it to sit for a minute. Remember to verify the exact instructions for the cleaner you’re using. Then, clean the surface with a soft microfiber cloth until completely dry.

Get rid of stubborn stains.

If cleaning does not work, you may need a razor blade to remove stubborn stains. Use the blade to scrape off any filth or buildup on the countertop.

You should be cautious when using the blade so you don’t scratch the surface. Simply ensure that the entire edge of the blade is on the counter.

Once satisfied, rinse your sponge and remove the suds.

You may need to rinse your sponge, wring it out, and wipe up any remaining suds several times. Make sure there are no huge puddles or leftover suds on your counters.

To be on the safe side, wear gloves to protect your hands.

If you don’t have a razor blade, you can remove tough granite stains by making baking soda and water paste. Scrub the spot gently with the paste and a soft towel.

Remember to rinse it well.

Removing a difficult stain may take numerous attempts, so don’t be afraid to go over it a couple of times. For a stubborn stain, apply the paste to the area, cover it with plastic wrap, and tape it down the corners.

Let the paste sit until it dries, which can take several days. When it has dried, use a soft cloth to remove it, then rinse with warm water.

Polish the surfaces

Polishing your granite countertops is similar to cleaning them. However, this time, you will allow a polishing solution to sit for 3 to 4 minutes before cleaning it away.

Once you are done, rub the countertop with a soft cotton towel until no streaks are left. At the end, you should be left with dazzling granite countertops you can be proud of.

You can polish granite using dry or wet materials. There is no better method as both methods can be beneficial. When making your choice, consider the advantages and disadvantages of each. For example,

Dry granite polishing powder costs less than paste.
You can apply dry and wet powder, making it more versatile.
Wet polishing produces a lot of spray when used with power tools, so you should wear water-resistant gear to protect yourself.
When polishing the surfaces, use plastic sheeting to cover walls, furniture, and cupboards.
Wet polishing cools the pads, preventing them from getting too hot and wearing out faster than they should.
Wet polishing pads cost less than dry pads.

If you are unsure about the ideal polishing material, contact your countertop manufacturer. They will recommend the best material.

Seal your countertops

A properly sealed granite surface will slow the spread of stains.

Pour a small amount of water on your granite surfaces to tell whether your countertops are ready for sealing. If you detect it slowly seeping in or darkening the surface of your granite, it’s probably time to reseal.

If the water immediately beads up on the surface, it indicates that you do not need to seal your granite countertops just yet.

When evaluating your granite sealer, apply it to a less obvious location before applying it to the rest of the countertop.

When applying the sealer, you should work in tiny portions to avoid spraying the same area many times. After applying the sealant, wipe off the countertop surface with a soft cotton towel for 3 to 5 minutes until dry.

After that, your countertops should be ready to use.

Add shine to the surfaces.

To shine your granite, apply a small amount of cooking oil to a soft cleaning cloth and wipe it around the surface. Buff it carefully. This makes the counter a little more stain-resistant and gives it a glossy finish that you are looking for.

Parting shot

These are some of the things you should do to keep your granite kitchen countertops Durham smooth and shiny.

Remember that everything begins with how you use the countertops. You won’t have an easy time if you don’t take good care of the surfaces. As a rule of thumb, always use a coaster on the surfaces.

Stains are bound to happen regardless of how frequently you clean your countertops. To avoid this, make it a habit to seal the surfaces. You can seal the surfaces by yourself, but always ensure that you use high-quality sealing products.

Tips for a Great Experience with Tile Countertops

If you can’t afford marble or granite countertops or don’t like their look, you can always go for tile countertops.

Tile countertops were trendy in the 1970s and 1980s, and now they’re making a big comeback. They add color, pattern, and style to kitchens and bathrooms worldwide.

The beauty of the countertops is that you can install them by yourself without involving a contractor.

Would you love to install these countertops? Here are tips for having a great time with them:

Have a firm base

Even though you can tile over old countertops, starting from scratch is always better. When doing it, ensure that the surface you are installing the countertops is solid, properly primed and you use the right tile adhesive for the material.

Remember that it will be hard to tile over existing countertops with curved edges. You also will most likely have problems with the height.

For a great experience, replace any existing countertops with marine-grade plywood board, followed by a layer of 6mm tile backer board. Ensure that the board is firmly attached to the surface and clean, dry, and free of dust.

Use the right tiles

As you can guess, there is no way you will have a great time with your tile countertops if you are using the wrong tiles.

If this is the first time you install the countertops, you might have the impression that all of them are the same, but this isn’t the case. Two of the most popular tile countertops are ceramic and porcelain.

Porcelain tiles are highly resistant to water and can last for a long time. Most porcelain tiles are nano-sealed when made, keeping their surface protected for longer.

If you can’t find porcelain, ceramic tiles are also a good choice, but you should avoid those that need to be sealed, like natural stone or encaustic, unless you are very careful to seal and reseal them often. ‘

When buying the tiles, go with larger format tiles to cut down on the number of tile joints and cuts.

Work on achieving tidy edges.

Putting tiles on countertops is mostly a matter of using a notched trowel to spread tile adhesive and then pushing each tile down firmly, over and over again.

Usually, the hardest part is making the edges look beautiful and neat.

Once you’ve put down your tiles, you’ll need to finish your countertop’s front and back edges. There are a few ways to do this.

One of the ways is using a silicone sealant is the cheapest solution. You should put a thin layer on the edges to make a clean, waterproof seal.

While you can go with silicone, you should note that it’s not always a great choice, especially if the front edge of the tile is rough.

For a clean look, make a mitered edge by cutting the same tiles into smaller pieces. While this is good, it often takes a long time. The good thing is that it makes clean lines, protects the edges of your tiles, and gives your countertop a smooth, professional look.

Use the right grout

On tiled countertops, you should use a resin-based grout that doesn’t soak up stains and doesn’t let them in. This will help keep bacteria, stains, and water from getting on your countertops.

For the best outcome, ensure the grout is level with the tiles and doesn’t go down in any spots. No matter what, you should never let air bubbles form. Use a grout float to help push the grout deep into the spaces.

The goal is to keep spills and germs from getting stuck in the grout lines as much as possible.

Remember that you might need to re-grout at some point, especially if the grout starts to wear down from all your cleaning.

Stains will appear less on colored grout than on white grout, so if your surfaces are busy, you are better off with colored grout.

Apply grout sealant to your tile kitchen countertops NC to prevent the grout from getting dirty.

Best Practices When Living With Marble Countertops

Marble countertops are not only beautiful and give your home a high-end look, but they also can last for a long time when you take good care of them. And the good thing is that you can do several things to ensure that they last for as long as possible. Which are these things you should do? Here they are:

Keep acidic substances away from your countertops

Acidic substances can etch into your countertop surfaces and leave your surfaces dull and lackluster. To be on the safe side, don’t use an abrasive or acidic cleaner such as bleach or vinegar on your surfaces. You also should never use harsh scrubbing pads on the surfaces.

Certain fruits such as tomatoes, citrus, and others have been found to contain high acid levels, so you should keep them off your countertops.

To keep your countertops in top shape for a long time, have specialized bowls to store the acidic fruits.

Don’t cut on the countertops.

Marble looks tough and damage-proof, but it isn’t. This means that when you cut directly on it, you are bound to damage it. To ensure this doesn’t happen, have a cutting board where you cut your vegetables, and chop meat, among many other tasks.

Clean the countertops with a gentle soap

You might have the impression that you need abrasive cleaners to clean your countertops, but this isn’t the case. You should know that marble is one of the easiest materials to clean, and you can achieve almost perfect clean surfaces using gentle soap and warm water.

All you need to do is to wash the surfaces with a solution of soap and water, then wipe them with a wet, hot dish towel. Once done, dry the surfaces with an absorbent towel.

To avoid deep stains that are hard to remove, make it a habit to spot clean any spills immediately. Remember that the longer you leave substances on marble, the more they are likely to stain, so keep them off the countertops as much as possible.

Always thoroughly wipe your counters.

Here you need to spray the counters, then use a cloth dipped in soap and water to wipe down the surfaces, focusing on any dried food or debris.

To ensure that your counters really shine, dry them thoroughly with a clean, dry cloth. Some of the best clothes for this are microfiber clothes. In some cases, you have to repeat the polishing to achieve ideal results.

For perfect-looking countertops, clean the surfaces daily, especially if you have a high-traffic kitchen. For the bathrooms, wipe them once a week.

Buff out impurities

In the event your countertops develop stains, you can try and get rid of them by buffing them out. One of the best products to use for the work is #0000 steel wool.

If the nicks, gouges, or dull spots are large, don’t try to remove them, as you will most likely damage your surfaces. In such a case, hire a professional to sand them out. If you aren’t sure whether you can remove the scratches, check with your manufacturer or the company you bought the countertops from.

Seal the countertops

Like granite, marble is highly porous, meaning that when you go for a long time without sealing it, water and other impurities can easily get into the countertops and stain them.

To prevent the stains from coming about, make it a habit to seal your countertops at the time of installation then once every year.

You can seal the surfaces by yourself or hire a professional to help. Regardless of how you go about it, ensure that you use a high-quality sealer. Using a sealant specially formulated for marble surfaces will be better.

Parting shot

Like granite countertops Raleigh, marble surfaces are porous, so they need to be properly maintained to prevent them from getting damaged. As a rule of thumb, don’t treat your counters as chopping boards. Always have a chopping board in place.

Also, don’t clean the surfaces using abrasive materials regardless of how dirty they look. Remember that marble is one of the easiest materials to clean, so don’t put so much effort into it. Warm water and gentle soap are enough.

5 Things You Avoid With Granite Countertops

Granite countertops don’t come cheap; when you install them, you want them to last for as long as possible. The good news is that it’s possible to have your countertops for a long time—you only need to avoid doing harmful things to your surfaces. Which are these things? Here they are:

Don’t chop on the countertops

Due to their natural and tough nature, cutting your onions, tomatoes, and other items on the surfaces might seem harmless, but you shouldn’t as they aren’t immune to cuts, scratches, and chips.

When you cut on the surfaces, you dull the countertops and the knives, so you have to keep sharpening them, not to mention having to replace the countertops later down the line.

Avoid chopping vegetables and butchering meat directly on your countertops to last for long. Instead, use a large and quality cutting board.

Keep them inside a protective knife block when you aren’t using the knives.

If you live with other family members, teach them how to use and store the knives properly.

Avoid acidic or abrasive cleaners.

If you are like other homeowners, you want your countertops clean and spotless. To achieve this, some homeowners clean their surfaces aggressively, while others use abrasive cleaners.

While there is nothing wrong with keeping your surfaces clean, be cautious of the cleaning agents you use. As a rule of thumb, avoid acidic or abrasive cleaners as they have been shown to cause plenty of problems.

Besides discoloring the surfaces, the abrasive cleaners dissolve the protective sealants and even scratch the countertop surfaces.

To stay safe and keep your countertops in tiptop shape, avoid all cleaners containing bleach, ammonia, acetic acid, and abrasives.

Soap and a soft piece of cloth are usually enough to keep your countertops clean, but if you want to go the extra mile, use cleaning products that have been specially formulated for granite.

Don’t climb on the countertops.

At first glance, granite surfaces look tough and indestructible, but this is not the case. Like other natural materials, granite surfaces have fault lines that can crack when applying too much pressure on them. The situation worsens when you apply pressure on areas without enough support, such as overhangs and kitchen islands.

When preparing the meals, don’t sit on the countertops as you risk damaging them. You also should avoid standing on them to reach the top shelf or replace the bulb.

If you are always tempted to sit on the countertops, have a stool in the kitchen that you can use when the itch comes about.

If you have children or adults living with you, let them know that they can’t sit on the countertops as they can easily damage them.

Don’t place highly-pigmented liquids on the countertops

The most common highly pigmented liquids are juices. If you have children, you will often spill the juices on the countertops where they stain them, giving them an ugly look.

To prevent the discoloration and keep your countertops in top shape, keep the juices and other highly pigmented liquids away from the counters.

If you love wine, juices, and sports drinks and regularly have them in the house, and you aren’t sure that you will be able to keep them off your surfaces, choose dark-colored countertops that will easily disguise any accidental spillages that might come about.

How quickly you get rid of the spills when they happen is vital for preventing the staining. To be on the safe side, make it a habit to remove them as soon as they happen.

Investing in quality and annual professional sealing is also wise to prevent stains from becoming a problem.

Mind the heat

As much as granite is tough and can withstand some heat, it’s not harm proof. This means it’s bound to get damaged when you place extremely hot items on it.

You can get away with placing hot pans and other items on the kitchen countertops NC occasionally, but when you repeatedly do it, the countertops get damaged.

To protect your surfaces, have tablemats, coasters, or other protective items to protect your countertops from damage.