The kitchens we admire on photos or in kitchen salons are all so beautiful, shiny and spotless.
You can probably imagine how happy you are in such kitchen and how you enjoy in preparing delicious meals for your family.
What about the reality?
Daily preparation of lunches and other meals, traditional Sunday lunch for whole family, numerous cups of coffee and/or tea with friends etc.
A spotless kitchen very soon becomes a place for impurities, food rests, limescale and traces of daily use.
Thus, in order to keep it clean and shiny, it is necessary to pay some attention and some time to cleaning too.
It is so simple – soft cloth and universal cleaning agent and your kitchen countertop and stove are wiped off and clean in just few moves. But a real indicator of clean kitchen is kitchen sink which is the most frequently used element of the kitchen.
So, how to keep your kitchen sink clean and shiny?
Kitchen sink – an essential element in the kitchen
Make a quick test – take a brief look at your kitchen.
Where do your eyes stop?
Of course, at the highest things on the kitchen countertop.
If your kitchen is of minimalist type (and/or not overcrowded), your eyes will certainly stop at the kitchen tap, placed elegantly above the kitchen sink.
Kitchen sinks and kitchen taps, with their modern materials and elegant designs, have become the centre of attention.
Therefore it is so important tp pay them some more attention at cleaning.
Whether you have kitchen sink made of stainless steel, granite composite or tempered glass, the traces of daily use and limescale will become visible sooner or later on each of them.
Limescale is the severest »enemy« of shiny kitchen, therefore our experts have prepared for you some tips on how to clean and care your kitchen sink and kitchen tap in order to keep them clean and shiny with as little effort as possible.
Different materials, different cleaning approaches
Each material has its own characteristics and specialties which have to be taken into consideration also at care and maintenance.
Only in this way you will help that your Alveus kitchen sink and kitchen tap will look like a new one for a long time.
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How to clean kitchen sink made of stainless steel
Stainless steel or inox is still the most frequently chosen material.
Stainless kitchen sinks are easy to maintain, but they still need consistency, otherwise spots and limescale traces of scale may appear on them soon.
For daily care, use a soft cloth (the most recommends is microfiber cloth) and wipe dry your kitchen sink after use – preferably every evening.
Once a week wash your kitchen sink thoroughly, disinfect and clean by using Alveus »Allshine« household cleaning agent and soft cloth.
Every now and then, for example once a month, give your kitchen sink some real indulgence with »Allshine« polishing paste, after which it will shine again as on the day you bought it.
When selecting the cleaning agent for stainless steel it is advisable to follow the specialist instructions.
Alveus consultants recommend the »Allshine« cleaning and polishing paste. In case that you choose other cleaning agents, Alveus consultants shall advise against bleach, cleaning agents for silver and abrasive cleaning agents.
Further, you shall never rub your kitchen sink with rough side of sponge as it will make scratches on steel surface.
Be careful not to put the foodstuffs with corrosive activity into your kitchen sink (fruit juice, kitchen salt, vinegar, mustard, mayonnaise etc).
An example – before and after
In the photo below you may see kitchen sinks in extraordinary modern Monarch lines and colors that require similar care as all inox kitchen sinks.
If you wipe them to dry daily, clean once a week with »Allshine« household cleaning agent (which is good for sanitary reasons too) and polish with polishing paste occasionally, you do not need to worry about stains and uneven spots on your wonderful kitchen sink, similar to those shown in the photo below.
Kitchensinkincoppercolor was reclaimed by the customer, with explanation that it is not possible to clean it.
Kitchen sink was visibly poor maintained - limescale spots and other dirt were present everywhere.
An Alveus team specialist cleaned the kitchen sink with Alveus »Allshine« cleaning agent which removed all limescale successfully, but a few darker spots still remained visible in the sink.
Therefore she polished the kitchen sink with polishing paste in order to completely clean all the surfaces. The cleaned kitchen sink looked like a new one.
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How to clean kitchen sink made of tempered glass
Such kitchen sink is actually a combination of two materials, as the drain board and frame is made of special tempered glass and sink is made of stainless steel and therefore the same recommendations shall apply as for inox kitchen sink.
In order to maintain perfect shine of tempered glass, use a soft cloth and gently apply liquid soap or non-abrasive cleaning agent for glass and rinse with water.
Wipe dry with soft and dry microfiber cloth in order to prevent accumulation of limescale and other dirt.
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How to clean kitchen sink made of granite composite
Although granite kitchen sinks are considered to be the most solid ones, we recommend to use mild non-abrasivehousehold cleaning agents or ammonia based cleaning agents.
Alveus specialists recommend the »Allshine« cleaning agent and the fine »Allshine« polishing paste for more stubborn stains. Both products are result of their own development, keeping in mind the materials used in the process of kitchen sinks production.
Composite kitchen sinks do not need to be wiped dry after each use but it is advisable from time to time to clean them well with vinegar in order to prevent limescale accumulation.
Alveus specialists strongly advise against all cleaning agents containing chlorine or hydrochloric acids or all powerful chemicals (varnish removers, oven cleaning agents, alkalis, etc.) as they may damage the kitchen sink surface.
Cleaning of black and/or white granite kitchen sink
At granite kitchen sinks, more and more customers decide for modern black or elegant white kitchen sink.
The most common concern before purchasing is of course cleaning. We shall therefore emphasize that at both colors cleaning is similar as at other colors because all granite kitchen sinks have similar properties, regardless of color.
Based on our experience we shall note that at white kitchen sinks traces of stubborn stains may be visible therefore we suggest you to immediately wash off all poured tea or coffee rests, pumpkin oil, orange juice and similar from your sink in order to avoid subsequent rubbing.
At black kitchen sink you shall pay more attention to limescale as it is visible more quickly on dark surface and so you shall clean it regularly with »ALLshine« cleaning agent.
Take a look at photos taken by an Alveus specialist while he was treating strong scratched black kitchen sink:
Obviously, the advice of Alveus specialists is worth considering – in order to maintain a long service life of kitchen sinks and kitchen taps you will have to perform regular maintenance.
Your best assistants will be a soft microfiber cloth and water and occasionally also Alveus cleaning agent.
Do it yourself - natural cleaning agent for kitchen sink and kitchen tap
For all those who take care about the environment and want to use natural cleaning agents as often as possible we have found some proven »recipes« from experienced housewives on how to clean kitchen sink by using natural ingredients which are found in each kitchen.
- Vinegar against limescale
One of the most proven tips is that you prepare a spray bottle with a mixture of alcoholic vinegar (e.g, vinegar used to pickle vegetables) and use it to spray your kitchen sink and kitchen tap once a week. Wipe with a soft cloth. Your kitchen sink and kitchen tap will shine like a new one.
For stubborn limescale stains, soak the cloth with vinegar and wrap it around desired area for about 15 minutes and then rinse well with warm water.
- Baking soda and alcoholic vinegar
Wash your kitchen sink with water and strew baking soda on wet surface, especially around the drain.
Rub with soft cloth and spray with alcoholic vinegar after that. In this way you remove the majority of bacteria. Since both ingredients are food products you do not need to worry about chemicals as they are not used in this case.
Rinse well with water after some minutes and wipe with dry cloth.
Another option is a paste made of baking soda and vinegar. You may also add some lemon juice to this mixture.
Put some baking soda and vinegar into a cup (and lemon juice) and mix them together. Due to reaction, foam is created first but after a while a paste is formed. Use a cloth and apply the paste to the surfaces. Rinse with water. In this way you may also clean the drain – pour the paste into the drain and rinse with boiling water after few minutes.
- Lemons and salt
Some housewives prefer to use two basic kitchen ingredients - lemon and salt.
Wash your kitchen sink and strew it with salt over the entire surface. Cut two lemons into slices and arrange the slices over the sink, drain board and kitchen tap. After that, rub with lemons thoroughly over the kitchen sink and tap. Rinse well with water and dry with paper towel.
- Flour
Flour is considered to be excellent for polishing the kitchen sinks made of stainless steel.
Wash your kitchen sink with soap water first and wipe dry thoroughly (if kitchen sink is wet, flour changes into sticky lump and polishing is not possible). Strew with flour over the entire kitchen sink surface, rub with paper towel well and sweep flour into drain. After that wash the sink once again and wipe dry. Your kitchen sink will shine like a new one.
Are you interested in more tips on cleaning the kitchen?
Read also these two articles.