Marble is a wonderfully opulent stone to go for when it comes to decorating your kitchen. Whether you go for a marble worktop or you choose marble tiles, you are dealing with a hard-wearing, classy, and sophisticated stone, and one which will certainly add a certain something to your kitchen. Of course, we know that no marble stone is the same as any other, thanks to the individual veins which run through it, and that means that you won’t be copying anyone either!
You might have heard of marble being less hardy when compared to other natural stones, such as granite or quartz, and whilst that is true in a few ways, it isn’t in others. Marble isn’t fragile, it is a very strong stone, but it is more susceptible to chips and staining than perhaps quartz and granite are. For this reason, you need to know how to look after your marble worktop and tiles from the get-go, and the main area to focus on is cleaning.
If you clean your worktop and tiles regularly, in the correct way, then you will certainly add time onto its lifespan, and that means you will have a wonderful appearance to your kitchen for much longer.
So, how exactly do you clean marble in the correct way?
- Clean up any spillages as soon as possible – Marble is porous, and that means it is easily stained if you don’t act quickly. If you find that lemon juice, vinegar, or red wine has found its way onto your shiny new marble worktop, or has splashed up on a tile, then act fast and mop it up. The quicker you act, the less chance there is of staining. Of course, that doesn’t mean that the moment the substance makes contact with your marble it’s going to cause a problem, but the longer it sits there, the more it is eating away and that can create marks which in the end will not be removed.
- Never use scouring pads – Always stick to a non-abrasive cleaning material, such as a cloth or a sponge. The abrasive in the scouring pad will scratch the marble, and the more you do
it, the worse the end result will be.
- Avoid strong detergents and cleaners – The chemicals inside strong detergent cleaning products, such as ammonia or bleach, can degrade and break down the marble over time, so instead stick to warm, soapy water whenever you clean your worktop or tiles. In combination with a non-abrasive sponge or cloth, this is the best way to keep your marble clean and damage-free.
- Consider using a sealant spray – You could also add a sealant spray into your cleaning regime which will need to be used at least once a month to create a barrier between the marble and the outside world. Of course, this cuts down on the chance of staining and marking.
- Use heat resistant pads for placing pans down – Marble is not heat resistant and that means you should use pads to place anything on there which is hot. If you place a hot pan down on your marble, you run the risk of a burn mark, which is not going to be removed.
Of course, you should always make sure that your marble worktop or tiles are installed correctly from the get go, and that you have these sealed again every year to prevent issues from arising.
