The kitchen is the most frequented and used space of the house and requires all the attention when it comes to keeping it spotless and hygienic.  From tossing your child for a quick nighttime bath to washing your vegetables and fruits, the kitchen sink is the place that is used in the preparation of the food that is served to each one of us day and night. It is the space that harbours more bacteria than any other place in the house including your toilet bowl. If you think that your kitchen sink gets cleaned itself while you do your dishes every day, unfortunately, that is not the case. 

You can make a dingy kitchen sink looking like new with the help of these simple tried and tested hacks. Surprisingly, cleaning it doesn’t require it to be blasted with disinfectants, all you need to do is to remove the organic produce that is sticking to the walls of the basin and is the ultimate source for the bacteria and germs to thrive. 

General Sanitisation for all sink types

For a quick cleanup, you usually have all the materials readily available at home. All you will need would be a mild soap solution, a gentle scrubber, and for some tough stains, you may need baking soda and vinegar. You can even buy commercially available disinfectants from any grocery store for a speedy sanitisation job. If you have a ceramic or cast iron sink, you need to be careful with your choice of cleaning products to avoid damage. An extremely diluted form of liquid chlorine bleach can be used to clean these sink types. 

Stainless steel sink

Stainless steel kitchen sinks can look squeaky, sparkly clean without the use of any harsh chemicals. Your stainless steel will sink look dirty every day if you are into extensive cooking. Your sink may collect a lot of grease and grime and requires vigorous scrubbing to make its surface look shiny again. But the thing to remember here, if you let grease and grime linger for cleanup, the job of cleaning will get difficult with each passing day. All you need for everyday sink cleaning are your usual household supplies like sponge scrub, baking soda, vinegar, and optionally lemon and olive oil (to polish and get the surface shine back). There are plenty of solutions that can be found at Home Cleaning App eMop to deal with grimy sinks. 

Mild soap mix can be used with a sponge for everyday cleaning. Whereas, for tough stains, you can generously coat the sink with baking soda and scrub with a scrubber to remove all tough stains and grime. Using baking soda with vinegar can help to deal with tough mineral stains. 

Cast Iron sink

Cast iron sinks have many advantages and are relatively easier to clean as compared to porcelain or stainless steel sinks. While they are durable and look beautiful, maintaining them is fairly simple as well. The cleaning routine for these is simple: just thoroughly wash the sink after each use, dry it completely after each use with a paper cloth or any microfibre cloth, and lastly, don’t use any abrasive cleaners. For any harsh stains, use baking soda and vinegar to clean. Make sure you leave any pots or pans, tea bags, or any food residue in the sink that becomes a source for such stains. 

Ceramic Sinks

A ceramic sink can easily be scratched so you need to make sure that you are not using any abrasive cleaners. Food stains are the primary concern when it comes to ceramic sinks so make sure you are quickly cleaning the coffee grounds, tea, and food residue. Using warm water with liquid soap and sponge, the general everyday cleaning can be quickly achieved for these sinks.   

Faucets and handles

All you need is a mild soap water solution to make your faucets and taps look shiny again. Hard water residue and soap stains, if firm enough, can be cleaned with a cloth damped in vinegar. 

Conclusion

No matter how grimy and dirty your kitchen sink may be, make sure you are not compromising on the durability of your fixture. Don’t look for quick fixes by using harsh chemicals and abrasive scouring pads to get rid of the stains and residue. For each sink type, the solution is simple and readily available at home. All you need to do is keep a daily routine to not let the dirt and grime rest for months.