<p>Our blue pearl granite table–the one that is 15 years old–looks fine all the time. The stone is “busy” enough that it hides a lot of dust and the occasional bit of sticky spilled food. </p>
<p>Our orange-yellow granite table and countertops (not light but medium) also look fine. Again, busy stone.</p>
<p>My granite has been in for 3 months and I’ve noticed the shine is no longer even, too. I think my sealer had some type of golden color added, but granite installers denied adding anything. No sticky spots, though. Consumer Reports magazine recommended sealing every couple of years so I can only assume my wasn’t properly sealed to begin with.</p>
<p>Our granite is grey and black-speckled, and I believe it has been here since the early 80s. Absolutely no problems and impervious to everything. And I am tough on a kitchen: I make blueberry jam, cook lots of things with turmeric, roll pie dough and knead bread on it, I used to use the tabling method of tempring chocolate on it, hot pans, you name it.</p>
<p>i use a granite cleaner I found at lowes. It actually works better with water and then dry it to a shine with a paper towel. My granite reflects like glass and is shinny. I also used windex on it and got the same results.</p>
<p>This web site tells you how to test whether or not your natural stone needs sealing.</p>
<p>[Sealing</a> Granite Countertops: The Real Test](<a href=“http://www.countertopspecialty.com/sealing-granite-countertops.html]Sealing”>Sealing Granite Countertops: The Real Test)</p>
<p>I hate my Verde Ubatuba granite, which is “black” in color. Shows EVERYTHING, including but not limited to crumbs, lint, fingerprints, etc. etc. I also recommend the “Method” granite cleaner for everyday cleaning. You can get it at Lowe’s as well as Target. I buy the large size spray bottles.</p>
<p>I seal my granite about once a year. Use a good quality sealant. I like the water based products for easier clean-up. A good one will run about $65 a gallon or more. I almost always get a haze after sealing. After 15-30 minutes, go over the areas with a rag that has some of the granite sealer on it. If that doesn’t remove the haze, try using a liquid stone polish product. I use a larger painter pad on a handle with a paint tray that contains the granite sealer for applying the granite sealer. Make sure you wipe off the excess before it dries!</p>
<p>I would personally not recommend using Soft Scrub cleanser, particularly on un-sealed granite that has lots of porosity. You only want sealer to be absorbed into the stone and nothing else!</p>
<p>We have 10 yr old black/brown blotchy granite. It hides everything in the speckles.
Kinda not a good thing since we are bad housekeepers. The crumbs from the toaster blend in nicely.</p>
<p>Have never sealed it, use NON ammonia Windex.</p>
<p>Had speckled granite counters in our house for 14 years. They were shiny, didn’t show crumbs or fingerprints, and were still beautiful when we sold a few months ago.</p>
<p>We never once re-sealed them.</p>
<p>Have greenish speckled granite with crystal specks in it. Doesn’t show a thing. Installed 5 years ago and sealed on installation. Haven’t sealed it since and it looks the same as the day it was put in. </p>
<p>I use Method granite cleaner or Glass Plus - which has no ammonia in it.</p>
<p>JShain recommended Method Daily Granite cleaner a year ago when we got our granite (a VERY light color granite…can’t see the crumbs at all). It really is terrific and that’s what
I use. I’ve also recommended it Tina ton of friends and they like it too. </p>
<p>I did reseal my counters after one year. It was easy, and no sticky or marks. I used Maximum Bullet Proof Sealer by DuPont.</p>
<p>hayden–we have friends with solid black on their island and they HATE it. It shows every little crumb, fingerprint, streak. Black with color variations is fine though, just not a solid or mostly solid black.</p>
<p>We were also told by the installer not to use Windex on granite because of the ammonia. Like Emilybee, we use Glass Plus and it works fine.</p>
<p>My favorite cleaner is SCI Clean Encounters, which I get from Home Depot or Lowe’s. Recommended on gardenweb by many posters. It smells good, cleans easily and streak free the first time and really brings out the character of the granite. I’ve also tried Method - that one is nice, too.</p>
<p>I just sealed my counters after about three years. Water was still beading, and I have a very resistant granite, but didn’t want to take any chances. Theoretically the surface can absorb certain stains or be marred by acidic foods if it’s not done. I had the installers come and do it the first time, but I watched what they did and next time may do it myself - even the installers said that it’s an easy DIY.</p>
<p>Five years ago in this thread, I wrote this:
“Our blue pearl granite table–the one that is 15 years old–looks fine all the time. The stone is “busy” enough that it hides a lot of dust and the occasional bit of sticky spilled food.”</p>
<p>I’ll just add that the blue pearl granite table ended up being moved outside to our patio when we moved from Seattle to Portland and it didn’t fit the new house’s dining room. So the table is now twenty years old and has been outside for four years. We clean it with a hose, some dish detergent, and a rag. This morning it has a fine layer of frost. It still looks great.</p>
<p>We have a brown granite with a lot of movement and red/brown/black speckles. H loves it since you can not easily tell if there are crumbs or spills 
I can tell so easily though - but cleanup is very very simple - just wipe down with a damp cloth. It’s been close to 7years and we’ve never resealed it - it looks and feels great!</p>
<p>think I have the same granite on my 7’ island as arisamp. The store referred to it as ‘Dakota Mahogany’. It has a very 3D look to it and most crumbs, etc, blend in. As contrast, we did our countertops a light Corian, so the kitchen would not be so dark. Because of this, the island pops out when you walk in the kitchen (except for most days when it’s covered with mail and other papers!)</p>
<p>Not every slab of granite needs to be sealed, including slabs that are very dense like dmd’s Blue Pearl or Absolute Black. Anyone interested can search the poster buehl over on the gardenweb forum for some great info on choosing, installing and maintaining granite.</p>
<p>Ours is a very light colored granite. We were told that these tend to need resealing as they are a softer, more porous stone.</p>
<p>The only “issue” I’ve had…last summer I has two pitchers on the counter. When I picked them up there were two water rings from the moisture on those pitchers. It all dried out just fine, but to be on the safe side, I sealed the counters the following day.</p>
<p>Good link in post 25. Guess I’ve got good kitchen granite. over 10 years and nice and shiny. Never been sealed. We have black/brown with speckles and not too bad with showing crumbs.</p>