Choose countertops that are corrosion-resistant, easy to clean, hard to breed bacteria, and fireproof. The only common ones are marble, granite, artificial stone, and stainless steel. These countertops have their own advantages and disadvantages, and the cleaning methods are also different.
Let’s take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of each material countertop and the maintenance method. I think most of you concern about how to clean kitchen countertops.
What material is good for the countertop
1. Natural stone marble
Advantages: rich color, soft texture, natural and diverse texture, easy to cut or engrave.
Disadvantages: Because it is naturally formed that is easy to break. Because the stone is a porous material structure. If sewage penetrates during production, transportation, or construction, it is difficult to clean and easy to crack.
In daily cleaning, it is inevitable that some residues and dirt will be filled into the cracks with the wiping of the rag, becoming a hotbed for bacteria.
Natural stone in the long process of formation in nature, due to the presence of heavy metal substances will more or less have a certain degree of radiation, which may cause harm to human health.
2. Granite
Advantages: Granite has high density, high hardness, and the surface is very wear-resistant. It is also one of the materials often used in home decoration. Compared with natural marble, granite has better anti-bacterial regeneration ability in materials that can be used in kitchen countertops.
Disadvantages: Natural stone as the countertop material is usually not long, so if you want to make a long overall countertop (especially U-shaped and L-shaped countertops), there will definitely be seams, and these seams are also easy to hide dirt.
3. Artificial stone
Advantages: The artificial stone is rich in texture and color and can be comparable to the stone, and it is non-toxic and non-radiative, easy to clean, and can truly achieve seamless stitching. It is an economical, environmentally friendly, and hygienic material.
Strong anti-fouling ability, no cracks on the surface, oil stains and water stains are not easy to penetrate into it. General stains can be wiped off with a damp cloth or detergent.
Disadvantages: Artificial stone belongs to the processing industry, and the technical requirements are not high. Many inferior products produced by small enterprises flood the market and damage the interests of consumers.
Some low-end products also have problems with discoloration, poor aging resistance, and oil stains.
4. Fireboard
Advantages: Using MDF as the base material, the surface is covered with a fireproof board, which has better impact resistance, wear-resistance, and scratch resistance.
Disadvantages: Most of the materials used to manufacture fireboard countertops in China are low-cost density boards, which cannot provide effective guarantees in terms of performance and environmental protection.
Due to the length limitation of the fireproof board and natural stone, it is impossible to achieve a perfect seamless joint. These gaps are naturally a “hotbed” of bacterial contaminants.
5. Stainless steel
Advantages: The advancement of processing technology has given this material a new beauty, such as surface drawing, embossing, etc. It has a stylish and avant-garde appearance and is favored by young urban consumers. Due to the characteristics of stainless steel, the surface is very easy to clean.
Disadvantages: People often use steel balls and other cleaning tools, and other metal utensils or ceramic utensils will add a lot of scratches to their stylish appearance. These scratches cannot be repaired.
Therefore, when using this stainless steel countertop family to wipe its surface, you must pay special attention.
Washing of countertops of various materials
1. Natural stone countertop
The surface of natural stone has large pores, and stains or moisture are found during normal use, and it needs to be treated in time, otherwise, the dirt will penetrate into the countertop and cannot be processed.
In daily life, you only need to use clean water or colorless neutral mild cleaning solvent to wipe, to avoid the use of over-acid or too high cleaning products, so as not to cause damage to the countertop.
2. Stainless steel tabletop
The metal tabletop can be cleaned with a soft and clean dry rag. Before wiping, pay attention to whether there is dirt on the rag. When wiping, wipe in the direction of the stainless steel wool to avoid scratches on the tabletop.
If you use clean water or detergent when wiping, you need to dry it with a dry cloth in time to avoid watermarks on the countertop.
3. A countertop made of artificial stone
The artificial stone can be wiped with clean water when it is cleaned. If there are stains on the countertop that are difficult to wipe off, it can be wiped with a neutral or weak alkali or weak acid cleaning solvent.
Regular use of appropriate maintenance fluid for maintenance can extend the life of the countertop.
4. Matters needing attention
Regardless of the material of the countertop, pay attention to avoid direct contact between the hot pot and the hot water bottle, and try to avoid touching the countertop with sharp objects to avoid scratches on the countertop.
Do not cut vegetables directly on the countertop, otherwise, it will leave knife marks and increase the difficulty of cleaning.
Chemical substances have an erosive effect on the countertop, so you should pay attention to avoid placing soy sauce bottles and other items directly on the countertop.
Artificial stone countertop crack repair
If the table is found to be broken, it needs to be repaired in time. If water flows down the cracks to the cabinet plate or the backing plate, long-term immersion will cause the cabinet to rot locally and breed bacteria or insects.
Find out the reason for the cracking of the countertop of the artificial stone cabinet
When repairing cracks on artificial stone countertops, it is necessary to understand the cause of cracks to avoid the same problem from recurring.
Common causes of cracking of artificial stone countertops, taking kitchen cabinets as an example, there are the following situations.
1. Uneven stress causes cracking
If the countertop is not reinforced when installing the table, and the position of cutting vegetables is just in the part without the pad.
Therefore, it is more like cutting vegetables in the air. If the hardness of the artificial stone countertop is not high enough, a crack will be formed in the simply stressed part after a long time.
Therefore, it is necessary to protect the work area of the countertop before repairing it.
2. Cracks in the backing plate cause cracking
Countertop cracking may also be caused by the problem of pads under the countertop. For example, the material of the pad is poor, and the sink is leaking. The pad will swell when encountering this situation, which will cause the countertop to crack.
In addition, there are cases where there is no entire board under the table, or the pads are uneven, causing cracks. In this case, it is necessary to strengthen the backing plate and cabinet first, and then carry out the repair work of the tabletop.
3. Improper opening causes cracks
Whether it is a sink or a hole in the stove, it should be curved around. After the hole is opened, a layer of the pad should be added around the hole to increase the load-bearing capacity, otherwise, it will easily cause the countertop to crack.
4. Cracking and repairing method for tabletop
The regular maintenance method is to first select materials of the same color, cut them into thin seams according to the size of the cracks, bond them to the cracks with glue, and finally polish the whole.
Countertop cracking repairs have high requirements on workers’ craftsmanship and need to be repaired by experienced masters.
Conclusion
I hope the suggestions above are helpful for everyone so that you can clean and maintain your kitchen countertop easily so you have more time with your family. If you have any questions, please leave them below. I ‘d love to hear that.
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