Cleaning Granite Counters

Can I let you in on a not-so-secret secret? Try as I might, I’m never going to be Martha Stewart. Not juicy enough? OK. Out of the two of us, I’m definitely the clutter bug. Martha might have a heart attack when she discovers the dust bunnies under our bed. Sure, I fend them off the best I can, but at least one successfully hides between the underbed storage boxes. Nonetheless, I have a few fiscally chic cleaning tips to share. So when I noticed an uptick on pins of my cleaning–related posts, I figured it was time to share another.

We have granite in our kitchen. It wasn’t a “must have” or even a “we’d like to have.” It was a pleasant surprise in the house hunting process. I didn’t grow up with granite, so I wasn’t sure how to maintain it (which is when Martha might gasp in disbelief). We love to cook and olive oil is one of the mainstays in our kitchen. Even with wiping up the occasional spill, we were bound to find some errant stains.

So while John was building a ramp in Appalachia, I took matters into my own hands to combat the oil stains. And of course I consulted with Pinterest (here and here to be specific) since that’s the place to pin all things food, wedding, style, and cleaning.

I settled on the course of action using what I had available in my kitchen since I didn’t want to buy anything crazy I’d barely use again. I present to you:

• 1 cup baking soda
• Water (1/2 cup or less)
• 5 tablespoons dish soap
• Cling wrap

The Internets say to concoct a poultice. That comes from the Latin puls, pultes, meaning “porridge.” So today, we will be making a stain-fighting porridge.

In a bowl, mix the baking soda with the dish soap. Add water slowly until the consistency of the mixture is similar to peanut butter, sour cream, or I suppose porridge.

Dampen the part of the granite that is stained and slather your poultice onto the stains. Then cover with plastic cling wrap. This will allow your poultice to stay moist and do its voodoo cleaning magic. (The baking soda absorbs the stains.) Let your saran wrapped poultice sit for at least a day.

Once a day is up, remove the cling wrap, rinse the area, and wipe your granite dry. It might still look stained for a little while, but that’s just the water absorbed into the granite. Let it completely dry and evaporate before deciding to try the poultice again.

Voila! Granite that’s sparkly clean!

Going forward, we might look into sealing our granite, but let me bask in my domestic victory for a little while longer…