Caesarstone work top disaster

[Lily15]

I want to cry. Brand new caesarstone work tops in pure white are a joke..been in 36 hours and already stained with what seems to be water rings leaving grey smears...we left a wooden chopping board on the draining grooves and it has left a huge stain that we can't remove. What's the point of a work surface you can put anything on?! I wouldn't it recommend to anyone. So confused as I had read such great things. Just fuming. Anyone else have a problem?

[ChiefToiletRollChanger]

We have white caeserstone and I've got stains around the draining area and taps which I think are waterstains. I've got all of them out by using CIF cream and a bit of kitchen roll and water and using a circular motion to clean.

I hope that works for you.

[EastwickWitch]

I thought the whole point was that they were stain proof?
Have you got any guarantees?
watching with interest as it's what i've just chosen.

[Helliecopter]

Oh gutted!! Poor you. I thought they were supposed to be pretty stain resistant. I'm sure mn will come up with answers for you.

[Lily15]

Yep water stains around the sink and down the sides of it too? Anything like cup or mug stains- they can be cleaned with the cif but you can still the rings! And we left a wooden chopping board after washing it down overnight on the drain grooves and it's left huge long grey stains. Expensive piece of crap basically. Absolutely not stain resistant.

[pootlebug]

No experience of Caesarstone at all, but I would recommend Bar Keepers Friend. It has shifted any marks we have ever had so far on our pure white corian without any problem.

[MrsFlorrick]

Hi. I second Bar Keepers friend or cif.

You should be able to seal it with Dry treat which can be used for marble and concrete and limestone.

Composite stone doesn't fully live up to the claims. However you can user harsher cleaners to remove stains than say marble (I have bianco Carrara marble as my kitchen worktop).

You will get stains and watermarks out.

Have a look at these products
www.pureadhesion.co.uk/stone-fireplace-and-worktop-maintenance.html

Best defence against watermarks is to get one of those Eco micro fibre cloths. That's how I keep watermarks off my marble.

I know you feel gutted but your worktop will be fine and once you have the right products and you know how to treat your worktop, you'll love it again

[kpandthesunshineband2]

Interested in this too as we have an off white caearstone equivalent. Think was slightly cheaper but also dreadful for marking especially with tea stains. I too thought it was supposed to not mark.
It does come out but only with a lot of elbow grease & so far I have only used ecover cream cleanser.

[ChiefToiletRollChanger]

Lily you obviously need to go back to the supplier. Perhaps it's been a bad batch but I don't think they'd be happy with bad publicity about it so I'm sure they'll help out.

There are also two types of Caesterstone - honed and unhoned - I don't know what the difference is in terms of staining. We have honed - which gives is a very subtle low-level gloss and you would think it was sealed. The CIF hasn't taken that sheen off of it. I wonder if you have unhoned - which may be more prone to staining? Still not good enough whatever.

I'd be saying it's not fit for purpose and asking them to take it out.

[CarlaBrooni]

OP, how did you get on? We were thinking of getting Caeserstone but after reading this we need to research further.

[nessus]

OP you have me worried. Just about to throw a ton on CS worktop in new kitchen. Don't want to regret it as budget already screaming :( I thought it was indestructible...I am not the most cleanest careful in the kitchen either!

[AlTheRoadie]

We had Ceasarstone worktops fitted as part of a new kitchen in July 2014 by a reputable kitchen company in Altrincham, Cheshire at a cost (for the worktops) of around £5,000. A lot of money I know but we are both in our 40’s/50’s and this new kitchen has been something we’ve saved for over many years of hard work. The first thing I can say is that the tops had to be fitted 3 times. The first time they were fitted there was an oily residue on the tops which we could not remove no matter what we tried. The tops were removed for re-finishing. When they were delivered back the oily residue problem had not been resolved and in addition there was now a small chip in one of the tops. The kitchen company, the worktop fabricator and Ceasarstone were all involved in a meeting at our house to discuss. The fabricators ended up being the fall guy but I do now wonder if they got a raw deal knowing now what I know about the Ceasarstone product and the company.

We eventually took delivery of a new set of tops from a different fabricator and all seemed fine at first. However after a few weeks we started noticing cloudy stains in the tops. They are only visible in a certain light but are clearly visible when the light is right. We complained to Ceasarstone whose response has been that the problem is not covered by our warranty and that they must have been caused by a “chemical” since the tops were first fitted. The stains are on the island unit which we never use for food prep. The only cleaning products we’ve ever used on the tops have been those recommended by Ceasarstone so we’re at a loss as to how we could have caused the stains ourselves. Of course we have no way of proving the stains were there from the beginning as they’re only visible in a certain light.

Ceasarstone make the following claim on their website…

“The hard, non-penetrable surface makes cleaning simple and in most cases, soap and water or a mild detergent are all that are required to maintain its lustre.”

Unfortunately this has not been our experience with the product. We find it very difficult to keep clean and stain-free and in the case of the cloudy stain it looks like we are stuck with that for the lifetime of the installation. For example we clean wine glasses in the sink and leave the clean glasses to dry on the integrated worktop drainer. Even doing this has left ring stains on the tops which we have found impossible to remove no matter what cleaning product we use.

We have a kitchen table with a quartz stone top which we bought from John Lewis several years ago for about £200. The worktop on that is still perfect, is very easy to clean and never stains. So we know this problem does not exist for all Quartz Stone products.

We feel we have wasted a lot of money and have ended up with a product with which we are seriously unhappy and disappointed. Looking at Ceasarstone’s website it is easy to get the impression of a very high standard product for the discerning customer but be warned – this has not been our experience of the company and product.

[flapjack15]

I read your posting with interest as we have exactly the same problem with our Caesarstone kitchen worktop. White cloudy stains and ring marks all over which are really clear to see when our downlighters are on. (Less visible in daylight!) We have never used any kind of chemicals on it. I was going to contact Caesarstone to get advice but from your experience it does not seem worth it. How can the promotional information be so far from the reality?

[pashmina696]

bar keepers friend powder removes everything for me, the main issue is limescale in the SE and bar keepers friend removes that. i have a very pale beige composite quartz surface and 5 years on it is immaculate.

[flapjack15]

So would this barkeepers friend be ok for a Caesarstone quartz worktop? It says to only use mild detergent in the care instructions. I have tried the recommended product but it has not made any difference to the stains. I don't think the stains are limescale.

[pashmina696]

i have a compac quartz worktop it works on that and has caused no damage to mine.

[lighteningirl]

I finished my kitchen a month ago with very pale creamy Mirostone it's like Caesarstone but cheaper and it's amazing. We were given enough a sample and tested it with curry tea water etc before. I would highly recommend it. Barkeepers friend is a godsend for my white ceramic sink that marked straight away but has come up perfect.

[Sinkingfeeling]

Your kitchen looks gorgeous, lighteningirl. Is Mirostone a composite material? Did you see a larger amount of it in a showroom as well as a sample before you bought it? My quest for the perfect kitchen worktop continues ...

[flapjack15]

Off to buy some barkeepers friend at the weekend and will try on a small area first! If that doesn't remove all the stains I will have to get someone from Caesarstone to come and have a look. Ours is black with silver bits in it. Looked lovely in the showroom and we tested a sample!

[lighteningirl]

Thank you I am over the moon in rl it's not so white it's shades of white ???? Mirostone is a composite so no lines it came in 3 pieces which the fitter bolster together then sanded, filled and smoothed and you can't see the joins at all (which is the thing I hate with granite/marble). We only got a sample so it's a very scary decision helped by the fact that Mirostone was the cheapest of the options and the one I loved. The colour is soft pebble so I did have a good look on Google images and the kitchen company gave me a sample door to bring home and check they worked together in our light iykwim. Caesarstone/silstone granite marble etc came in £4 to £5,000 Mirostone including fitting and offsets made into window sill and extra board was £1700 ????

[flapjack15]

I have now tried Black Diamond granite cleaner which clearly states that it is suitable for quartz. This does not remove the stains. I have also now tried barkeepers friend in a small area and it leaves a pale area where the product has made contact and will not wash off! I guess I will have to contact Caesarstone about the problem but reading about AITheRoadie's experience it does not look too hopeful.

[nessus]

@Flapjack15, since my last post in here, I have discovered that Vanish Oxy deals thoroughly with all stains. Read about it on an American forum and I now (almost!) never worry about stains.

[flapjack15]

No response from Caesarstone after 2 emails! Thanks to nessus for tip. Off to buy Vanish Oxy though don't hold out much hope. Ours is black with silver bits so may well not be suitable.

[lighteningirl]

Good luck hope it comes up well

[flapjack15]

Hopefully my final posting on this topic. Caesarstone sent out a very helpful rep who explained that some kind of residue was causing the problem. Probably washing up liquid. He recommended two products to remove the residue. Neither of these worked! However I took the plunge and cleaned a whole surface with a small amount of barkeepers friend - in liquid form - and all the marks disappeared - like magic - after all these months of trying different products. Now we use a separate cloth on the worktop and just water or dettox and it is just like new. So thank you to pashmina696 for your recommendation.

[ProudMommaof5]

I've had Caesarstone for 5 years now and I'm very happy with my countertops. I've spilled so many things and accidentally placed hot pans on top of my kitchen island and none caused permanent damage. I did however use Bar Keepers Friend when my toddler squished blueberries and turmeric on the counters and it removed it all. Just a tip, they do offer a lifetime warranty and they will come over and repair stains or chips if you happen to have any. We did hit our corner of the counter with a fridge we were moving in and they came over and repaired it for us. Now have just installed them into my bathroom too. Dont be afraid to give them a call. I've had nothing but great experience with their customer service!