The Weird Hardware Store Find You Need in Your Kitchen

Chances are, we all have that ubiquitous blue and yellow can of WD-40 in the garage or our hardware closet. But until you know how to harness its power, you won’t appreciate the mysterious concoction for all it can really do — besides silence those squeaky doors. Here are some reasons you should bring WD-40 out of hiding and into the kitchen.

WD-40 is a lubricant with secret ingredients. The more you discover its uses around the house, the more you’ll find yourself using it. A word of caution, though: The product is petroleum-based and therefore highly flammable. We’d caution against using it on any fabric that will end up in the washer and dryer (some people recommend it for pre-treating stains on clothing, but we don’t think that’s safe). Also keep in mind that while it is considered a relatively safe product, care should be taken to use it only when you can achieve good ventilation.

In the kitchen, WD-40 is great for removing sticky labels from new glasses, plates, or other dishware. You can also use it to remove labels from jars you want to recycle.

WD-40 is also an excellent de-greaser. Spray a bit on those caked-on grease splatters on the back of your stove and the surrounding backsplash and then wipe them down with ease.

WD-40 may also be used to clean and repel fingerprints from stainless steel appliances. Use a paper towel.

If you have hard-to-clean mildew on your refrigerator or dishwasher gaskets, apply some WD-40, let it sit for a bit, and wipe it off.

Sticky drawers in your kitchen? A bit of WD-40 will make them glide smoothly again.

Ever have glassware nestled so snugly into each other that you can’t get them apart? Rather than tug and twist, hoping to avoid getting sliced with the glass that will probably crack, get some WD-40 in there and pull them apart, danger-free.