Shiny Sinks

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Spoiler alert—there’s not a whole lot of elbow grease involved. And you certainly don’t need to spend a ton of money on polishing products to get the job done. ( We’re all about DIY cleaning.) You’ll need flour, a soft cloth and warm, soapy water for optimal results. Still, cleaning a stainless steel sink doesn’t just preserve its good looks. It also helps prevent corrosion, keeping the surface in its best possible condition. What’s the Best Way to Polish a Stainless Steel Sink? Cleaning a stainless steel sink is a little different to knowing how to clean a granite sink, or other materials. Cleaning experts at Ecozone explain that the main culprits of dull sinks are limescale build-up and watermarks. Cleanfluencer Rebecca, @home_at_number_15 warns against using steel wool pads on stainless steel. 'Scrubbing away can leave iron particles behind, which causes rust and corrosion,' she says. Ultimately, what you need to use will depend on the state of your stainless steel sink. If it’s a new sink that’s barely been used, you should be able to get away with cleaning it every day with just dish soap and water. But if your stainless steel sink is older and needs some serious TLC, it’s best to opt for a deeper clean using acidic products such as vinegar, lemon, or cream of tartar. How can I make my stainless steel sink look new again?

Don't use anything abrasive as it could leave permanent scratches, ruining your stainless steel sink over time. Avoid using bleach as this can discolour stainless steel. How to remove odours from a sink There’s nothing more cringe-worthy than passing by a sink covered in water spots or stains—both of which stared me straight in the face this morning as I made my coffee. It might seem like a low-priority cleaning task, but it’s worth learning how to polish a stainless steel sink so that these types of smudges won’t taunt you every time you wash a dish. Every time you run water in your sink, take your clean dishtowel and dry it out (I lay out a clean one every night as part of my before-bed routine). Before you know it, you will be doing this everytime you leave your kitchen! The rest of the family will, too. No more water spots. You will have a clean and shiny sink. Honestly, I love my stainless steel sinks. They’re pretty. They’re sturdy. And most importantly, they can be super shiny, especially if you give them a good polish every now and then. While your houseguests might not pull you aside and ask your secret to a shiny sink (though I’m holding out hope they might), they’ll definitely get the impression of a well-kept kitchen. First, you need to give your stainless steel a good clean. Hard water deposits and discolouration will both affect the shine of your stainless steel sink, so you should always give it a good clean using natural ingredients such as lemon and baking soda or toothpaste.Take a sharp edge, such as a butter knife, and clean around the rim of the sink, just like you would clean dirt out from under your fingernails. In fact, Ava from Unclutterer even suggests using baby oil on a clean sink to give your stainless steel sink the shine you’re after. ‘Baby oil has a light consistency and can provide a protective layer on the stainless steel, preventing water spots and fingerprints,’ she says. ‘It also gives the sink a polished, shiny appearance.’ The surface scratches which appear on stainless steel sinks rarely have any appreciable depth and will become less noticeable with age. A stainless steel sink will develop a patina with time and will look better a year after installation than during the first few months of use due to the fact that the scratching will have evened out. All sinks manufactured in stainless steel perform in exactly the same way in this respect be they Franke’s manufacture or by a competitor.

If you live in a hard water area, limescale deposits can build up on a stainless steel sink, compromising its appearance. Look to pantry ingredients to get rid of it: a stainless steel sink is one of the things you can clean with vinegar.

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In fact, our Ideal Home writer Jullia Joson, found that using a mixture of vinegar and baking soda was the best way to clean her stainless steel sink when she tried it herself. 3. Use cream of tartar If you don’t have time to head to the supermarket and need to clean your stainless steel sink with something you already have in the house, it might be a good idea to head into your bathroom and grab your toothpaste. To do this, simply apply a few drops of baby oil to a soft cloth and rub it in the direction of the grain. Mistakes to avoid when cleaning a stainless steel sink