How to kasher granite for pesach?

amother

Wed, Mar 04 2020, 11:02 am

I never had granite but I always thought one benefit was not having to cover the counter tops. I’m finally switching over from Formica to granite and have some questions.
Do you kasher your granite countertops? I heard that it’s not easy and many people still cover.
How do you make sure you got every spot kashered?
Does the granite or cabinets get ruined?
Please tell me what you do.

chicco

Wed, Mar 04 2020, 11:41 am

My husband takes a boiling kum kum of water and slowly pours it over the counter with one hand, and goes over the water immediately with the other hand holding an steaming iron. He does it in stages, and we tuck towels into the drawers underneath the counter to absorb some of the water. We also take a small sponga and drag the water into the sink. Either way, it gets pretty wet. It takes some time, but it's still so nice not having to cover!

amother

Wed, Mar 04 2020, 12:00 pm

chicco wrote:

You put a hot iron on your counters?

MiracleMama

Wed, Mar 04 2020, 12:15 pm

chicco wrote:

We did the same before getting pesach kitchen. If you care about your cabinets (and in our case also wood floors in kitchen) you do it slowly, tiny section by tiny section with towels everywhere -- you don't go crazy and make a mabul in your kitchen just to be done in 1-2 minutes.

MiracleMama

Wed, Mar 04 2020, 12:16 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

You put a hot iron on your counters?

Yep. Doesn't hurt anything. Granite is very durable.

chicco

Wed, Mar 04 2020, 12:18 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

You put a hot iron on your counters?

Yup. If the water isn't boiling on contact, you aren't effectively kashering it. Some people use a hot stone. The iron is much more practical.

And I agree, the slower you go, the more efficient you will be.

Rubber Ducky

Wed, Mar 04 2020, 1:16 pm

Heads up:

1) You need to dry your cabinets immediately! Water can damage cabinets, and especially painted cabinets.

2) Do not try the hot iron method on engineered quartz, which some people say is kasherable. Engineered quartz contains acrylic binders and fillers and can melt.

malki2

Wed, Mar 04 2020, 1:21 pm

MiracleMama wrote:

Yep. Doesn't hurt anything. Granite is very durable.

Granite may be durable, but the sealant is not. Also, if you pour boiling water from an urn directly onto the counter, that may be sufficient. I think that it’s considered to be a big chumra to actually boil up the water once it’s on the counter. In general, when kashering, the rule is that the temperature needs to be the same or greater than it was when the food that you are kashering out of the surface was when it contacted the surface.

MiracleMama

Wed, Mar 04 2020, 5:30 pm

malki2 wrote:

It may be a chumra, but this is how I was taught, so this is how it was done. Thankfully out of the kashering businesses now with my Pesach kitchen.

goodmorning

Wed, Mar 04 2020, 5:47 pm

malki2 wrote:

It's the chumra of an "even meluban." The concern is that if hot solid food (davar gush) was ever placed or fell on the counter, that food (might) retain the status of a kli rishon and then iruy kli rishon would be insufficient to kasher. Heating the water on the counter makes it a kli rishon that can then kasher.

See MB 451:114.