Cleaning Stainless Steel Sinks has always been a pet peeve. Once it was discovered how clean and shiny they REALLY could be, the OCD about keeping them that clean....hasn't stopped. And why not when it's so simple to do? Click through the jump to check out how to use common household items to clean even the dirtiest sink naturally and in under 5 minutes.
Stainless Steel sinks always seem to deceive you. Their name suggests a sink that will take care of itself, but that's rarely the case. Take clean to a whole new level when you have a few extra seconds to give your sink a bit of TLC.
To clean your stainless steel sink, just mix a paste of baking soda and water. Scratches may also be removed with a very fine steel wool. Simply give the entire sink a gentle once over and it will obliterate and hairline scratches. Simply wash the residue away and continue with the rest of your cleaning.
To remove water spots, simply dip your sponge in white vinegar and they should rub right off. Rubbing alcohol also works to remove rust if your sink is suffering from a case of the "crusties."
If stubborn stains seem to be ailing you (thanks to the last tenant), use a mixture of 3 parts cream of tartar to 1 part hydrogen peroxide and buff it over a stain with a cloth. Let the mixture sit and allow to dry before wiping away with a wet cloth or sponge.
To add an extra kick to your sink, you can polish it with none other than All-Purpose Flour. Toss a few tablespoons of flour into the sink and rub it (some pressure is needed, but nothing that should cause a sweat to break out) around with a soft cloth. Another method is to use club soda. Simply put the stopper in the drain and pour in some of the bubbly beverage. Buff it around with a cloth, drying to prevent water spots when done.
To give your sink that extra burst of shine, you can apply a few drops of baby oil to a paper towel and buff it around.
It's a perfect trick to keep things spic and span!
Photos by: Sink via Flickr, Baking Soda, Flour, Club Soda, White Vinegar, Rubbing Alcohol, Cream of Tartar, Hydrogen Peroxide, Baby Oil.
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as with everything, the answer to clean sinks is the magic eraser
Wow. I wanna do this. Right. Now.
"Bar Keepers Friend" works great too. Really makes my sink shine. You can find it most places including the grocery store and at BBB. It's been around since the late 1800's.
any thoughts to how to remove rust (from a dying pan left in the sink) from brushed stainless steel? it's really hard to get the stuff out from the grooves of brushedness.
and then there's the moldy crud in the food disposal. no matter how much i clean those flaps i never can get all the mold out so it keeps growing. since anything i put in to clean it drains right out, that doesn't work. any ideas?
I second Bar Keeper's Friend. That stuff works wonders.
BKF will clean anything stainless steel: sinks, All-Clad pots, an old kettle caked in 10 years of grease, and even the moldy crud on your food disposal flaps.
My apartment was extensively renovated just before I moved in, and some genius rinsed out his paintbrush in the brand new stainless kitchen sink... without rinsing the sink afterwards (thankfully it was water-based paint!). I've tried the baking soda and water paste, vinegar, baking soda AND vinegar, then the Magic Eraser, but the sink's surface always seems to remain cloudy. I guess now I'll have to experiment with cream of tartar and peroxide, and keep an eye out for Bar Keeper's Friend. Thanks!
Bar Keeper's Friend is definitely the best. You can also buy it at Williams-Sonoma. It's probably one of the least expensive items they sell. It lasts for a long time, and works great -- it got our sink and all our pots and pans sparkling clean.
Any suggestions for a 1950's ceramic sink? No elbow grease, plastic scrubber or any bleach product seems to take out the ring that is permantly etched in it. Makes it look dirty as it was a cream colour to begin with.
My routine involves three steps:
1) if i've dumped chicken into the sink or something, fill the sink with very very very hot water and a not insubstantial amount of bleach (I know, I know.) let it sit for 30 minutes. If the sink doesn't need disinfecting, you can skip this step.
2) Scour the sh*t out of the sink with something like Barkeepers Friend, or just baking soda.
3) Wipe it down with white vinegar and water to make it all sparkly.
thank you for reminding and inspiring me, AT! I just cleaned my sink (w/baking soda) :)
This is FlyLady's first step! http://flylady.net/pages/FLYingLessons_Shine.asp
is there any reason I can't use vinegar, etc for my stainless steel fridge?
I want to echo all of the recommendations for Barkeepers Friend! The powdered version is AMAZING for cleaning stainless steel (I should know -- not only do I have an SS sink, I have SS countertops!), and it also does an amazing job on ceramic/porcelain that is old and etched (truenic, give is a shot!).
The liquid BKF is great for new ceramic/porcelain, btw.
fert, use those thin green scotch brite pads and some elbow grease.
I am buying BarKeepers Friend on my way to work tomorrow! They have a good web site:
http://www.barkeepersfriend.com/
modernlogcabin- All of the tips above will be just fine on anything that is stainless steel!
Bar Keeper's Friend.
(thanks Martha!)
Any suggestions for a 1950's ceramic sink? No elbow grease, plastic scrubber or any bleach product seems to take out the ring that is permantly etched in it. Makes it look dirty as it was a cream colour to begin with.
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Have you tried actual bleach? 100% or only slightly watered down. Fill the sink to the ring and let it sit for a good while.
Mind you, then you'll have a white bleached ring instead of a dirty ring and you'll need to do it every two months or so, but it should work.
Maybe we can say "anal" instead of OCD.
Bar Keeper's Friend is great, but I've also had success with Bon Ami.
Once again, I'm annoyed that AT thinks a very real and difficult mental disorder is ripe for casual comments. OCD isn't fun, it isn't a cute little "quirk" and the majority of people who say they have it casually have NO idea how horrible it is. It's annoying. The word "obsessive" usually works just fine in it's place. AT, please stop this. It's not clever. It makes you look callous and ignorant, frankly.
In fact, please remove this from this post. I don't see why it needs to be there and from now on not only will I be commenting so everyone can see that many people find this disturbing, but I will be calling for it's removal.
Bar Keeper's Friend, as I found out, truly is a friend for bartenders with metal countertops, except at 4am the arm workout can be a bit much. It should be noted that it can be mildly abrasive, but sinks shouldn't matter a bit. If scrubbed long enough it will leave an amazing polish.
thanks for the advice re: the ceramic sink.
Big fan of Noxon which I also use for the everyday flatware.
does the cream of tartar and hydrogen peroxide work on coffee/tea stains? My dad always throws out the coffee he doesn't drink and never rinses out the sink and there is a ring of a light colored brown now. :\
However, CLR is incredibly toxic (you should be wearing gloves) so it is not the environmental choice. I scrub my ceramic sink down every few days with baking soda. Its not perfectly white... but I can live with that (and as a renter I have no choice but to keep it)
I prefer Bon Ami to BKF - seems to work better for me for whatever reason. Gets sinks and countertops amazingly clean and costs around $1.
I vote for Bon Ami - that stuff cleans everything and is cheap. I get it at Whole Foods or Ace Hardware (cheapest).
Just got a SS sink and have been frustrated with the water spots. I am going to try the vinegar trick!
Great post!
For the disposal, my mom always put some ice and lemon wedges in there to clean it up and sharpen the blades.
I cannot tout the uses of Borax soup enough!!!!
Great! I thought I was stuck with all the icky-looking scratches in my sink
I was thinking about changing my SS sink. It was all scratched and scuffed, and the top flange was dull. Instead I took a chance.
I used a half-sheet of 2500-grit wet/dry sandpaper wrapped around a sponge with no creases or sharp points. Using soapy water I "wet-sanded" the bottom of the sink using a back-and-forth motion following the "grain" of the brushed stainless. Just like they wet-sand lacquer on hot-rods.
It was remarkable! Repeated rinsing and more soapy water brought out a nearly mirror finish. As the sandpaper began to lose its sharpness I ventured up the sides of the sink.
Wow! Then I took a chance. Using the worn sandpaper with sponge and a light touch I buffed the mirror finish on the top flange.
My sink looks like new. I keep that piece of sandpaper to touch up the bottom every few months. My sink continues to look brand new.
An easy cleaning tool for stainless is a wad of aluminum foil. This will probably work especially well on the brushed steel. Aluminum is softer than steel, so it scours really well without scratching - even for rust stains. After you are done, throw it in the recycling bin.
Third vote for Bon Ami. Where I shop it's usually ~$1 for a can. BKF tends to be 2.50 or so.
I learned about Bon Ami here - though I told my mom about it, and she said she'd used it for years...how I missed that, I don't know......................... I mean, I lived in the same house with her for 18 years....
What can I use to disinfect my stainless steel sink that is safe afterwards when I use the sink to wash dishes?
Another vote for Barkeeper's Friend.