Pale ring marks on kitchen worktop any fix/solution?

[Charlie+]

This is my son's Howdens (UK) kitchen worktop about three years old with a formica like material, (grey stone like, presumably printed sub-surface); with a lightly textured finish on top. The ring stains we think are from mugs left on the surface with milk underneath but cant' be completely sure as the stains were not spotted at the time, only afterwards. We searched online but can find nothing helpful at all. Has anyone else found a solution to fixing this? Abrasion type cleaning treatment has no effect apart from polishing the surface texture, which is an adverse result and has absolutely no effect on the stains which seems to be a lightening in the grey pigment of the sub-surface printing. Bit of a forlorn hope but thought we would ask here!

[Ed P]

You can try bleach, but put some in a hidden spot to be sure it does not cause damage.

The stain may be a permanent chemical reaction change to the countertop material, not something left on the surface. If that is the case, nothing will remove them

[invalid unparseable]

Surface does not look like formica which should be impervious. In trying to make it look like stone they may have given it the problems of stone. Looks like nothing you can do except maybe wax the whole surface to keep marring down.

[retired1]

Here in the US we use a product called Barkeeper's Friend to remove organic stains from countertops and cookware. It contains oxalic acid which "dissolves" the stain.

Available here in most any grocery store. It appears to be available from Amazon in the UK, but with high delivery charge.

[Charlie+]

On Thu, 27 Jul 2023 10:22:02 -0400, Frank <"frank "@frank.net> wrote as underneath :

Thanks to all - for your thoughts - no real answer to the problem out there it seems, but apprecciated. You are right I would not expect real Formica to effectively bleach like that! C+