How Do I Clean the Bottoms of My Pots?

Faith Durand
Faith DurandSVP of Content
Faith is the SVP of Content at Apartment Therapy Media and Editor-in-Chief of Kitchn, and the author of three cookbooks, including the James Beard Award-winning The Kitchn Cookbook. She lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her husband and two daughters.
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updated May 12, 2022
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Q: I finally have a hanging pot rack and love it, but not the bottoms of the pots. They’re a collection of copper, stainless, aluminum and Teflon. Any help in cleaning and care of each of the different metals? I know they’ll never look like the ones in the catalogs and lifestyle mags, but anything would be an improvement!

Sent by Nancy

(Image credit: Apartment Therapy)

Editor: Nancy, what a beautiful set of cookware! We love the look of all those different materials.

As far as cleaning goes, we like to clean the bottoms of our pans with stainless steel scrubbing pads, Bon Ami or Barkeeper’s Friend, and a lot of hot water and elbow grease. Here are a few posts on specific types of material and keeping it clean:

• How To Clean Tough Burnt Stains Off Stainless Cookware
• Kitchen Nightmares: Cleaning Scorched and Burnt Food Off Pots and Pans
• Help! Did I Ruin My Copper Pots?

Readers, do you have specific suggestions for getting (and keeping!) pot bottoms clean?

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Related: What Is the Best Way To: Clean Stainless Steel?

(Images: Nancy via email)