Expert Q
Question:
How do you remove stains from a kitchen counter top - laminated, dark green pebbly looking counter which was so popular 8 years ago and still is today. The marks look like water stains, but obviously aren't. One of the stains was caused by cucumber juice. A cucumber was sliced on a small cutting board, and the outline of the cutting board is still on the counter.
Answer:
There's more to it than that because cucumber juice should not be able to do a number on a plastic laminate counter top such as you describe. I have the very same thing in my house and we do a lot of slicing (never on the counter top directly) and we haven't experienced any damage. About the only juices I've heard of damaging these tops are grapes and beets. Is it possible that there were knife marks in the surface of the counter and various juices were able to penetrate? I've repaired counter tops which have been damaged: Any perforation of the plastic laminate in a counter top becomes a bacteria accumulation centre and is therefore considered a hazard. Holes in plastic laminates such as this counter can often be repaired by routing a trough into which an 8X8" (or larger) ceramic tile is installed a sixteenth of an inch or so proud. This patches the hole to where it is no longer a bacteria accumulation problem and at the same time, creates a hot-pot holder which can ensure that pots and the like are kept from direct contact with the relatively delicate plastic laminate top. Cutting boards are also on the market to be cut into counter tops - again turning a negative into a positive.
Answered By: Ren Molnar
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