Caring for the Marble and Limestone in My Pineapple Home

My Pineapple Home is filled with a plethora of natural stone surfaces–no synthetics here! We have granite, soapstone, marble, and limestone. As is expected, the soapstone and granite are simple to take care of and do not require specialty cleaning products or a delicate touch. The marble and limestone are another story!

Our kitchen counters are Vermont Danby Imperial. This stone is gorgeous, and I admire the grey, green, and gold veining throughout as often as I curse my decision for selecting this stone as a countertop surface in our heavily-used kitchen. We host two dozen people for certain holidays, have a teenager who loves to cook and bake, and another teenager who loves to host his large friend group to eat. This stone is soft, etches with the slightest spray of any citrus, vinegar, ketchup, etc. that may spill onto it, and scratches and cracks a lot easier than I was led to believe. We have had several visits from our local stone maintenance company to fill cracked countertop edges with resin. No matter how hard they try, it never looks perfect, so these things really have been an issue.

For daily maintenance, I have kept my routine the same since we moved in because it was recommended to me by the stone maintenance company owner and the owner of the stone yard we purchased the marble from. I wipe the counters with a damp paper towel or a Norwex cloth and, once they are clean and dry, I use the Dupont Stonetech Revitalizer Spray, which expertly cleans the counters and also protects them.

I buy this in bulk because I use it exclusively.

These Norwex cloths are amazing because they disinfect surfaces without the need for harsh chemicals. I use them for our mirrors, shower doors, bathtubs, basically anything in our house that is a hard surface. I have used them for years and could not rave about them more especially this set for windows and glass. I even love the stainless steel cloths for our ovens, our basement refrigerator, and outdoor cooking surfaces. 

Once every several years (when I can tell that water does not bead up on the counters as it should) I seal the counters myself after ensuring they are perfectly clean. I use this Akemi Nano sealant because, upon extensive research, it checked all the boxes for me. It’s easy to apply, but does smell for several hours, so be prepared to leave the room or the house if you can.

On a few occasions we have had butter, oil, or grease spill on the counter and go unnoticed for long enough that it seeped into the stone. I was able to fix the situation with a stone poultice all but one time. This is really the product that will require fresh air because it smells very strong for days! Make sure you do not allow this to be disrupted while it is working.

Two of our bathrooms have Nero Marquina marble counters and, while I absolutely love the look, they have been even more maintenance than our kitchen counters. We were unaware that the veining in this marble and its composition were such that it flakes and crumbles. It also shows etching SO easily! We’ve had to have fissures filled numerous times and those fixes didn’t last very long as the stone around the fill crumbles away. This has been especially bad near one of the faucet spouts in our bathroom where there is essentially a trench of missing stone around the handle. I don’t know how this will hold up longterm, but it is a concern of mine.

These counters get cleaned the same way as our kitchen island.

We have a mixture of various marble floors in our home: two bathrooms have small hexagonal Carrera marble (love the look, hate the grout cleaning), one has large format Carrera marble tiles in a polished finish (the only polished marble in our house as all else is honed). That bathroom floor shows everything and is a pain to keep looking perfect. We also have an antique Nero Marquina and Carrera checkerboard floor that presents all the same issues I mentioned above. I don’t clean that on my hands and knees frequently, but I do use a Norwex mop with hot water and then spot clean with the Dupont cleaner in small sections. 

Our antique black limestone floor requires a different set of products to keep it looking its best. I clean it easily with a mop for quick cleans, but because it is such an irregular surface, it requires brushing hard to get all the dirt and mud brought in by our dog and our kids. That is a massive pain! Once every other year I put a stone enhancer on the heavily-trafficked areas to bring back the lustre and darkness that seem to fade regularly over time. 

The hex marble floor and marble walls in our master bathroom shower are definitely the hardest to maintain. If I could chance any surfaces in our home, it would be those. For this area I use Marblelife grout and tile cleaner and a Norwex cloth to go around the shower heads and this spinning brush for the grout. 

I hope this helps both in offering cleaning tips, but also in offering a sense of reality with working with these surfaces. I was warned with a bit of this information, but regret not listening.