Cleaning the kitchen is usually everyone’s topmost priority, but when you’re busy doing the dishes, scrubbing out the counters, and sweeping the floors, you often forget to spend enough time cleaning your sink.
You may not realize it, but your kitchen sink is one of the dirtiest areas of your kitchen. You need to disinfect it every once in a while to prevent bacterial growth.
In this blog post, we’ll take a look at some ways you can sanitize your sink naturally and some tips you need to keep in mind to make sure it’s always sparkling.
How to Sanitize Your Sink
Stainless Steel Sink
When you’re cleaning your stainless steel sink regularly with soap and water, you may not think there’s any way bacteria could grow in it, but you may be surprised to learn that bacteria can find sneaky ways to grow almost anywhere.
You need to sanitize your sink every few weeks to prevent bacterial growth.
Here are some steps you need to follow to have a squeaky clean kitchen sink.
What You Need
- Sponge
- Dish soap
- Rubber gloves
- White vinegar
- Bleach
- Clean and dry microfiber cloth or a dishtowel
Instructions
- The first thing you need to do is clean your sink with dish soap under warm running water to make sure there’s no food residue left on the surface. You can use a regular sponge or microfiber cloth for this purpose, but avoid using a metallic scrub as that can leave scratches on the stainless steel.
- Close the drain and fill your sink with water. Add round a cap full of bleach per one gallon of water into the sink and wait for about 5 minutes. You can use this time to wipe down your faucet with a sponge and the bleach and water solution.
- After enough time has passed, you can drain the sink and wipe down the sink with a damp towel or sponge. Let it dry.
- After your sink has dried out, you can use a solution made with equal parts water and vinegar and a clean microfiber cloth to give your sink a polished look.
Rubber gloves are optional. The bleach solution is strong but not enough to harm your skin, so you don’t really need to worry.
If you aren’t keen on the idea of using bleach, you can use hydrogen peroxide or vinegar instead to get the job done. You can also use flour to polish your stainless steel sink.
Porcelain Sink
Here’s what you need to do if you wish to sanitize a porcelain sink.
What You Need
- Gentle soap
- Hydrogen Peroxide
- Baking soda
- Lemon juice
- Salt
- Lemon Oil
Instructions
- Clean the surface using a gentle soap and warm running water. This should get your sink ready to be treated with a disinfectant.
- Spray the entire surface of the sink with hydrogen peroxide and let it sit for 15 minutes or even a couple of hours. The longer you leave it on, the more stains will be lifted.
- After enough time has passed, you can wash your sink with warm water. This alone should get rid of any stains. If it doesn’t, try and scrub them out with a sponge and rinse again.
- Pour a little bit of baking soda all over your sink and use a damp sponge to wipe down your sink. This will allow the baking soda to foam up and creep into the cracks to loosen the grime. You can also use a spare toothbrush to get into the small cracks and scrub out any dirt you can see. Turn on the faucet to wash it away.
- If there are still some stains left, you can pour some salt on top and cover them with lemon juice. Let it then sit for around 5 minutes, and then use a clean cloth to scrub it. Don’t scrub too hard or the salt may leave scratches on the porcelain as it’s quite delicate.
- Pour about 3 to 4 drops of lemon oil onto a dry piece of cloth and use it to polish the sink. This will also freshen it up and prevent soap from building up on the surface, making it easier for you to clean the sink in the future.
How to Clean Your Sink Faucet
What You Need
- Soft sponge
- Gentle dish soap
- Floss
- White vinegar
Instructions
- Add warm water in a bowl and squirt a little bit of dish soap into it to make suds. Take a sponge or a piece of cloth, dip it into the solution, and scrub the faucet and all the handles. Rinse with water and let it air-dry.
- To get rid of lime buildup, soak a towel or a piece of cloth in a solution of equal parts water and vinegar, and wrap it around the faucet. Leave it there for a few hours, and then scrub the faucet to remove any residue.
- If there’s a buildup of gunk all over the rim of the tap, use a piece of floss to remove it and wipe it with a cloth soaked in a mixture of dish soap and water.
Tips and Tricks
- You can use a whole lemon to make your sink smell extra fresh. All you need to do is cut a lemon in half and squeeze it down the drain and all over your sink.
- It’s necessary to test any cleaning products on a small area of your porcelain sink before cleaning your sink with them to make sure you won’t be damaging your sink in the process.
- It’s advisable to refrain from pouring any fatty cooking liquids, like hot grease, down the drain. They may be in liquid form when they’re hot but they can turn into a solid mass as they cool down and clog the sink.
- You shouldn’t let lemon juice sit on your enameled sink for more than ten minutes as it’s quite acidic and may cause erosion.
- When you’re using baking soda and vinegar to disinfect the drain, you shouldn’t let them mix together before pouring them down the drain. The chemical reaction needs to take place inside the sink for it to work effectively.
The bottom line
Kitchen sinks are the most frequently used items in any household. For this reason alone, they can be quite dirty and need to be cleaned regularly to prevent bacterial growth.
It’s safer to use cleaning products like lemon juice, vinegar, and baking soda to clean your sink as they’re non-harmful and can effectively get rid of stubborn stains, old or new.
When you get into a habit of cleaning your sink regularly, it will smell fresher than ever and will take a lot less time to clean.