My counter tops are granite. Black, with big flakes of mica. I also have an area that is stainless steel (which is why I picked the slab with mica flakes in it). I guess it’s been 14 years or thereabouts since I built the place. Damn, time has slipped on by….
I really don’t know what folks are yacking about when they mention that granite needs to be resealed. When was it sealed in the first place? It was polished at the processing facility, but sealed?? I have used a variety of cleaners / polishes, and even one that was called…..wait for it…. SEALER! Well of them pretty much suck. They leave milky residue, or make it look dull, or are just snake oil. What I have found that works best, is a 50/50 blend of tap water and vinegar. Cleans it and leaves a very nice shine. I rarely do that however, cause it’s a PITA. So, I use a “granite cleaner” made by DuPont. Works OK, leaves a nice shine, and it claims to be a sealer as well. But with respect to “sealer”, phooey, hogwash, blah.
It has held up nicely. I have one area that does have some very fine scratches and that’s my fault. I don’t remember how I put them there, but I think alcohol was involved….
Just remember, granite is a shiny polished rock. It’s hard, but you can chip or fracture it if you are being stupid. I don’t know how in the world you could ever stain it.
If you do go with granite, it needs to be supported with a pretty stout sheet of plywood over the cabinets. You do not want the support to flex, even if you are walking on it (and that can happen).
I think I might play around with concrete next time. I’ve seen some pretty attractive counters lately made with concrete. I’m also going to have a food prep area that will be an end grain wood/butcher block construction, with a hole in it that dumps to a compose type collection bin. I saw this on a cooking show, Michael Simmons’s Supers. Way cool. Not sure if you can find that show on youtube or not, but it is worth a look.
