Having a sparkling kitchen sink makes your kitchen a more pleasant place for preparing food. A dingy sink looks unhygienic and is often accompanied by the odors of leftover residue and plumbing drain clogs. You can keep the kitchen sink in your Delaware home looking inviting by avoiding harsh chemical treatments and using natural, eco-friendly cleaning products you already have in your home.
Scouring Away Dirt
Instead of using bleach or scouring detergents to make your kitchen sink sparkle, consider applying a mixture of natural products, such as baking soda, salt, lemon, or distilled white vinegar mixed with plain water to buff away leftover markings or stains. Combining any of these eco-friendly products together and using a soft sponge or toothbrush to buff away food or liquid residues also cuts down on odors. You should first rinse out your sink before applying the scouring mixture, then let it sit for several minutes before scrubbing and rinsing the mixture away with warm soapy water. If your sink is a stainless-steel model, avoid using sea salt in the scouring mixture because it can damage the sink’s finish.
By using a wool scouring pad or natural-bristle brush, you can improve your cleaning action when using a blend of eco-friendly scouring mixtures. In fact, you may not need to use a cleaning mixture at all when scouring with a pad or brush. The scrubbing friction alone does an excellent job at removing grease, stains from tomato-based sauces, and other substance buildups that can make your kitchen sink trap odors and look dingy.
Avoiding Sink Scratches
No matter how well you keep up with cleaning your sink with natural ingredients, scratches can make your sink look dull. A great way to avoid accumulating scratches in the sink is to place a plastic mat featuring perforations in the bottom of your sink. Doing this can limit the amount of residue from acidic foods or drinks from collecting there, and the presence of the mat makes it less likely that you may chip or break ceramic dishes and other dinnerware when washing them.
Preventing Drain Odors
A clogged kitchen sink drain is not good for your plumbing, and it also causes foul odors that can make your kitchen smell rather unpleasant. To remove the sink’s drain clog, pour boiling hot water down the drain along with 4 oz. of baking soda. After the baking soda sits for 10 minutes, pour 8 oz. of hot water and 8 oz. of distilled white vinegar down the drain, letting that mixture sit for an additional 10 minutes. Finally, pour more hot water down the drain for the final rinse, and your kitchen sink clog should be gone for good.
Disinfecting Your Garbage Disposal
If your garbage disposal’s blades are free of residue and you still have an unpleasant odor emitting from the garbage disposal, try creating a mixture of eco-friendly products to flush the garbage disposal out. Drop some lemon juice, ice cubes, and coarse salt down the drain to remove the smell. The ice cubes dislodge food or drink residue from the grinder and, when combined with the lemon juice and coarse salt, should make your garbage disposal smell fresh and free of odors.
When cleaning your kitchen sink with eco-friendly products, you should have no worries about contaminating the foods you make in your kitchen. Using natural-product cleaners is also an excellent way to not only prevent your kitchen from smelling like chemicals, but allowing these products to fight against the odors left behind by residue from food and drinks as well as the odors trapped by drain clogs in your plumbing. Eco-friendly cleaning products are inexpensive and convenient to use because many of them are common items that people already have in their cupboards and refrigerators.
Keeping your kitchen sink’s drains free of clogs is a good way to protect your home’s plumbing pipes, but serious drain problems may need the help of a licensed HVAC professional to clear a bad clog and prevent it from becoming a bigger problem. First Class HVAC has been providing excellent plumbing services to residents in Delaware, in towns like Dover and Fenwick, and in Maryland, in towns like Salisbury, for more than 40 years. Contact us today for help with your plumbing issues, and enjoy our competitive pricing and 24/7 and emergency plumbing maintenance.