My husband and I purchased a new town home a couple months ago, but when we looked at our home the first time I noticed several obvious scratches on the solid surface counter top in the kitchen.  The Realtor assured me that the contractor would have the installer back to buff out all of the scratches and that it would look like new.

Well, when we did our final walk through with both the Realtor and contractor, there were still scratches on the counter top.  When I asked why they hadn't been fixed, the contractor opened one of the kitchen drawers and pulled out a Scotch-Brite Heavy Duty Scour Pad.  He moved it back and forth over the scratch, wiped the counter off, and the scratch was gone.  I was then alerted to the fact that these counters do scratch, and they scratch quite easily.  Great!  I was not a happy camper since they were initially presented as "Granite like solid surface counters".

Be that as it may, I have used my Scotch-Brite Heavy Duty Scour Pad several times to buff out scratches that the contractor missed.  The pad measures 6 inches by 3.8 inches and is green in color.  It's a thin pad, about 1/4" or maybe even slightly thicker. 

The pad looks to be made of a heavy duty nylon material, and it is abrasive without scratching surfaces.  I have since used other Scotch-Brite pads for cleaning other areas of our home.  They work quite well for cleaning my stainless pots and pans, but it doesn't scratch them.  It cleans bathtubs and tile, removing soap scum quite well. 

I've only had one bad experience using these pads, and that was when I attempted to clean my stainless steel kitchen sink with one ... and it left slight scratches on the bottom of my sink.  I was surprised that the pad didn't scratch my pots and pans, but it did scratch my sink.  The scratches are only noticeable when the sun shines through the kitchen window at certain times of the day.

The pads will absorb a small amount of water, and they don't leave any residue behind like a Brillo pad would, because Brillo pads have cleansers built into the pads.  The Scotch-Brite pads do not have any such cleansers added, they are simply a scouring pad.  You could use a non-abrasive cleaner such as powdered Bon Ami or a liquid like Soft Scrub if you needed a little extra cleaning power.

Overall, I give this pad high marks for its ability to clean, and I will continue to use it when I need to buff out scratches on my solid surface counter top.

Recommended: Yes