Thank you for posting this. I don't know why it is so difficult to use a trivet in the first place--lol. I always do and always have. Another reason is that if you put a hot glass bowl on the stone counter, it can make your bowl shatter, which happened to a friend. Lesson learned for her.

wow, and I hear on here all of the time how granite is bullet proof and you can put hot pots on it. Thanks Joseph for the clarification for those who dont know. Invest in trivets.

Thanks soooo much, Joseph, for your posting and helping to educate us, the end users! This makes me, a diehard user of trivets, feel lots better about having made the change from my older ”bulletproof” granite to my ”plastic” quartz estone.

@poorgirl No kidding! Whenever someone cuts on a countertop, unless it's butcher block, I think they must not value the sharpness of their knives either!

Well after she wastes a bunch of time and money seeking alternatives and watches them all fail, she’ll come crawling back haha!

I wish you could fix this disaster! It is my leathered black granite. I believe it is from the water splashing on it. It is only happeneing by the sink. It is like it has bleached the color out of the granite somehow. It ruined my Blanco silgranite sink too. I can temporarily fix it with a product (think it was called 511 seal and enhance) but it just slowly comes back. 😫

Before

After the 511

Opps sorry to hyjack!

Is it hard water?

Yes M Riz, that’s what I assumed. We pay for city water.

Sorry Joe, I should make a new thread for my problem.

Hes the guy to ask tho

rebunky:

A little thread drift is always healthy.

rebunky:

You could replace your sink with one with a faucet deck:

Thank you! I had Typhoon Bordeaux in my last kitchen and it held up beautifully. I always used trivets. Before that I had Corian and it held up perfectly as well and I used trivets. I’m about two weeks away from installation of Mont Blanc quartzite in my new kitchen and I’ll be using trivets. I just don’t understand not taking care of the items we spend a lot of money on.

Soap stone. That would sand right out in five minutes. THAT IS IF IT HAPPENED AT AL and that is dubious at best.

"Granite and marble can also withstand high heat from a hot pan, but only soapstone can also maintain its quality and durability under direct contact with fire"."

"Soapstone is also used to create casting molds for molten metals with its high resistance to heat and natural oily surface allowing for easy removal."

Sorry Joe.

PS....... an ordinary padded place mat is generally perfectly fine on the others To be fair? I know no one who even owns a trivet anymore. I have set a scorched pan on my Corian........hands burning. Result? Fine. Not a single mark. : )

I'; give you quartz....... and if unsure? Do what feels best. I won't give you soapstone.

Happy Thanksgiving btw: )

I have a question….would that have happened on quartzite? i have taj mahal and always hear it can take more heat than granite but i still use a trivet and people tell me i’m needlessly too cautious.

Be cautious, thats an expensive piece of stone. Cracks happen. Trivet, to me is a catchall word . My trivets are usually cutting boards, thick woven placemats and bamboo mats, not necessarily the real metal trivets. Happy thanksgiving all.

Jan:

Nothing to be sorry for. Please reread my comment. I acknowleged soapstone's heat resistance, but it is not exempted from the NSI recommendations anywhere that I can find.

Anna Devane:

You can believe people who will not reimburse you when tney're wrong and the quartzite cracks or you can believe the NSI and your own eyes.

It isn't difficult to use a trivet it's about how average unsuspecting home owners were DUPED into believing stone and it's expense meant you didn't need to treat it gingerly like mother used to with her tile/Formica!! Truth is while it may look good it is not a proper material for a working kitchen!!

Anna D. and Joe, I was told the same. By my friend the designer. She said I was babying my quartz (Cambria) countertops. I thought (didnt say) when you spend $five figures on a new kitchen, you can do whatever you want with it. I’m using trivits!

Stone is a fine material for countertops. What is not fine is when people exaggerate its attributes in a way that encourages uses outside the NSI recommendations. Simply follow the instructions and you'll be fine.

I had titanium granite in my last house - it's gorgeous. I'm sad for her mistake and then for her stubbornness.

I have lots of heavy knitted trivets/pads in my Etsy cart for our new Cambria.

I've never been under the impression that hot objects can be put directly on anything whether it's for the countertop or the pot itself. I'll have towels, bowl warmers, anything strewn around to not directly put a hot item on a countertop.

Joe,

Every cashmere sweater I have owned says "dry clean" ................why do you think that is? Because I wash most of them in cold water,, lay flat and they smell nice and dry in half a day. ,, do not shrink, and are soft and fluffy.!!

The reason they don't exempt soapstone specifically ? ? Because they accurately believe a lot of people are total idiots. ......and can destroy the indestructible. That's why.

auntthelma:

Thanks for the perfect example of my above quote. Your designer is exaggerating the attributes of engineered stone and that will have disasterous consequences for a client of hers down the road.

Heat damage in engineered stone is particularly difficult to repair. due to the difficulty of matching the factory deck finish. I've had success replacing blown particulates, but the particulate type tops are no longer much in style. If you get a pot mark in some of the recent movement styles, you're toast. Better hope yours isn't discontinued, or you'll be replacing perfectly good tops or going for contrast.

If that ring were in Corian, I've have it abraded away and finished matched in less than an hour. If it were too deep and they had a remnant or cutting board, the insert repair would be inconspicuous if it wasn't a movement style top.

Granite was formed by heat and lots of it. I have had, and done for my clients, polished granite for 20+ yrs and when most people use a trivet I have not always and not one time did a counter get that mark I also never sealed polished granite so maybe the sealer is the issue. MY DILs family owned a stone yard / fabrication company and so I learned a lot about stone and still say polished granite beats the heck out od plastic trivet or no trivet/

Rebunky you can try a razor blade to take out the water stain build up on the stone around the faucet. I have had this issue in my last our we had hard water also.
I have also had 2 kitchen countertops made out of 2 of the hardest/dentist granites in the world which has been used for exterior cladding on the skyscrapers around the world and I still would not put anything hot on them, just should be a common practice. If you look at the properties of some granites and marbles they have a lot of crystal in them which is the weak link in some stone. If your slabs have a mesh on the back of them , the material can be brittle.. there is a reason it’s on some and not all. Better to be safe then sorry
We installed the work station sink which comes with a rubber drying rack which can take all the heat you want so I put pots and trays on this along with using a cutting board .

Patricia:

Look at the picture please. If hot pots were 1/2" wide and randomly wavy, that mark would look completely natural; unfortunately it's in an unnaturally perfect circle.

Jan is correct. A lot of people are total idiots. The NSI can't issue a set of "idiot" and "non-idiot" instructions, so they have to go with the lowest common denominator. You could set hot cookie sheets in the same place all day long on Corian, estone and granite with no problems, but one touch of that cast iron pan with the frying chicken in it and you're done. The trade associations and manufacturer's can't identify every scenario.

Yes, the odds are lower that you're less likely to suffer heat damage with natural stone, however, they aren't nonexistant. If, as a designer, you're telling clients that trivet use isn't necessary, you're doing them a disservice.

You can believe your family's stoneyard stories or your own eyes.

"2 of the hardest/dentist granites in the world which has been used for exterior cladding on the skyscrapers around the world..."

True enough, however, the sun is heating that cladding evenly, it's all getting the same treatment, unlike a hot pot that's concentrating heat in one area.

Shove a piece of Corian into an oven at 500* for a half hour. It comes out fine. Why? You heated the whole thing. That's how you thermoform.

Patricia, that plastic in engineered stone that you hate so much?It allows estone to be thermoformed too.

Joseph, true enough !

In the video I linked to above, Caesarstone is doing it wrong. The mitered edge is difficult, dangerous, and prone to chipping during fabrication. They should rabbet the bottom of the top. No delicate and dangerous edges and now the seam is facing out, not up, toward your eyes.

You know what else is formed by heat and a lot of it? Glass.

My 4” tile countertop (42 years old) can take a lot of heat without damage. But no one puts those in anymore. New solid countertop to be installed next month. I'll be careful of hot pans, toaster oven, coffee maker, etc.

Interesting thread, thanks Joseph

Socks

i think some tile counters in the right house look nice…. I still like them. but you’re right when you say they seem to have fallen out of favor. it’s too bad because the were work horses

Yes, but the grout can get dirty and a solid surface is probably better from a cleanliness standpoint.

Joseph and poorgirl, thank you! Great suggestions.

I have never put a hot pan directly on any countertop surface, and I never will. It doesn’t take any extra effort to put out a trivet of some sort. My mom had corian, and she had her crockpot on a cutting board made of the same corian, and her corian cracked. Now with her granite, she still takes no chances and uses a cutting board set on top of a large folded towel. Taking precautions is easier than finding yourself to repair or replace your countertop

@rebunky looks like you have really hard water. A water softener may help prevent this

I guess i have lucked out. Last house UT, no problems with hot stuff, cast iron, SS, broil pan. Looked new when we sold. I now have soapstone, A clock fell off a beam & left small nick, No problems with hot pans & no nicks around sink edge.