I just found this on ehow: Clorox has products that work to kill 99.9 percent of salmonella and E.-coli bacteria, and is a registered product with the Environmental Protection Agency. Clorox may be safely used to clean and disinfect sealed granite, Formica countertops and linoleum. Sealer on granite countertops prevent stains from penetrating the stone, and keep it looking polished and shiny. Products that Clorox offers include the regular bleach, which may be used in most rooms of the house to remove germs and sanitize surfaces. Clorox Clean-Up with Bleach offers the same benefits of regular bleach, but with a convenient spray nozzle for everyday use. Clorox Anywhere Hard Surface Daily Sanitizing Spray also kills 99.9 percent of harmful bacteria without leaving behind the chemical residue or odor. This spray is gentle enough to use in the kitchen as needed to sanitize and disinfect granite countertops, and is safe to use around children and pets. Also from ehow: Granite is a type of igneous rock that is used to make curbing, flooring and countertops. Granite countertops can either be made from granite slabs or granite tile pieces. Granite countertops should generally be cleaned with either a mixture of water and liquid dish detergent or a granite soap, however, occasionally, you can use diuted bleach to clean or disinfect a sealed granite countertop. Bleach can also help remove a color stain from granite. Since granite is a rock and naturally porous, do not use bleach on unsealed granite countertops. And from Clorox.com: Clorox� Clean-Up� Cleaner with Bleach is suitable for most bathroom surfaces, including glazed tile, tubs, fiberglass, glass shower doors, vinyl curtains, counters, cabinets, sinks, and no-wax floors. However, you should rinse immediately after use on plastic or vinyl. Prolonged contact with metal, old porcelain or worn plastic laminate may cause discoloration. Clorox� Clean-Up� Cleaner with Bleach is also suitable to use on hard, nonporous kitchen countertops, including synthetic or cultured marble but we do not recommend use on natural marble. You can also use Clorox� Clean-Up� Cleaner with Bleach on other surfaces around your house including linoleum, Formica�* counters, stainless steel, sealed granite, Corian�* countertops, and chrome. Ok, I'm gonna continue using Clean-Up on my granite safely, but not on my marble. I think diluted Clorox (with water) may be safe on my marble. I'll keep reading. Thanks for all your input!

Hi Katieob, We have Eastern White Pine, which may be different from Heart Pine..it might be softer but I know pine is soft in general. I was expecting the dings and dents, although they came faster and more frequently than I imagined, but my bigger issue is that there have been some scratches that have resulted in the bare pine showing through. I may not be explaining this well, so forgive me but most of the scratches are simply on the surface but a few are deep enough to create a whiter, much more noticeable mark. The company sent me what are basically markers with stain in them to cover them up, but I'm just not thrilled about using what feels like a Sharpie on the floor, but I have and it does improve things. Are yours pre-finished? Ours were, so I don't know if that makes a difference. Our dog is pretty mellow and two of our three kids are in college so it's not that busy a household in terms of wear and tear. I really like the way they look, and absolutely wanted a rustic feeling to warm up the space since there's so much white, but it's mostly these deeper scratches that have been an issue. With time, I'll probably ignore it(and our floor salesman has told me that they actually will get more beautiful with time) so I'm just trying to chill out. I really expected to be much more nervous about the marble...who knew?? Maybe you should try to get a fairly large sample of your floor and just test it out a bit so you know what to expect. Good luck and let me know if I can answer any other questions.

Liz, I'm following along right behind you. I went to a stone yard convinced that I wanted quartzite for the durability but fell in love with marble. Has yours been installed yet? I'd love to see photos. The guy who met with me showed me an 8 year old marble countertop that had been returned because the family who had it in their kitchen was expanding their island. The etching and minor stains really gave it a lovely patina. It convinced me that I could live with its sensitive nature. I can't wait to make my final selection. We're about 2 months away from kitchen cabinets. House is to be drywalled next week.

Thank you lavender, I ran into a problem importing the elevation onto the computer. My drawing is pretty faded, but I'll see if I can post it after this weekend. Actually I think I have a photo of the wall-- there it is. Now that I look at it I'm a little embarrassed. The above-counter cabinets were supposed to have two sets of glass doors, small square ones on top, and longer ones on the main part. But i liked them open and figured I'd leave it that way for a while. I still don't know if I'll make doors. And the knobs -- I'm pretty sure I'm going to change them to bin pulls. Taken as a whole, the room is a little more wooden knobby looking than what I had in mind! And the cabinet legs are going to be different... and... other things will eventually be finished... sigh... The room looks a lot nicer in daylight, and when it's clean! The kitchen has been years in the making, and it's still not done. I'm doing it all myself, planning the room, and designing and building the cabinets. I'm also renovating the rest of the house and raising a family, etc, etc, so it's about the longest renovation project in history. The house's addition (with windows) was put on ten years ago but I didn't start putting in the new cabinets until about three years ago. So for years after the windows were in I fretted that they were going to be too small, but now that that wall is complete I think it looks okay. They're each 2' wide and 3' tall, give or take an inch.