Marble has a reputation of being difficult to clean. However, this reputation is largely undeserved. It comes from the fact that marble reacts with acid, any acid. This includes that lemon you squeezed into your drink and those orange slices you chopped for your children. Because of this reaction, common cleaners with an acid base cannot be used to clean marble.
Just because marble and acid don’t get along does not mean that marble is difficult to clean! Here are five simple steps that will leave you with a clean marble counter:
Mix about 32 oz of warm water with a tablespoon of dish soap. Make sure the soap has no acid in it before mixing. It’s always nice to put the solution in a spray bottle, but if you don’t have one handy you can use a bucket. The proportion of soap to water doesn’t have to be exact. You also have the option of simply using pre-mixed marble cleaner.
Spray (or wipe) the soapy solution onto the countertop.
Wipe the solution off with a hot, wet cloth.
Buff the countertop dry.
We always add the extra step of wiping your clean countertop down with a microfiber cloth. This will pick up any specks of dust and will allow you to further buff your counter.
Your marble may have problems that need a more specific cleaning method. These can include slight etching in the stone or light stains that need to be lifted. However, the above cleaning method should get your marble countertop ready for everyday use.