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To say we’re in the kitchen often is an understatement!

Cooking is one of the few hobbies I do invest in, and it always seems like we’re whipping up something.  The kitchen truly is the hub of our home.

When planning our new kitchen last year, I gave plenty of attention to what I wanted in a kitchen sink.  Yep, the sink.  After sizing up my past experiences with our sinks, asking friends what they liked about their own, and doing oodles of research…

…I found the sink.  Call me silly, but I did put this much effort into the process!

My stainless steel sink is large — 30″ wide and 10″ deep, which is nice for hiding any dishes; my cutting boards and big frying pans also all fit in easily for cleaning (or um…hiding).  It’s incredibly pricey, but I found a brand-new one on ebay for under $100!

Keeping it shiny, clean and smelling great is a priority since the sink is used regularly.  I use a few ingredients to naturally disinfect (kill bacteria) and deodorize on a weekly basis:

baking soda:  a natural deodorizer and it’s gentle on stainless steel

white vinegar:  I use this ingredient in general cleaning, and the sink is no exception.  Vinegar is an eco-friendly disinfectant and deodorizer, helps to cut grease, and will kill any mold & mildew spores in your sink

lemon juice:  straight from the fruit!  the juice is naturally acidic and will also disinfect

Natural Stainless Steel Sink Cleaner

• juice of 1 lemon (save the peel for making citrus cleaner or for grinding down the drain)
• enough baking soda to cover bottom of your sink
• 1 cup white vinegar

Step 1:  generously sprinkle baking soda to cover most of the bottom of the sink.  Squeeze the lemon juice over the top of the baking soda.  Let sit for several minutes.

Step 2:  using steel wool or a sponge (I use copper scrubbers because they don’t rust or splinter), mix up lemon juice and baking soda into a paste to scrub the entire sink.  Add a tiny bit of water if needed to help form a paste.  After scrubbing, let it all sit again for a few minutes.

Step 3:  Pour the white vinegar over the paste (fizzing will occur!) and scrub a bit more on the bottom and sides of sink.  The fizzing action will also help keep the drain clog-free as it goes down.

If you have mild clogging issues, use hot vinegar (warm in microwave for 1-2 minutes or heat up on stovetop until almost boiling) to pour over the baking soda.

Step 4:  If you’d like, grind up the lemon peels in the garbage disposal.  Then rinse sink thoroughly with hot water – and that’s it!

The whole process is really only 10-15 minutes, and you’ll have a beautifully shiny, bacteria-free, and wonderfully lemony-smelling sink (and drain) in the end.  All without the use of strong or toxic chemicals!

I do this about once a week for maintenance.

:

Since I completely forgot to take a picture of the clean sink, one from when it was installed will have to do. 🙂  Looks about the same!

{lemon photo credit}