It doesn't matter if you have a dishwasher or do things by hand; there are some pieces of glassware that lose their luster after awhile. It might be water spots, they might be slightly dingy. Either way, they could use some freshening up. Want to know a little trick?
A simple dish rag or towel with a few tablespoons of white vinegar on it is all you need to clean things up. It will evaporate and leave you without any taste, but if you're still worried you can fill a shallow pan or plastic dish tub with hot water and add 2 cups of vinegar to it. Give things a soak, shake off excess water and let sit to dry.
If you have a dishwasher, you can add straight vinegar to the rinse aid compartment for an added boost, but some cities have hard enough water it might not be enough, but it's worth a shot! Your spots will be gone and you can breathe easily when your mother in law comes for dinner, or your guests are checking out your open shelving kitchen!
Do you have a great kitchen tip? Share yours in the comments below!
(Image: Flickr member Frames-of-Mind licensed for use by Creative Commons)
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I told the fiance this just the other night, when he was complaining about how our glasses don't get clean enough in the dishwasher. He thought I was kidding at first, since vinegar is my answer to everything--but when he realized I was serious, he tried it in the rinse aid dispenser and our glasses were cleaner than before.
We put vinegar in the rinse aid compartment; it makes a huge difference.
I'm admittedly way too lazy to wipe down dishes by hand.
This works great!
Question: Are you adding vinegar to an empty rinse aid compartment, or in addition to the rinse aid already there?
You can add it to the rinse aid that's already in there, but since that compartment works by gravity, it should use the remaining aid first.
I just tried this with some old glass bottles I picked up at an antique store, and now some of them are extremely cloudy! Does anyone know how to get rid of this?? After doing a lot of googling, I think the vinegar may have caused oxidation: http://glass-studios.net/sick.html
redline925: the best way to clean old antique bottles is by butting tabs of alka seltzer inside with water and let it do its work. Give it a shot....
and if you don't have any alka seltzer, redline925, just use baking soda and vinegar and let that bubble and soak a while.
I live in a super-hard water area, and I find that vinegar works pretty well sometimes. When I get a house and have a bigger sink (and no dishwasher) I think I'll give some of my dishes a good vinegar soak and see what happens. Hoping it will help some plastic items too.