We kept a large piece of the paradiso granite that was in our old kitchen and had it re-cut for our wet bar in the family room. It's at least 7-8 yrs old and it still looks great! While it was on the peninsula of our kitchen, we cleaned it daily with mild soap/warm water and occasionally used granite cleaner to polish it up. We did have it resealed when we re-purposed it.

I have seen some granites that look like they have a shiny under glass look it's a very clear coat over the granite. I would love to have that for my granite that isn't all that shiny even though it's not old I think it sat outside for maybe years. Have no way of knowing that except that the dealer told me he bought it from a place that went out of business and kept their slabs outdoors. Does anyone know if you can add this clear coat after installation? It would be helpful for older granites. The finish I am thinking of almost gives it a 3D look and makes it feel very smooth. Mine is somewhat shiny but it's still sort of rough to the hand and still sheds a bit. It's been a bit of a disappointment as far as the finish goes, it's a beautiful stone though and I like it but I would love it more if it had a nice finish on it. Maybe some of you with older granite could say how you keep it shiny or have it repolished but we had ours repolished and it made zero difference.

Not sure what you mean by "older" - does 7 years qualify? Mine are Piracema granite, and look like the day they were installed. They have a polished finish, but no coating on them. I have done nothing in particular to keep them looking great, other than avoid ammonia cleaners and abrasive cleaners. The granite was sealed upon installation (which it seems all granite installers do as part of the install), but has never been re-sealed since.

I'll post a couple of pics of Piracema stone, though not mine. It's also known as "Wave". Mine is much lighter than the first slab pic, but darker than the second pic. Piracema has a lot of variation in shading, and how "swirly" it is. I would say mine is in the middle in both shading (i.e. some Piracema is lighter, some is darker), and in swirliness. It is one of the granites that is known for toughness.

Most importantly, I have not grown tired of its beauty in 7 years.

Darker Piracema aka "Wave"

Lighter Piracema in someone's kitchen (googled)

So funny you are asking this because yesterday we ripped out our 10 year granite island due to our kitchen remodel. I am going to list it on Craigs list because it is to timeless and Im sure someone could use it.

We have ZERO scratches and that is amazing because we have 3 kids and i have never been careful with it. I have place hot things on it, I have cut on it (I know your not supposed to) and basically haven't even tried to "take care of it".

I also have NEVER had it resealed since we originally purchased it. I can't say enough about granite it holds up SO well! Btw, our is a black granite with flecks of shimmer in it.

hope that helps!

The shine in the granite is due to the stone itself and the diamond polishing it gets at the quarry. (Fabricators cannot get quite as good of a results in their shops or on site, thus the often heard complaint that the edges aren't as shiny as the tops.) Tighter smaller crystalline structured stone can achieve a higher gloss than the larger crystalline structured stones with inclusions. Leaving stone out in the weather will not impact the gloss level of it's polish at all unless it contains some calcium carbonates or other inclusions that can be etched by acid rain. If that is the case, then some small amount of dulling can happen in areas where the acid rain is the worst. But since that issue is no where near what it was in the 70's and the time needed to affect the stone would be long term from an extremely weak acid solution, that's mostly a moot issue.

Pouring plastic over a beautiful work of art from Mother Nature is akin to buying the best furniture and putting those plastic slipcovers that Pal referenced over it and then letting people sit on it. It's beyond tacky and impacts the stone experience in a very negative way. You might as well get a high gloss laminate.

Our granite has been in our kitchen for a little over 5 years now and it still looks beautiful, and glossy. We sealed it when it was installed, and sealed it a few times thereafter (letting it sit overnight to really absorb into the stone, then buffing off the haze with extra fine steel wool the next day), but haven't in a while now. I don't think our stone needs it, though if it appears that it does at any point, we will seal it at that point. The stuff we used (supplied by our fabricator) is from Italy. It is a solvent-based, penetrating sealer/polish (?). It reeks, but is really easy to apply/buff off.

Our seam is kind of crappy--it wasn't spectacular to begin with, and it had "lifted" twice along one side (cabs settling? Lack of rodding?), so it had to be "redone" which certainly didn't help its appearance.

However, our fabricators did an amazing job on the counter-edges--they are just as shiny as the tops. Our cab installer commented on them when the counters were installed, and was quite impressed.

I've repaired minor chips using super-glue, a black Sharpie, a razor blade, and steel wool. They are undetectable. There are some surface scratches here and there--our granite has a lot of mica, which is more likely to scratch. The first one "hurt" a bit (LOL), but luckily they are minor, and don't detract from the beauty of the stone.

FWIW, I clean my counters with my alcohol-water-lavender oil spray and a microfiber cloth. No residue/build-up, which helps the granite look shiny and new.

I own a granite shop and can provide some info:

1. there is a product called "Hydrosheild" that adds a polymer based clear coat to natural stone. cost is typically 8-12 dollars per sq. ft.

2. Most polished granites are relatively impervious to staining if properly sealed. we've had less than a dozen stain issues in 1000's of jobs and more than half were due to unusually stupid behavior by a homeowner or contractor.

3. These days many slabs are treated with a resin prior to polishing to eliminate the very very small surface irregularities present in many stones if not treated. The resin treatment makes the stone very resistant to staining. (you can tell a treated slab at the stone yard because it will have areas along the edge where the resin flowed over the edge.)

4. a stone fabricator will normally have sealer, cleaner, and "revitalizer" products that work well. The stone sealer at the big box stores is crap.

5. granite tops can be scratched but it's an uncommon occurrence usually due to sliding a flower pot or knick knack over the surface. Even a very hard knife won't scratch most granite tops.

6. marble and limestone are poor choices for kitchen countertops as they are both too soft and too porous for a high use area.

7. with just a little care a granite countertop will outlast the structure it's in. (remember the granite is already several million years old before it gets turned into countertops.)

Oldryder: Thanks so much for that quick lesson in granite! Very much appreciated and "seals" my decision to go with granite for my new kitchen.

Cat mom: please share your granite cleaning formula with us. I'm intrigued.

Oldryder (I can relate to that having been around horses most of my life, loved my rescues off the track trained into hunter jumpers) but I digress. Thank you for the great info. Concerning the hydro shield is this similar to what home depot calls their Stonemark? It looks really pretty. I have only seen it in a couple of homes and I liked it, it did not look tacky FWIW. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder I suppose. I think each case is different and for the stone that I have it would help it's look and not detract from it. It has tons of mica in it and has a rough hand. It seems to shed tiny pepper sized sand that is in the stone. I would be thrilled if it felt smooth. The granite gurus told me it may be that the resin was damaged in the sun since it was outside, the fabricator swears it is not a B grade stone, it was expensive. I have not seen this stone anywhere else. It is called ivory silk. I've got nearly 80 square feet of it and if there is some after market miracle product that could be put on it I would be thrilled. Where can I check out this hydro shield? I'm up for it if it's what I'm thinking of.

I googled Hydro Shield and found it! Interesting that it ships from St. George, Utah, a stunningly beautiful place that I've been to several times. Great place to hike with Snow Canyon right there and not too awfully far from Zion and Bryce. Then looking for a location that applies it in my state on their site it came up as in my town! Imagine that, the only one in the whole state is in my city. I am still not sure it would do for me what I was hoping. It says it will not alter the appearance or "texture" at all. I will call them though and see what they think. Thanks again for the information.

I had Volga Blue in my old kitchen for 10 years. Not a scratch, stain or anything. Never sealed it after the first day, either. What a great stone.

Twenty years ago I bought a 48" range with a grill section. I wasn't all the keen on the idea of a grill but it really excited my DH, but I went along with the idea. We found we rarely used it so after a couple of years I removed the char-grill burners, capped the gas lines and had the hole in my cooktop filled with a scrap of black granite with little metallic sparklies. (The range in enamled black with a lot of fairly hefty-looking stainless steel trim.)

I didn't obssess about the granite choice, I simply wanted something to plunk in the area and I made a quick pick from the remnants the stone fabricator had in stock. For nearly 18 years I've had a small granite counter-top in the middle of my range (the set-up from left to right: two burners; the granite insert and then four burners on the right.)

This slab of granite has seen hard use as hot pots from oven, broiler, and cooktop are always being slapped down on it. I drag the metal cooling grates over it regularly; I do some chopping on it; it gets hot fats splattered on it; and many things are routinely slid from side to side. As far as I know it has no sealannt or surface treament ther than the polishing done to make it. It is also located directly above my ovens/broiler so it gets a lot of heat applied to its underside.

It has never scratched, chipped, stained, absorbed grease or been affected by kind of acid or base spill that gets on it. It still shines and sparkles when wiped down with whatever I'm using to clean the top of the range which can vary from simple soap and water to something harsher if I have a particularly tough, hard or oily mess to clean up.

I love having this little (13" X 26") piece of stone right where I need it - and having a little counter amidst your surface is the nuts!

I have no idea what the stone's name is, however, in order to recommend it.

L.

Sounds like black galaxy granite maybe? That is quite a recommendation for granite! Sounds like it is working out well and probably looks pretty too : )

Well, I have had a sink cutout I picked up from a fabricator 25 years ago out in the sun and rain for all of that 25 years and it's still as glossy as it was the day I grunted it into the truck. It's been used as a headstone in my little pet cemetery on the little hill in my back pasture. I was going to try to engrave the names of my dearly departed into it, but it kept wearing out the bits in my dremel, so I just use a bit of brass to etch the names into it and then epoxy it to the granite. It's one of they grey and white salt and pepper looking granites but I don't know which one. And it's perfect.

Put me on board in the category of having an instant "ick" response to any type of film forming coating on stone---especially when it eventually starts to peel. That's just not what stone is about. It's about using a natural substance and appreciating it's beauty for what it IS, not what it ain't.

Isn't all granite by definition OLD? Sorry, couldn't resist. I realize you mean older installations.

Just to comment a little on Oldryder's post. His point #1 has already been commented upon - most people do not want a coating on their counter. Point #2 "Most polished granites are relatively impervious to staining if properly sealed". True. But I would add that there are some granites that do not need to be sealed at all, and furthermore, there are some granites that are so dense that sealer will be detrimental to their appearance. If a stone is very dense (examples off the top of my head would be Absolute Black, Volga Blue and Blue Eyes), the sealer will not absorb into the stone, and will show as a haze sitting on top of the stone. A good granite fabricator will know if the type of stone you have should not have sealer, or conversely, absolutely must have sealer. As I mentioned, my granite was sealed once 7 years ago, but I have not re-sealed it since, and have no stains. Other granites may need to be resealed annually or biannually.

Point #6 that marble is a poor choice for countertops - at least on this forum, them's fightin' words! :)) I opted for granite over marble because I wanted the lowest maintenance possible. But there are really a lot of marble fans on this forum who adore their marble and wouldn't have anything else. In Europe marble counters have been installed in kitchens for hundreds of years.

Gsciencechick: point taken. In fact, I think I see dinosaur footprints in mine!

Ours (which is geologically a quartzite) has been in for 6 years and looks as good as new. The care it has had is to wipe it off with a damp cloth when it gets dirty followed by a wipe with a dry cloth to prevent water spots. We also use a a little squeegee by the main sink when the counter is wet.

Occasionally a bit of dish soap on the damp cloth to clean greasy areas or when there is a contamination concern (e.g. when raw meat may have dripped on it).

Ours is a pretty dense low-porosity stone. Our fabricator insisted on sealing it but we haven't resealed since.