Stained kitchen sinks not only look gross, but they can also be breeding ground for harmful bacteria.
Your kitchen sink is where you wash your dishes, fruits and vegetables, and meat, and you certainly wouldn’t want your sink to be dirty and unhygienic.
You may wash your kitchen sink regularly, but some stains are stubborn. They require special attention and treatment.
So, how do you get rid of these stains from your kitchen sink?
Is It Difficult To Get Stains Out Of The Kitchen Sink?
The first question that you might have in mind is how difficult it is to get stains out of your kitchen sink so you can prepare yourself for the ordeal accordingly.
Well, if you continue to clean the stains regularly and don’t allow them to build up, cleaning the kitchen sink shouldn’t take too long.
However, if you’ve neglected your kitchen sink for far too long, you’re in for a lot of hassle because this would take time.
How difficult it is to get stains out of your kitchen sink depends on how old the stain is and what has caused the stain.
What Stains Kitchen Sinks?
As we said earlier, one of the factors that define how difficult it is to clean your kitchen sink is the nature of the stain.
Kitchen sinks are used to wash dishes, fruits, vegetables, meat, and even hands when they get dirty while you’re working in the kitchen.
You even dump uneaten food in your kitchen sink. You shouldn’t even question why your kitchen sink gets dirty every other day.
Some of the most common things that stain the kitchen are hard water from the tab, turmeric from cooking food, and other food dyes that you may use frequently.
One of the most common reasons why the stains in your kitchen sink are so stubborn is the mere fact that they’ve been around for a while.
How To Get Stains Out Of Kitchen Sink?
Coming to the most important part of our discussion: how to get stains out of the kitchen sink?
Cleaning the kitchen is more or less similar to cleaning a bathroom sink.
The only difference is that you need to disinfect the sink after cleaning because it’s where you wash the fruits, vegetables, and meat (that you eat) and your dishes (in which you eat).
Wipe and Rinse the Sink
Use a sponge or rag to wipe the sink thoroughly. Also, wipe the sides and underside of the sink and the faucets.
These parts of the sink may not look dirty, but they’re so much filthier than you think.
If your rag or sponge has gathered a lot of debris and dirt, make sure you rinse it clean before continuing. If you don’t, you’ll make the sink dirty instead of cleaning it.
Rinse it with warm water to ensure there’s no debris before you start cleaning your kitchen sink with the cleaning solution.
Clean With a Cleaning Agent
Apply a suitable kitchen sink cleaning agent to your kitchen sink.
The shape of a kitchen sink is much more complicated than a bathroom sink, so you’ll have to ensure the entire sink is covered.
Apply the cleaning liquid to the faucet, drain, and faucet handles. They may not look dirty or stained by they’re sure loaded with bacteria.
If you’re cleaning old stains that have set in, leave the cleaning liquid in your sink for a while before you start scrubbing.
Use a rag or non-abrasive sponge to scrub the sink. Don’t forget to wear gloves before you get down to scrubbing your kitchen sink. The cleaning liquid may irritate your skin.
Scrub aggressively, especially if the stains are old and rigid. Take your time. If the stain doesn’t seem to go away, scrub twice. Don’t rush.
You’ve let the stain get so hard, so you’ve got to give time to cleaning.
Once you’ve scrubbed or sink enough to get rid of the stains, open the water and let some warm water flow through the sink to wash away the cleaning liquid and, with that, the dirt.
Rinse With Hot Water
Once you’ve washed the cleaning liquid from your sink, it’s now time to give it a good wash with hot water.
Doing so will ensure that if any stain, dirt, or bacteria that you can’t see remains, it’s washed.
Hot water also disinfects the sink. Bacteria are proteins in nature that will get denatured if exposed to heat which means hot water will kill any bacteria that may be lurking in your kitchen sink.
Disinfect With Chemical Disinfectant
While hot water will do most of the job, you’ve got to be sure that your kitchen sink doesn’t have any bacteria remaining.
The bacteria can get transferred from your sink to the dishes or food and can make you sick. Numerous chemical disinfectants are available in the market.
In case you aren’t comfortable using a chemical in your kitchen sink, you can always choose safer alternatives like vinegar, bleach solution, etc.
Once you’re done with this step, you can rest assured that your kitchen sink is absolutely clean.
What Can You Use To Get Stains Out Of Kitchen Sink?
As we said earlier, many chemical kitchen cleaning products are available in the market that you can opt for.
What may surprise you is the fact that most of the most effective kitchen sink cleaning options are already available in your kitchen! You read that right.
While you can always buy kitchen sink cleaners off the shelf at any home store, you can also rely on other non-chemical options.
Baking Soda, Vinegar, and Salt
Baking soda, chemically known as sodium bicarbonate, is a multipurpose substance that’s available in every household.
Apart from being excellent for relieving stomachaches and removing odors from the carpets, it can be used to get rid of stains on your kitchen sink.
When you mix baking soda with a small quantity of salt and vinegar, you’ll end up with a super-powerful cleaning agent!
Baking soda is known to be quite aggressive in nature. Chemically, it’s considered a salt.
So mixing it with another salt (regular table salt in this case), the abrasive property is increased by several folds.
Applying this mixture to your kitchen sink will help you get rid of the toughest stains, even mold, and mildew.
Vinegar is acidic in nature. When you add vinegar to baking soda, a chemical reaction is initiated. This chemical reaction is what makes this mixture such a powerful cleaning agent.
Just leave this mixture in your kitchen sink for at least 30 minutes to 1 hour. You’ll observe the formation of foam (which is due to the chemical reaction between vinegar and salt).
This foam will also move along the drain and unclog it in case there is a blockade. You get to reap 2 benefits in one go!
Lemon Juice
Lemon juice is acidic in nature, and acidic substances make excellent cleaning agents.
You can use lemon juice to not only clean the kitchen sink but also for other household cleaning purposes.
Mix lemon juice with water or white vinegar and spray it on your kitchen sink, especially over the stains.
Leave it on the stains for some time and then wipe using a clean, damp rag or sponge.
Lemon juice is one of the best ways to get rid of tough stains on your kitchen sink.
Enzymatic Cleaners
One type of cleaner that is getting considerable traction today is enzymatic cleaners. They’re very effective and safe for kitchen use.
These are special cleaning agents that contain enzymes. What these enzymes do is break down the stains and facilitate their removal.
Enzymatic cleaners aren’t only used for cleaning kitchen sinks but are also used to reduce the foul odor that often comes from your drains.
These cleaners work on a macromolecular level and ensure that the stains are completely removed!
Bleach
Another popular kitchen sink cleaning agent is bleach. Although it’s highly toxic, it’s quite powerful when it comes to cleaning kitchen sink stains.
Always dilute bleach with water before pouring it on your kitchen sink because bleach is very strong if used alone.
You should also make sure to keep your eyes, mouth, and skin fully covered when handling bleach.
Once you’re done cleaning with bleach, you should rinse the kitchen sink with plenty of water to ensure no residue remains.
Lye Cleaners
Lye is an effective cleaning agent, but it’s very dangerous for your health which is why we won’t recommend it for kitchen sink cleaning.
You can try cleaning your kitchen sink with a lye-based cleaner if nothing else seems to be working. Lye is more commonly known as caustic soda.
You should use all the essential personal protective equipment like a mask and gloves when handling caustic soda. It shouldn’t come in contact with your skin or be inhaled.
What caustic soda does is convert greasy and fatty stains in your kitchen sink into water-soluble cleansers, which can then be easily washed away with water.
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