Stone Countertop Cleaner: 409 Natural Stone Cleaner

Keeping stone counters looking their best is easy. To maintain the shine of polished stone, like granite and marble, regular and periodic maintenance is required. Long-term, stone needs to be re-sealed anywhere from every six months to once every three years. Frequency depends upon type of stone, amount of use, exposure to spills, sunlight and weather. A sealant specifically designed for sealing natural stone should be used. You can have this professionally done or you can do it yourself.

In the short-term, cleaning granite and stone countertops and keeping them looking beautiful requires little effort. Washing with water works fine, adding a little liquid dish soap to a soft scrubbing sponge can help you to remove more stubborn messes. However, plain water leaves streaks and a dull finish. A product specifically designed for cleaning natural stone is recommended by most stone trade associations. Because stone countertops are sensitive to acids, cleaning products containing ammonia or vinegar should not be used. Furthermore, abrasives will damage the finish of polished countertops. A cleaning product that uses no abrasives or damaging chemicals is needed.

We recently were asked to try out a new product from Clorox's line of 409 cleaning products, 409 Natural Stone Cleaner. We had the opportunity to test it in our kitchen and here are our results:

• 409 Natural Stone Cleaner has a light and pleasant scent.
• It sprays on and wipes off with a paper towel.
• In our tests it cleaned away water spots and light messes and dried spills effortlessly and left behind no streaks. Tougher messes required multiple applications. We got the best results by scrubbing tougher dried spills and greasy spills with a damp sponge and then finished up with 409 and a paper towel.
• It dries quickly, leaves no streaks and requires no rinsing.
• It restored the shine to our countertops which had been dulled by water and a soapy film.

There are many stone cleaning products on the market and those that we have tried are reasonably effective. Clorox 409 Natural Stone Cleaner did an excellent job and at retail price of $2.98 is roughly half the price of many other specialty stone cleaning products.

Always test any cleaning product in an inconspicuous location and let dry to determine its suitability for usage.