First off, congratulations on your new granite countertop. It's very easy to care for a granite such as Emerald Pearl. For cleaning, gentle soap and water will do. Don't use harsh abrasives and cleaners. That means no Windex and the such. You can also use a natural stone cleaner, they are pH balanced and specifically formulated for granites. They are not expensive and available at home improvement stores such as Home Depot as well as online outlets. With regard to sealing, since it was sealed upon installation, I would not worry about it for a good 2-3 years. Sealing is also an easy do-it-yourself job when the time comes, and solvent-based or water-based impregnating sealers can be bought at home improvement stores and online. There are many varieties to choose from. I recommend Dupont StoneTech Bulletproof Sealer and Superior ZERO line Ultimate Stone Protector. Hope this helps!

We just got Blue Pearl GT installed and, as I understand, it is very similar in maintenance to Emerald Pearl, but you should check with your installer. Our installer suggested soap and water for cleaning and/or the natural stone type cleaners Marble recommended. However, we were advised that our granite would not need sealing for fifteen years. Again, a quick call to your installer should confirm, but I understand emerald and blue pearl are about the same hardiness.

Thanks for the tips and advice. I've heard emerald pearl is one of the easier to maintain...just a little nervous about caring for it at this point. It's so pretty, I don't want to do anything that might damage it.

Sorry for the late reply, but just happened upon this thread and thought I'd share our experience. We have a lower counter for a baking center with a granite top. Did a LOT of research before deciding on blue pearl (green pearl would have been fine, too, but the fabricator had a blue pearl remnant, so that made the decision for us).

In any case, both of these really are not granite, but rather anorthosite, which has very low water absorption. I wanted an unsealed stone that could take "abuse." We make a lot of really wet dough breads; that means that we use a metal bench scraper a lot. Also, I tend to spread oil or butter over the granite before rolling up dough to fit in bread pans. Finally, we make a lot of pizza and slide a metal peel under the pizzas to move them to the oven.

We've had the blue pearl for 1.5 years now and it's been great. As others have said, I just clean up with soap and water. And because it can be tough to get all the soap off, I'll sometimes use a 50/50 mix of water and rubbing alcohol to be sure the surface is really clear before making something like cinnamon rolls.

All this detail is by way of saying that you should have no trouble with your stone. No special attention required. We've been really, really pleased. I'm sure you will be, too.