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.
All stone is porous. When polished, there are still micro sized holes in between the mineral crystals that if linked, could even go down all the way through the stone. Every piece of stone is different (e.g. the end of a granite run vs the middle of that same mineral vein) and every type of stone is different (e.g. marble vs granite vs limestone).
Composition is a huge factor in the resilience of a stone counter. Some which have higher quantities of say calcium, will be more likely to be affected by acid etching (e.g. leaving lemon juice on the counter for some period before wiping up).
Just google some images of "granite stains" and you will the most common have to do with grease and acid etch (i think the wine stain appear over exaggerated).
The idea of a sealer is to fill in those micro holes but as i've read, some stone counters don't need it at all.
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….
And this will happen with any counter. I've seen scratches on everything from stone to Corian and quartz. Nothing is impervious.
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.
A dark counter such as yours may also hide some stains. It is possible you have something but just cannot see 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 won't be installing it and with any counter we get, i'll be sure to have a warranty on it longer than one or two years or i won't bother with that company.
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.
Concrete is also something we considered and that DOES need to be sealed! Concrete is actually quite a highly reactive material but it does make for some interesting counters.
Very expensive though; far more than quartz the last i checked.
