10 Ways to Use the Natural Magic of Vinegar to Clean Your Kitchen

Cambria Bold
Cambria Bold
Cambria Bold is the Executive Editor of Cubby, and one of Apartment Therapy Media’s first full-time editors from way back when. She was The Kitchn's founding Design and Lifestyle Editor as well as Managing Editor of Re-Nest, Apartment Therapy’s late '00s green living site. She…read more
published Apr 22, 2015
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(Image credit: Erika Tracy)

For the last couple of weeks we’ve been rounding up all the amazing ways you can clean the kitchen with just three things: lemons, baking soda, and today, vinegar! This amazing cleaning trifecta can handle most kitchen jobs, and the ingredients are cheap and gentler than traditional cleaners.

White distilled vinegar is an excellent thing to keep around the kitchen. Not only does it make a great rinse aid in the dishwasher, but you can use it to clean butcher block boards and remove scum from the blender carafe. Here are the top 10 reasons we’re always going to have a bottle of this stuff around the kitchen.

(Image credit: Gina Eykemans)

1. Stainless steel appliances

A little vinegar and oil is the cheap, natural way to give a shine to your stainless steel appliances (big and small).

2. Silver

You can quickly remove tarnish by combining vinegar with baking soda, salt, and boiling water.

See our tutorial: How To Clean and Polish Silver

3. The dishwasher

If you run an empty cycle with a cup or two of vinegar in the bottom of the dishwasher, you can remove hard water deposits and odors.

See our tutorial: How To Clean the Dishwasher

4. Dishes in the dishwasher

Did you know vinegar makes a great rinse aid? It leaves dishes sparkling.

5. The freezer

Vinegar and hot water make a quick, effective cleaner for the freezer.

See our tutorial: How To Clean the Freezer

(Image credit: Gina Eykemans)

6. A coffee maker

Banish those coffee stains and mineral deposits!

See our tutorial: How To Clean a Coffee Maker

7. Butcher block countertops

Undiluted white vinegar (and a little elbow grease) can freshen and sanitize butcher block countertops.

8. The oven

You know it.

9. The blender

While we prefer using a lemon to remove cloudy build-up on our blender carafe, vinegar is a solid substitute.

(Image credit: Gina Eykemans)

10. A whole host of kitchen surfaces

Take it one step further and use vinegar to make an all-purpose cleaner.

How do you clean with vinegar?