A poultice will certainly take it out, but this is the first I've heard of oil etching marble. I know it'll stain the stone for a few months, but etch???

Well maybe he meant stained, not etched. I just imagined that oil staining would look pretty similar to an etch mark. Are you sure about the poultice? He seemed to say it would't work because oils seep deeper in the stone. I thought the sealer took care of all stains but not the etching...

I've spilled olive oil on my marble and wiped it up after I noticed it and no mark (etch or stain) was left behind - I've also had plenty of melted butter on the marble and nothing happened. I sealed w/ PP 511 3 times and that's it. Have plenty of tiny etch marks from various citrus sources but noone can see them and I have trouble finding them most of the time.

Someone on this forum has old marble counters and oils them before pouring hot candy (caramel? taffy?) on them!

Hmm, who was this? Tis the season and this is sounding pretty good!

Anyway, I digress. White marbles are very dense- if you have doubts, get a piece of your chosen slab, seal half of it and test away! I can't speak to the other marbles, perhaps others can chime in.

Are you sure about the poultice? He seemed to say it would't work because oils seep deeper in the stone.

It all depends on the poultice you use. If you use the proper poultice, it'll pull the oil out.

I thought the sealer took care of all stains but not the etching...

Using the word "stain" for what oil does to the stone is actually a misnomer. A stain, to me, is actually something pretty much permanent, where some kind of heavily pigmented fine solid has gotten into the pores of the stone. What oil does is actually "wet" the stone, and the wet mark doesn't dry out for quite a bit longer than water. Almost all oil marks WILL dry out, sooner or later. It's just during the time that the mark is visible that it's kind of unsightly. It also depends on how dense your stone is as to how much an oil mark will show up, and how long it'll stick around.

With reference to the poultice, I can't tell you which one you need. For that you might want to look up stonegirl, or go to John Bridge's forum and find her (or one of the other stone slab pros) and ask them there.

Bill: thanks for the precision. I think I am getting more and more comfortable with the idea of marble in my kitchen.

sienna, I just wanted to share my experience with my new marble kitchen. Thaksgiving was the first time we seriously used the kitchen.

My dad carved the turkey and inevitably some juices ran on to the counter. While I wiped them up pretty quickly there was still a mark there. Like Bill said, it looked like a wet spot, not a stain. It was pretty big, maybe 15" across, and I was plenty worried - I checked that spot 50 times a day! About two days later I woke up and the spot was gone.

What I found interesting was that it didn't seem to gradually fade - it was there, and then it wasn't. I found this to be the case with all oil-based marks on the marble. I think I'm finally relaxed about the marble and don't need to compulsively check the status of a wet mark as I know it'll go away eventually.

We all install marble knowing that it will show it's use and that is one of the reasons we like it. But still, those first few blemishes are really hard to get used to!

Nicole

Nicole - sounds like we were living parallel lives over the holiday - my new marble was also broken in over Thanksgiving and my father is very messy in the kitchen - from coffee to caramel to lemon juice to grease of many sorts to applesauce to tomato sauce, etc - it all was spilled at one point or another and both my marble and my heart survived. It still looks just as beautiful and pristine as the day it was installed and I have come to love it even more now that we've both survived it's indoctrination!

OK, so this wasn't an oil spill -- but this morning I wanted one more cup of coffee, so I made a single cup in my (oh-so-wonderful!) Technivorm coffee maker AND FORGOT TO PUT THE COFFEEPOT IN PLACE!!! I left the room while it brewed and came back to find hot coffee all over my marble counter! OMG!! But my marble was well sealed and it cleaned up with paper towels and no trace evidence of a spill. (sigh of relief...and I swear, I told my marble I loved it, too)

Oh my gosh, Oofasis, I can only imagine what came out of your mouth when you walked into that scene!! Isn't it wonderful to find out that sealed marble is quite forgiving??

Well, what first came out of my mouth was quite different (and unprintable) than what followed after it all cleaned up. Like I said, I told the stone I loved it, and then said aloud to all those unseen nay-sayers who inferred that I was a fool for selecting an expensive stone that wouldn't hold up to kitchen use: "Nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah!"

I had a section of carrara marble counter that I used for pastry and candy work for 9 years. It saw everything from pie, bread and croissant dough to hot caramel, molten chocolate for tempering -- pecanpie is remembering correctly.

What I did before pouring the caramel and nuts on the marble was rub it with oil (so the sugar didn't stick). You will sometimes see caterers rub stone counters with oil to ward off stains.

We used pastry scrapers on it and it always cleaned up well with a hot cloth. The counter must have been etched but the people who bought the house when we moved lived with the same kitchen for another decade. I never realized the marble wasn't perfect -- no internet no anxiety. LOL.

Pastry chefs use marble for all these tasks. I like "lived in" so spots, nicks and scratches don't bother me. (I have stainless counters).

Speaking of stone, when I sealed the fireplace with tung oil I thought I had taped off the pietra cardoso hearth stone very carefully. When I was finished and removed the protection oil had seeped under in certain places.

The oiled patches are still there (2 years later) but I think they are starting to fade. So watch it with tung oil.

Now if only I could figure out how to remove the white water stains from the edge of the Brazilian black slate bench top in my shower...

oofasis,
I brew my coffee in the bottom drawer of my cabinet. Do you have any idea how many times I've brewed the coffee and forgot the pot? I'd say about 6 times and it always ends up all over my new granite countertop.
Donna

Nicole, hockeymom,oofasis and rococogurl: I want to thank you all for posting your experiences with your marble countertop. I am now almost certain of going with marble. I fell in love with a slab of Emperador Light and I just haven't had that feeling with any granite yet. My confidence is building gradually, despite the naysayers. Thanks all.

Wait! What? Spots? With T-in-C...Isn't all that part of the "patina" for marble? LOL

Very interesting thread as I hadn't thought about what oil might do to marble, and so glad to know you had no problems. I do wonder, however, what type of marble you have ... and whether its honed or polished, and what type of sealer, if any, was used.

nigel-bigel, mnhockeymom, and rococogurl ~~ can you enlighten me further?

I think most of those who have chimed in on this thread have Cararra or White Venetino. Mine is WV. I was told these and some of the other whites all come fromthe same area and are then graded depending onthe amount of and type of veining, so they should handle and wear similarly.

I had white carrera (honed) installed on my island a few days ago. I was shocked to just learn that oil ( and therefore butter) stains it, since I know it is a favored for use in baking centers. I made a pie and biscuits today using a silicone mat and still have several 'stained' areas already. As far as I know my installer told me they sealed it.....

I also got my honed carrara before Thanksgiving. I swore I would not baby it. However itÂs my guests-who are trying to "help" that do all sorts of ungodly things to it, spills, drips, wet glasses-you name it. I have found most things just leave a gray mark-like a water mark that darkens the marble for a while, and I panic for bit but then sure enough it goes away. I've dripped butter and spilled oil-so far nothing looks really bad. I did find a mystery stain one day (not sure my fabricators really sealed it) but I imagine it will fade over time too.

NapaGirl - Mine is Calcatta Gold, not Carrara - it is honed. I cook a lot and my kitchen takes tons of abuse - this time of year it is used to the extreme and I have spilled everything on it w/ absolutely no stains, not a single one. In fact, my kids helped "frost" their dad's birthday cake last week - didn't occur to them to wipe up the smeared RED frosting off the counter before they put the cake platter down on it - sat like that for 5 days before I *discovered* it - got a sponge w/ soap and water and wiped it right up - no evidence at all! Plenty of red wine, coffee etc also gets left overnight on the counters and no problems. Go for it!

mnhockeymom -
So glad to read you've had such good luck with your honed marble!
Can you tell me the name of your sealer and how often you apply it?

Sure! I use Porous Plus 511 - my fabricator applied it once before fabrication, once at installation, and I applied it again a week later.

I'm sure there are various ways to go about it, but my fabricator told me to spray it on in small sections, allowing each sprayed area to slightly overlap (kind of like mowing a lawn) - methodically go over your whole counter area and then when you're done, go back to the place you started and wipe it off with a paper towel until you get to where you finished. Essentially, it will have *sat* on the slab for the few minutes it takes you to spray your counters which is long enough.

Honestly, I've got a fairly big area to spray (island and perimeter) and yet the whole process takes me 10+ minutes. I was told to reapply it to the whole kitchen once a year and also to any etch marks (which to date I am the only one who can see them) when they occur. Hope that helps!

mnhockeymom,
Thank you for telling me the name of your sealer. Great news to hear how easy it is to apply!

I have Black shiney marble on my island. Yes there are plenty of water spots which I’ve gotten used to, but I can’t seem to find a cleaner that would keep the shine. All cleaners I’ve used have dulled the finish. I started to use Olive Oil since it’s good for other households uses. It give the island a great shine and hides the spots. Am I ruining the marble using olive oil?

Hi @sienna2007 and @mnhockeymom - how did your marble held up through the years? i stumbled into this blog coz I want to use calacatta gold subway tiles as backsplash for my feature wall which is behind the induction cooktop. I do a lot of Asian cooking and the builders and tile shop advised against using calacatta coz it’s a headache to maintain them and keep them looking pristine.

Has anyone had unsealed honed marble countertops? I am not a fan of using chemical sealers.