When we first moved it, we thought we were destined to live with a discolored looking counter until, maybe one day, if at all possible, we could afford to get it replaced.
Of course, that would not be anywhere in the near future, because, obviously buying a new home makes money tight, and we’re also trying to save for a new TV, have money to eat Buffalo Wild Wings every Thursday (...priorities, right?), and start saving for retirement (as I have now been employed by my company long enough to enter into their 401K plan).
My life story doesn’t mean much expect for the fact that #1, we love Buffalo Wild Wings, and #2 we probably won’t have money to replace our counter top for a mucho mucho long time. We could probably slowly slowly save for it if we wanted to, but it’s not a priority for us, and I definitely see us upgrading our furniture first (which, again, we don’t have any immediate plans for - I’m not even sure when we’d look to do that, maybe a billion years from now). We also have a ton of other home projects that rank way above new counters (like replacing the world’s ugliest wall paper). Oh and there’s a little thing about money not growing on trees.
Anyway! All I’m saying is, we had accepted that part of our counter (the island part, which isn’t an island because it’s off to the side - I don’t even know what to call it. It was added a few years after the original kitchen, along with the little wall behind it and the cabinets below it) would be gross.
But, as luck has it, maybe it won’t have to be that way.
If you touch the counter top, you really couldn’t feel a difference, as the whole thing felt even and the same (which is why we thought the counter had just become discolored), but for some crazy reason, I started scraping at it one night. Believe it or not, those gross layers of what we think our mineral deposits started coming off!
Hooray!
Sadly, though, it didn’t come off easily. Tris and I scraped at the counter for a good hour and a half and we only got some of the grossness off, and it comes up in little flakes too, which is messy and even grosser.
We haven’t been able to find a better method, although putting hot water down on the counter seems to help a littttlllllllleeee bit, nothing else does. We tried all kinds of cleaners (and I even used my ice scraper for my car at one point), but it seems like the only thing that can make a difference is elbow grease.
Which is probably why, after the big discovery about 3 weeks ago, we haven’t continued scraping. It was seriously exhausting and felt nearly impossible. Ugh, I know we’ll have to get back to it soon, because we would love a nice clean counter, but right now the idea still tires me out.
Oh, and if you’re wondering why we think it’s mineral deposits? The previous owner kept the counter full of potted plats, and literally didn’t move them for about 15 years. It seems like she continued to pour more water and plant food into the pots, and the overflow just sat and sat and sat on our counter.
Good news though? Our bathroom counter has some moderately gross spots, and we think it might be the same thing. This is great because we might have counters that we can happily live with (once we get them clean), rather than just accept.
*And lastly, my apologies for the post title, but I couldn't help myself ;-).
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