Care · 4 min read
Granite Care and Maintenance
Granite asks very little — but the little it asks matters. Sealing, daily cleaning and what to avoid.
Granite's maintenance reputation sits between two myths: that it needs constant babying, and that it needs nothing at all. The truth is a short routine.
Sealing
Most granites are sealed at installation with a penetrating (impregnating) sealer and resealed periodically. The interval depends on porosity: dense blacks may go years untouched, while lighter, more open stones benefit from annual attention. The water test is the simple check — if water stops beading and darkens the stone within a few minutes, reseal.
Daily care
Warm water, a drop of dish soap or a stone-specific neutral cleaner, and a soft cloth cover 99% of life with granite. Wipe spills promptly on light stones — oil, wine and citrus are the ones that linger if ignored on an unsealed surface.
What to avoid
Skip vinegar, bleach, ammonia and abrasive powders, which degrade sealers over time. Use cutting boards — not to protect the granite, which will win, but to protect your knives. And while granite handles hot pans better than any engineered surface, trivets remain cheap insurance against thermal shock at seams.