Italian marble — Calacatta, Viola, Statuario, Breccia Capraia — rewards a small, consistent maintenance routine and punishes the wrong cleaning product. The good news: the routine is short, and the stone is much tougher than its reputation for fragility suggests.

Daily: wipe with a soft microfiber and a pH-neutral stone cleaner. Skip the all-purpose kitchen sprays — they tend to be acidic or alkaline, and either will etch the calcite. Warm water on its own is fine for a quick pass; a dedicated stone spray is better for any spot that needs real cleaning. Blot spills rather than wiping, especially wine, citrus and tomato. Etching is not staining, and blotting keeps the spill from spreading across the surface before it can react with the stone.

Weekly: a deeper wipe with a marble-safe cleaner and a clean cloth. Inspect the high-use areas — the cooktop landing, the espresso station, the toothbrush caddy — and watch the etch pattern. Honed surfaces hide etches well; polished surfaces show them clearly the first day and then blend as the surface develops a soft patina. Most clients prefer honed for working counters and polished for fireplaces, bar tops and bath walls.

Annually: seal. A penetrating sealer does not make marble 'waterproof' — it slows absorption so a spill sits on the surface long enough to be wiped. We carry a 15-year-proven sealer at the yard and seal every new install before delivery; a re-seal every 12 months keeps the surface working as designed. The sealer test is simple: drop water on the stone. If it beads, the seal is good; if it darkens the stone within a minute, it's time.

The honest truth: marble is a limestone. It will etch from acids. The right spec for a working kitchen is either a honed marble with the etches accepted as patina, or a dense quartzite with the marble look. The wrong spec is a high-polish marble in a heavy-cooking kitchen with no daily care. Make the call before delivery, and the stone will look beautiful for decades.