granitegold
what is the water test? I am going to try your products..sounds great. My granite became dull..I have been cleaning it with my hand held steamer and wiping with a paper towel, so it's not a 'soap' residue..maybe I steamed the sealer right off? any hope to get the luster back thats not a temporary fix??
Thanks
Ree

I would not use a steamer: maybe it heated up and evaporated the sealer. I have been using Method natural cleaner from Target. Apart from avoiding use of cleaners with ammonia or vinegar, using a microfiber cloth is the most important step. I will usually swipe down several times a day with the dish sponge and a squirt of method, or even whatever is left on the sponge, which is just dish soap. But then I wipe it dry with the microfiber cloth, and that eliminates the streaking and dull film I would otherwise have.

linnea56
I also use the micro fiber cloths..love them..I have that cleaner also (Method) I more recently have been using Shaklee basic H2..love it. I really need to seal and polish again, as I think I did steam the sealer off...thanks!! Ree

There's really no need to buy those natural stone cleaners for daily cleaning. Yes, a neutral pH balanced cleaner is what you need but a 50/50 water/alcohol mixture (or less alcohol if you like) along with a microfiber cloth will clean your counters beautifully. No dulling, no streaking, no buildup and it's pH balanced.
Monica

It is interesting to read how almost no two people clean their granite the same way.

My installer repeatedly said "only dishsoap and water" to clean my counters. My granite is dark and I am also tired of the hazey look they always have.

It is hard to know what to believe is safe for granite though.

Do you think using a steamer on occasion is OK?
I use Zep glass cleaner in between steaming it.

luvmypets
I steam anything that does not breathe..lol but my granite has become dull.. still has a shine, but not vibrant. I use products that give it a temporary shine, but it does not last..if we do not change them, I need to have them professionally refinished... Ree

What are all you folks doing that you need all these fancy cleaners? I don't use any of them. I use my kitchen a lot, I don't have a kitchen for show. I am a cook from scratch person, my kitchen gets used and then some. I merely wipe my counters down with my dishcloth. If I have spilled somewhere or if there is some grease closer to my cooktop, I merely use a sudsy dishcloth.

So I wipe up the gunk first with a sudsy dishcloth. The trick is to then thoroughly rinse your dishcloth in hot water to get rid of any soap residue. Then simple wring the dishcloth out thoroughly and wipe the granite countertops, repeat if necessary.

My granite countertops have never looked dull, greasy, splotchy and I don't use anything but a dishcloth and water, and if necessary a bit of dish detergent. And I don't dry them with a dishtowel to polish them either.

Soap and water, then clean hot dishcloth that has most of the moisture wrung out of it.

I forgot to add that if you seem to be having a lot of streaking, or your granite ends up looking dull, it usually can be attributed to one of two things, or a combination of them.

When you wipe down your granite, you have a greasy dishcloth or you have a dishcloth with residual soap in it. As I previously said, when you do the final wipe down, thoroughly rinse your dishcloth under hot running water to get rid of any grease or soap residue, then wipe down.

It is the residual stuff that is causing a dirty look to your countertops.

I use the 409 Glass and surface cleaner---the purple stuff. Works great and leaves no streaks or residue.

Another culprit of dull granite is granite that's been sealed but didn't need to be. Not all granites need sealed because they're too dense for the sealer to penetrate. What happens is the sealer just sits on top (yes, even after you've wiped off the excess), it dries and then over time and cleanings, starts to dull or get hazy looking. Steel wool or acetone can correct this problem. Very dark granites (uba tuba, black galaxy for example) don't require sealing
Monica

i' bought the vinegar windex that says it is for sealed granite counter tops. but now i'm readung tyou should not use vinegar on granite, period. i am soooooo confused! anyone else use this?

I realize this is a very old thread but I just wanted to comment on what Pandorathecat said. She was renting a house and cleaning her "granite" with windex. She said she did't know what kind of granite it was but was black and cheap looking with small uniform black specks. Most likely it is NOT granite but cambria or another engineered stone. I looked into them when I was reading about countertop materials, figuring I would like the ease of cleaning with just a spray. But anyone who has real granite can tell the difference between granite and cambria. I see imitation stone at all kinds of public places (library, public restrooms, etc.) Please don't take her advice on how to clean it!

BTW, I use soap and water then run a dry microfiber cloth over it. Beautiful!

Hi. When my granite counters were installed the installer told me to use Glass Plus. It works great! And by the way 409 just came out with a new Natural Stone Cleaner big bottle and $2.69. It works okay, but I still like my Glass Plus -- doesn't seem to leave a film. Good Luck.

Hi: I have a very dark grey granite in my kitchen, just installed about 5 months ago. I sealed it with Granite Gold Sealer and have been using the daily cleaner. My problem is I have noticed little bumps and I believe they are drops of glue or whatever they used to lay the granite down onto the countertop. My husband feels we can safely use a razor blade to get these off but does this not also scratch the granite? I assume I would have to re-seal...can you re-seal spots or should you do the whole countertop ? My installer told me that the granite didn't need to be sealed because they did at the factory..however I noticed water rings on the sink area and knew that wasn't true..so I blotted up the rings and then sealed the granite.
Thanks in advance

Vinegar and lemon juice in cleaners are acids, and I have read that they can etch or mark the granite, so I don't use cleaners with these ingredients.

I do like 50/50 water and rubbing alcohol.

When my granite counter was installd I was told to use soap and water. I understand that many cleaning liquids are bad for granite but I would like to use an antibacterial agents. What is the best to use in the kitchen.

Home Depot Sells 2 products I've tried on my dark black granite:
Simple Green Stone Cleaner- Works very well. Cleans without streaks. They also sell a companion product called Simple Green Stone Polish, which I use when we have guests over and want to make it look great.
Zep Marble, Granite and Quartz Cleaner- This works pretty well, but is a little more apt to leaving streaks. I need to polish more with this. The big problem is the smell. It honestly smells like a wet diaper. I couldn't believe it the first time I tried it. I won't buy it again.

Use plain hot water on your dishcloth, or use very dilute dish soap on the cloth and then follow up with plain water. The water removes the soap, which can build up over time to dull the shine. The soap buildup is not permanent, and can be removed with a pH balanced cleaner, followed with plain water and wiped dry. All stones are different, but never use acidic cleaners - even vinegar can harm stones that contain calcite (marble, travertine, limestone derivatives) - and never use 409 or Windex unless it specifies the formula is okay for natural stone - and even then I'd be leery. Razor blades work fine for dried on crud and won't remove sealer. The smartest thing to do is to remember to wipe water spots before they dry, especially if you have hard water, and concentrate on being diligent about this around faucet areas. And don't ever leave water or wine glasses sitting there overnight. Yes, granite requires much more care, but its beauty is unsurpassed. If debating about putting it in your new kitchen, think "dark" if you can't be fastidious and even if your can, don't even consider doing marble or limestone in the kitchen!

Well, in desperation to remove the calcified rings around my sink faucets and dishwasher chrome thingy, I poured on plain white vinegar and let it soak. Removed the rings nicely with a little scrubbing with a toothbrush. I take back any advice I read and repeated here about avoiding vinegar on granite.

Its probably ok for occasional use, but just not for daily cleaning. I try to wipe down the area around the faucet with a rougher textured microfiber cloth (I found this in the auto dept, called a car windshield bug remover). I came back from out of town, though, and found no one had done this while I was gone. (Big surprise, huh?) I used a razor blade to get rid of most of it but could not get into all the tight spots. So I resorted to vinegar too. I wet some paper towels with it and wrapped them around the base of the faucets since I didnt want it to flow too far away. I let it sit for only ½ an hour since I was worried. It softened it enough that I could use the microfiber to get it off.

Have had our granite (UbaTuba) for 5 years, clean daily with plain old Windex as to the installers instructions. It is as beautiful as the day it was installed.

When you're cleaning natural stone countertops there are two reasons to be careful about what you use:

"Granite" can be a number of different substances and some of them will be etched by anything acidic. Marble is really bad that way, although some people like how it develops a patina over time. If you've had a countertop for a while and you cook, you'd know by now if it was sensitive to acid - citrus juice, vinegar, lots of different foods would permanently remove the polish anywhere it touched. Most granite countertops don't have this problem.

Some stones are hard but porous (imagine a dry kitchen sponge made out of glass) and will absorb liquids that will stain, so they have to be sealed. The sealer fills in the holes and dries hard so that the countertop repels liquids. Alkali cleaners like ammonia will break down most sealers (they're really just a form of plastic) and will then let other things like colored liquids (including any colored cleaner like blue windex) and oil into the stone and stain it. Sealer doesn't sit on the surface, though, or shouldn't, and broken-down sealer should result in staining, not in a lack of shine.

Some stones, like UbaTuba, most blacks, a lot of the greens, don't really need to be sealed as they're already dense like glass and nothing will soak in. You can clean those with pretty much anything that works on glass without leaving streaks. The general advice about re-sealing doesn't make sense when there are so many different stones and the only way to tell if you need to reseal is if you're getting stains or if water slightly darkens the stone until it dries. If it doesn't there is no need to waste money, and even worse if you put sealer on a stone like this and don't wipe it ALL off it will dry on the surface and look ugly. Just like if you put it on glass.

An uneven loss of polish, I think, would indicate that it's sensitive to acids and needs to be professionally repolished (or just lived with.)

A fairly even loss of polish is more likely to be buildup of soap, and the previous comments mention ways to get rid of it.

I test my stone unsealed - olive oil, wine, ketchup, lemon juice spots on it overnight and in the morning it all wiped off with nothing showing. So I can use pretty much anything on it and I do. My general cleaner is diluted Simple Green because it's cheap and it works, and if it ever appears dull or streaky I use Sprayway class cleaner.

If I had a stone that stained and needed to be resealed - white and light stones tend to be like that - then I'd pay attention to using a neutral cleaner since I was cleaning both the stone and the plastic sealer that was more sensitive.

Hi,
I know a lot of people are looking for a great granite cleaner and I have the answer!

Tough & Tender Wipes by Melaleuca are naturally free of bleach and harsh chemicals, and theyre safe to use on almost any surface, even natural stone like granite and marble.

Try these and you will be a forever customer!!

I hated my absolute black granite until I tried Granite Gold Daily Cleaner recommended here. It's great!

I have had granite countertops for 5 years now, and the best way to keep them shiny without that slick feel, is with a glass cleaner called Invisible Glass. You'll find it in automotive, I actually stole it from my husbands garage, and he's not getting it back! Works great on windows and mirrors too!!

I know this is an old thread, but I found it while searching for something else & thought I'd contribute!

We have polished Absolute Black Premium counters...and they look great the majority of time....the secret? Wipe them down daily to keep dust at bay (all our kitchen counters are wiped down at night when we do the dishes)
Use a tiny bit of dish detergent & hot water...a small amount is usually all that's needed to cut through oil/grease/sticky residues.
Quick dry in circles with a microfiber cloth
When I want them looking perfect & extra shiny, I use Method cleaner ("green" and food-safe) + microfiber cloth after wiping off w/detergent & water....wiping/drying in circular motions.

There's a "Best Way to Clean" thread on the Kitchens Forum that may be useful and can use some additional information...please check it out:

Thread: The best way to clean....

I have black absolute counters and I've tried many products to clean them.

I do use just soap and water (Shaklee Dish Wash) to clean them often.

I find that they don't always look their best.

I absolutely love a product called Leather CPR for leather and discovered they make a product called Granite CPR for granite. I bought mine at BB&B. It leaves the counters so smooth you can actually feel the difference.

I also use a daily granite spray but they feel the best when they get a granite CPR dose. I don't do this everyday. Maybe once a week (or every two).

I have black granite floors. and i still did not get a proper answer how to clean a floor and keep its shine.

Like marble and most natural stones, granite does not respond well to things acidic, like lemons and wine and especially vinegar. If you remember one thing, remember this: do not use vinegar to clean your granite. Vinegar is an amazing, natural cleaning agent, but it can etch (dull) your granite. Instead, when you wonder how to clean granite, think simply. Start with the basics, and go from there...only if you need to.

Yep, me too. I use 50/50 rubbing alcohol and water in a spray bottle. I've been cleaning my granite this way for over 3 years now. It leaves no streak, easy to mix, inexpensive and disinfect too.

i have black diamond tip granite floot tiles and i am desperite for something that will give me the shine i need for them.

Just had my granite installed today. Was told no amonia, bleach or caustic chemicals to clean it. Made the recipe of 1/4 cup rubbing alcohol 4-5 drops of Dawn dish soap and the rest water in a 32 ounce spray bottle. - BEAUTIFUL job! Worked great on my glass cooktop too!

new granite installed and the Seattle outfit(konstantine) who installed told me the film on it was nothing. Came 1 time and was evident he was not gonna fix or care. Not sure how to get rid of the film or haze. Can anyone help me? guy

I've had Blue Pearl granite(fairly dark) for almost six years. I use dish detergent and water, then 50/50 alcohol & water with a microfiber cloth like many other posters. It totally removes the haze/residue from the soap. They always look beautiful. Much easier to live with then corian or laminate IMO -I've had both.

I'm a home builder and a mom. The Best way and (safest for food preparation) is straight rubbing alcohol. My granite guys shared the secret with me.

Clean the granite with whatever you want (I use dishsoap and a sponge) and then spray rubbing alcohol and then right away wipe it dry. Been doing it forever. Doesn't pit or remove the seal on the stone....it evaporates. it's also the most ecomonical.

My granite cleaning problems sound a bit different from all the other threads. I have Caledonia, a mix of black, gray, and tan splotches. I've always wiped them down daily with just water and Dawn. The areas around the stove where oil gets is noticeably darker than the areas around the sink where I don't cook. What kind of cleaner can get rid of this? I haven't tried anything suggested above, because it seems most people are concerned about hazy films or streaks, which I've never had a problem with. I just tried a product from Marblelife (saw it at a local home show a year ago) for marble, travertine, and natural stone, but it didn't help. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Ive had granite over 20 years ,mine still shines,I wash it good and a few times a year I was told by insstallers to use this sealer just for granite I do looks good,lowes has it

This E-mail was posted back in 09. I feel it is written well and includes everything I have read or has been told to me by granite specialists. I thought I'd re-post it and save some of you time having to look through so many posts.
I hope no one minds that I've done this.
Posted by mondragon (My Page) on Tue, Feb 10, 09 at 9:24

When you're cleaning natural stone countertops there are two reasons to be careful about what you use:
"Granite" can be a number of different substances and some of them will be etched by anything acidic. Marble is really bad that way, although some people like how it develops a patina over time. If you've had a countertop for a while and you cook, you'd know by now if it was sensitive to acid - citrus juice, vinegar, lots of different foods would permanently remove the polish anywhere it touched. Most granite countertops don't have this problem.

Some stones are hard but porous (imagine a dry kitchen sponge made out of glass) and will absorb liquids that will stain, so they have to be sealed. The sealer fills in the holes and dries hard so that the countertop repels liquids. Alkali cleaners like ammonia will break down most sealers (they're really just a form of plastic) and will then let other things like colored liquids (including any colored cleaner like blue windex) and oil into the stone and stain it. Sealer doesn't sit on the surface, though, or shouldn't, and broken-down sealer should result in staining, not in a lack of shine.

Some stones, like UbaTuba, most blacks, a lot of the greens, don't really need to be sealed as they're already dense like glass and nothing will soak in. You can clean those with pretty much anything that works on glass without leaving streaks. The general advice about re-sealing doesn't make sense when there are so many different stones and the only way to tell if you need to reseal is if you're getting stains or if water slightly darkens the stone until it dries. If it doesn't there is no need to waste money, and even worse if you put sealer on a stone like this and don't wipe it ALL off it will dry on the surface and look ugly. Just like if you put it on glass.

An uneven loss of polish, I think, would indicate that it's sensitive to acids and needs to be professionally repolished (or just lived with.)

A fairly even loss of polish is more likely to be buildup of soap, and the previous comments mention ways to get rid of it.

I test my stone unsealed - olive oil, wine, ketchup, lemon juice spots on it overnight and in the morning it all wiped off with nothing showing. So I can use pretty much anything on it and I do. My general cleaner is diluted Simple Green because it's cheap and it works, and if it ever appears dull or streaky I use Sprayway class cleaner.

If I had a stone that stained and needed to be resealed - white and light stones tend to be like that - then I'd pay attention to using a neutral cleaner since I was cleaning both the stone and the plastic sealer that was more sensitive.

We have been using "Daily Granite" from Method. It is available in Target. It's the only thing that I've found that cleans, shines and does not streak or move grease around.

I use a product called Counter Gloss on my granite. Have used it for years in several different homes and it's the best thing I have ever found. Easy to use - does a great job and helps keeps it sealed.

Thought I'd include some information for those who have quartzite--a natural stone (not to be confused with man-made quartz products such as Caeserstone, etc.), or granite that has etched. Our fabricator tested oil/ketchup/wine prior to installation of our quartzite (which looks like marble but is supposedly more durable) and no etching. Didn't think to test for water etching, which is does :(. But, a poultice of baking soda takes them out if you're looking for a non-acidic way to remove etching!

Is the Sprayway granite cleaner good to use everyday? We are having granite installed in 10 days and from what I'm hearing, I wonder if I should have tried another kind of countertop. Is it that hard to keep clean?

I now see a recipe for rubbing alcohol, Dawn dish liquid and water. I'm sure that would be much cheaper than a commercial product. Please let me know if this REALLY works well. Thanks

I asked a clerk in a home improvement store about cleaning granite and he told "never use a chemical on granite" I would just use warm water, if something was stuck on it, let a wet dish rag lay there awhile.

Using only warm water on granite kitchen counters does not clean germs off. A solution of 50/50 alcohol/water works well.

I found an organic cleaning product on line that works great on granite, glass and stainless steel. its all natural and really works well! Its called my granite magic. Its all my wife and I use.

Hello, my granite counter top is less than 2 years old and already I see it getting darker. Any advise on how to get it back to the lighter color? Also, I recently purchased Weiman Granite & Stone daily cleaner & polish. Has anyone used this product before and what were the results?

Norma, I would suggest starting a new thread with your question. This is a very old thread. You are more likely to get answers.