Keep the Sink Shine for a Cleaner Kitchen
The condition of your sink says a lot about the rest of the kitchen. A nice clean sink is nice, nice and clean. A dirty sink, on the other hand, is a bacteria-infested hole in the kitchen counter waiting to be filled with dirty dishes and spoiled food if it hasn’t already been.
Keeping your showroom sink in shape is a great way to improve overall cleanliness in your kitchen. It’s also pretty quick and easy, just like deep cleaning projects. Follow these steps regularly and you’ll enjoy the benefits of a spotlessly clean sink for the rest of your life.
Clean out the trash
Before you can clean the sink itself, you must empty it. If you have a dishwasher, this step is much easier: dishwashers are designed to handle very dirty dishes, so you can load them with incredible energy. If you don’t have a dishwasher, you will have to hand wash the plates stacked in Mt. Mold. In any case, do not neglect the drain basket or strainer: all the food and dirt that it has collected since the last cleaning should be gone, so wash it well or throw it away and get a new one.
Scrub, scrub, scrub
Nothing removes stuck-on residue like an abrasive cleaner. If you have a stainless steel sink, a green dishwashing sponge and something like Bon Ami or Barkeeper’s Friend will work for you. For less durable surfaces, use a soft cloth and a non-abrasive cleaner such as Clorox Soft Scrub. (You don’t want to scratch the surface of your sink – it just makes it more susceptible to stains and deposits.)
Remember to also empty the chute, if you have one. Throwing ice cubes and salt or citrus peels down the hatch will keep the disposal clean, but large moores need elbow grease. Bob Vila recommends manually cleaning the mudguard and main disposal chamber to remove mold, mucus, and food particles, then using baking soda and vinegar to deodorize the chamber.
Have some bleach
Now that your sink is cleaned up, it’s time to sanitize. Fill a sink halfway with warm water, not hot water, and then pour about a cup of bleach. Let the bleach mixture sit at least until the water has cooled to room temperature. This time is more than enough time to thoroughly disinfect the surface and neutralize any unpleasant odors .
Put on dish gloves, unplug the sink and drain the bleach. Use a spray attachment to rinse out any remaining bleach residue. If you don’t have one, try a “rinse cycle”: fill your sink with clean water and drain again.
Dry it
If you have a white kitchen sink, you’ll have to go out of your way to see water or soap stains, but they are annoyingly visible on stainless steel. A quick pat on the kitchen towel when you’re done using the sink is more than enough to keep the sink from getting dirty. If you like, you can also dab in some vinegar and oil to polish your stainless steel sink to a streak-free shine.
Don’t litter, keep it clean, keep it clean
After you’ve spent a weekend detailing your car , you usually go out of your way not to throw anything on the floorboards or let things accumulate in the backseat – at least for a while. It’s the same with your sink: after it’s been cleaned and sanitized, you’ll want to leave it that way for as long as possible.
After I began to wash the sink so thoroughly, it remained almost eternal emptiness; the dishes were immediately sent to the dishwasher or were quickly washed by hand. In this respect, your experience may be different, but even if your habit to wash the dishes remain the same, much more pleasant encounter with a net sink full of dirty dishes than dirty.
This article was originally published on October 10, 2009, and was updated on May 3, 2021 to reflect the current Lifehacker style guidelines.