Is marble a good kitchen worktop? Etching, sealing and the stones that cope
Marble looks wonderful and marks easily. What etching is, why honed hides it better than polished, and which natural stones cope with a busy kitchen in the UAE.
By the Ajusteur teamUpdated 5 minute read
What does etching mean?
Most marble is calcite, and calcite reacts with acid. Squeeze a lemon on a polished Calacatta and you get a dull patch where the shine used to be. That is etching. It is not a stain you can wipe away: the surface itself has changed.
Lemon, vinegar, wine, tomato and a lot of bathroom cleaners all do it. In a kitchen where karak, fresh lime and fattoush happen every week, a marble worktop will collect marks. Some people love that lived in look. Others notice every one.
Honed or polished: which hides marks better?
A polished slab is shiny, so an etch mark shows as a matt spot against the gloss. A honed slab is already matt, so the same mark blends in. If you want marble in the kitchen, honed is the forgiving choice.
Colour matters too. On a black stone such as Nero Marquina, an etch mark shows grey on the black polish. On a white Carrara it is much harder to spot.
Source: Brachot: Nero Marquina
How do you look after a marble worktop?
Seal it, wipe spills at once and clean with a pH neutral cleaner. Sealing slows stains from oil and coffee; it does not stop acid from etching. Use a board for cutting and a trivet for hot pans, especially on stones whose small holes are filled with resin, like Emperador, because heat can mark the resin.
Which natural stones cope better with a kitchen?
Quartzite is a different rock. It is mostly quartz, it is dense and it is not etched by kitchen acids. These are the quartzites in our stone records that suit a worktop:
Source: Brachot: Taj Mahal
The numbers behind the knife test
Geologists rank how hard a mineral is on the Mohs scale, from talc at 1 to diamond at 10, by what scratches what. Calcite, the mineral marble is made of, sits at 3. A copper coin is 3.5, so a coin will scratch marble. A steel knife blade or a piece of window glass is about 5.5. Quartz is 7, harder than the knife and harder than a steel nail at 6.5.
That is the whole worktop story in five numbers. A marble top is scratched by a dropped pan and by sand under a chopping board. A quartzite or quartz top is not scratched by the knife, which is why the knife test in this guide works: if the blade leaves a mark, the stone is calcite or dolomite, whatever the label says. Granite sits between, a mix of quartz and feldspar at 6 to 7.
Reading a slab before you buy it
Take four things to the yard and ten minutes with the slab.
Is Super White a quartzite?
It is often sold as one. One stone processor classifies Super White as a dolomite marble, and dolomite can etch, more slowly than calcite but still. The same processor warns that not all stone sold as Taj Mahal is real quartzite.
So before you commit, take a sample home. Leave a little lemon juice on it for a few minutes and try to scratch it with a knife. A true quartzite stays shiny and unmarked. More on these names in marble names that are not what they say.
Source: Brachot: Super White
How is a stone worktop made for your kitchen?
A stone worktop is measured for cutting once the cabinets are in, so it follows your walls, which are rarely perfectly straight. You choose the slab at the yard, because no two slabs look the same. Browse our marble and natural stone records to shortlist what you like, then put it in your kitchen estimate.
Quick questions
Does sealing stop marble from etching?
No. A sealer slows staining from oil, coffee and wine. Etching is acid reacting with the stone itself, and a sealer does not stop it.
Which marble finish is best for a kitchen?
Honed. Etch marks are matt, so they show clearly on a polished surface and blend into a honed one.
What looks like marble but does not etch?
A true quartzite such as Taj Mahal, Mont Blanc or White Macaubas. Test a sample with lemon juice and a knife first, because some stones sold as quartzite are dolomite.
How hard is marble compared with quartz?
On the Mohs scale calcite marble is 3, a copper coin is 3.5, a steel knife about 5.5 and quartz 7. Marble scratches easily; quartz and quartzite do not.