Imagine waking up each morning to a clean sink. What a great way to start the day! When you use a kitchen sink cleaner daily as part of your routine, this can become a reality.
This recipe works wonders on my stainless steel kitchen sink. It shines it up, removes the dirt and stuck on food, and makes the sink look clean! That’s what we want after all, right?
DIY sink cleaner works on any kind of sink, even porcelain. If you have a porcelain sink check out the section on stubborn stains below for some extra tips.
Why You Need to to Use a Kitchen Sink Cleaner
Everyone turns their nose up in disgust about cleaning the toilets. Yes cleaning toilets is gross.
Yet most people don’t realize your kitchen sink is even dirtier than their toilet. Loads of disgusting stuff goes in your kitchen sink.
The NSF, The Public Health & Safety Organization conducted a study on the bacteria in your home. They found more bacteria lingering in your kitchen than your bathroom. Considerably more.
The biggest culprits of bacteria were the kitchen sponge/rag and the kitchen sink! Yikes!! For a quick fix microwave your sponge or dish towel for 1 minute on high power to kill 99% of bacteria.
Aside from your sponge and dish towel, your kitchen sink gets very dirty. You should be cleaning your kitchen sink everyday. Think of what you subject your workhouse sink to on a daily basis.
Leftover food scraps. Juices from raw meat. The mashed up mess your 2 year old made from dinner. Plus any other disgusting mess you throw at it. Your kitchen sink takes a beating.
Just rinsing the sink helps to wash those messes away but it doesn’t clean it. That’s why you need to clean your kitchen sink daily.
An added bonus is how shiny your kitchen sink will look when you’re done!
So let’s get to it!
What You Need:
- Baking Soda
- Dish Towel or Scrub Brush
- Essential Oils (Optional) like lavender or tea tree
- Dish soap (This is what I use) in a recycled foaming soap dispenser
- Hydrogen Peroxide (only if you have a porcelain sink or stubborn stains)
How to Make Your Kitchen Sink Cleaner
Making your kitchen sink cleaner is super simple! Crazy simple.
If you’d prefer no scent you can skip this step. Its completely optional but makes the process more pleasant.
Add 5-10 drops of essential oils to 2 cups of baking soda. You can do this various ways, and don’t overthink it. And eyeball the amount of baking soda. I don’t measure. You can add more essential oils if you prefer more scent.
I store my kitchen sink cleaner in a recycled grated cheese container. I add my baking soda to the cheese container then essential oils. Pop the top on and give it a good shake. Done! It’s that easy.
One quick note about essential oils. Skip the acidic essential oils like lemon, grapefruit, lime if you have granite. Or stone countertops. I have granite counters and prefer to use lavender scent instead. Cleaning my kitchen sink is part of my nighttime ritual – the lavender scent helps me unwind.
I don’t put the sink cleaner on my granite counters. But I have an undermount sink and some gets on the granite while I clean the sink. It may be overly cautious, but those counters don’t come cheap.
Here’s how I clean my granite counters and keep them shiny. It’s the best!
If you have laminate – then no worries! Just proceed.
How to Use Your Kitchen Sink Cleaner
To use your kitchen sink cleaner, sprinkle a thin layer of baking soda in your sink. There is no right or wrong amount in case you pour in a little more than a sprinkle. It’s all good.
Then grab your dish towel or a sink scrub brush. You can easily organize it all with a sink caddy like this or this.
I prefer to use my dish towel since it’s already headed to the wash at the end of the day. Some days I use a scrub brush. It helps you get in some of the nooks and crannies around the faucet. And other days I use a microfiber towel. Just depends how dirty the sink is and what I have handy.
Add a quick squirt of dish soap and a little bit of water to make a paste. I have a foaming dish soap dispenser so its the perfect combo of water and soap. Learn how to make your own foaming hand soap with this super easy DIY.
Then give your sink a quick scrub. Make sure to get the sides and the drain.
I squirt some dish soap on my faucet handle and spray nozzle too. Give them a quick scrub – lots of dirty hands touched them throughout the day.
Then rinse all the residue down the drain.
Now thoroughly dry your sink. If you don’t might wind up with a slight haze from the baking soda.
I use a microfiber cloth to wipe out the sink. It’s my preferred cleaning tool and helps polish the sink.
Stubborn Stains
If you have stubborn stains you’ll want to add some hydrogen peroxide to the mix. This works wonders if you have a porcelain sink. Here’s a great article on how to clean sinks of all different materials.
Hydrogen peroxide will give you an extra boost in the shine department. I like to use it a few days a week, even though I don’t have any stains.
Just some hydrogen peroxide to your baking soda to your soap/baking soda paste and scrub your sink. Let the mixture sit in your kitchen sink for 15 minutes before rinsing.
It’s a great time to do a quick pick up throughout the house. Or the exact amount of time to watch your favorite show and come back at the next commercial break!
Come back 15 minutes later and rinse. Your stubborn stains should be a distant memory. And you left with a shiny, clean sink.
Bon Ami is another great option for stains. It cleans and polishes stainless steel pots too! All while getting high safety marks for your health.
Bon Ami is a great alternative to Bar Keepers Friends, which has terrible safety ratings. I was a huge fan of Bar Keepers Friend until I learned how bad it was for my health and the environment. Get gets a big old F for safety because of the oxalic acid in it. Kidney damage and convulsions are a few possible complications with oxalic acid. No thanks!
Start Today
When you use your kitchen sink cleaner every night will keep those stains away. You’ll always have a sparkling clean kitchen sink.
I bet you’ve got some baking soda tucked away somewhere. If you have essential oils, great! Add them to the mix. If not, still start today. Order some essential oils like tea tree or lavender or a cleaning blend. Add the essential oils when they arrive in the mail.
Today is the perfect day to using your kitchen sink cleaner each night.
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