Silestone® care and maintenance
Silestone® is a scratch and stain-resistant worktop material that’s easy to keep clean and maintenance-free. It’s also a durable and long-lasting material, but there are a few things to avoid to ensure it stays looking its best.
Follow the instructions below to care for your worktop.
How to clean Silestone® worktops
General cleaning
To clean Silestone®, we recommend using warm soapy water or Cif Actifizz cleaner with a green and yellow washing-up sponge.
Removing aggressive stains
Silestone® worktops have a non-porous surface, which means nothing will permanently stain them. However, some substances may require more than just soapy water. For aggressive stains, dilute some bleach in water (around 15%) and rub it on the stain in a circular motion. Leave it to soak for 2 minutes, then rinse. If the stain is still there, repeat the process until it’s gone.
Please note, matt and concrete finish colours need a little more care than polished colours.
Do not use the following chemicals:
- Water repellents or sealants
- Paint strippers
- NaOH – Caustic soda
- Products with a pH of more than 10
- Bleach and solvents should only be used when diluted with water. They must not be left in permanent contact with the worktop as they can continue to affect the surface for 12 hours
- Chlorine-based products such as dichloromethane (present in paint stripper)
- Hydrofluoric acid
- De-greasing agents such as oven cleaners
- Polishing chemicals – Silestone® must not be re-polished
Don’t use specialist worktop cleaning products
Many specialist worktop cleaners claim to enhance shine and protect your work surface. However, when it comes to stone worktops, we recommend you don’t use these. This is because they can lead to a build-up of chemicals on the surface that can damage your worktop over time.
How to maintain your worktop
Do not expose to heat sources
Although Silestone® can withstand high temperatures for short periods, its performance can vary.
Therefore, we recommend you always protect the worktop from hot saucepans, baking trays, deep-fat fryers etc., with a hot pad or trivet.
Not suitable for areas with high UV light
Over time UV light will fade the colour of your worktop, so we recommend that Silestone® isn’t used in kitchens with a high concentration of UV light.
Avoid scratches
Although Silestone® is scratch-resistant, it’s not scratch-proof. So, while it will withstand everyday scratches and scrapes, we recommend using a chopping board when cutting with sharp knives.
