Caring for stone worktops without ruining them

There is a particular kind of phone call we get every few months. A new client, halfway through the conversation, mentions that their marble worktop has "lost some of its shine in places." Sometimes they don't mention it at all and we find out when we arrive. The cause is almost always the same: a bottle of household cleaner with the word "fresh" or "lemon" on it.

Marble, limestone, travertine, and most natural stone is calcium carbonate. Anything acidic — lemon juice, vinegar, most bathroom cleaners, most multi-surface sprays — chemically eats it. Not in a dramatic, visible way. In a slow, surface-dulling way that's hard to spot until light hits the worktop at the wrong angle and you realise there are matte patches where the wine glasses used to sit.

Quartz and granite are harder. Quartz is mostly resin and won't etch, but the resin can discolour with prolonged bleach exposure. Granite is genuinely tough but is usually sealed, and the sealant degrades when scrubbed with anything alkaline.

What we use, and what we'd recommend you use between visits: a soft microfibre cloth, warm water, and a tiny amount of washing-up liquid. That's it. For a weekly polish, a stone-specific cleaner — Method Daily Granite is widely available and cheap, or Lithofin MN Wash & Clean if you want the professional version. Avoid anything with citrus, anything with vinegar, anything with bleach.

Marble doesn't break dramatically. It dulls quietly.

If you've already got etch marks, don't panic. Light etching can sometimes be polished out by a stone restoration specialist — it costs less than a replacement and we can recommend someone if you're in London. Deeper etching on honed stone is harder to reverse and usually needs the whole surface refinished.

The one preventative habit worth building: coasters under any glass that contains an acid. Wine. Lemon water. Tomato juice. Even a slice of lemon left to dry on a worktop overnight will leave a mark.