This Surprising $6 Find Keeps My Kitchen Counters Totally Spotless
Patterned countertops can be tough to clean. Mine in particular are dark and speckled to resemble granite, and while they look fantastic, they also hide crumbs and other small spills a little too well. I wipe them down regularly, but I’m often surprised by how much I simply can’t see before swiping a cloth over it. Paper towels, cleaning cloths, and Clorox wipes are all effective for giving the counters a good swipe, but every time I use them, I have to strategically collect all those little hard-to-see messes so they don’t end up on the floor. I’ve often felt that there has to be a better way of cleaning scraps from flat surfaces at home. Considering that squeegees are used in many places around the house, from showers to carpets, why not countertops, too? Enter the OXO Good Grips Dish Squeegee.
Don’t let the name fool you! While its U-shaped design is ideal for bowls and other curved dishes, this four-by-three-inch squeegee can be used outside of the sink as well. For those who don’t like breaking the rules, even its packaging suggests using it to clean countertops. It’s made of hard plastic and silicone edges with a grip on one side for easy handling, and its small size makes it possible to store in a drawer or caddy when not in use.
When I ran the OXO Dish Squeegee across my countertop, it didn’t take any pressing at all to round up any messes I overlooked. The silicone edges swiftly caught specks of everything bagel seasoning from breakfast, plus smaller debris that had found its way onto the counter. After the initial pass, I gave the squeegee a quick rinse in the sink and repeated the process before putting it aside to finish the surface with an all-purpose cleaner. In no time — and with almost no effort — my countertops were sparkling clean.
Since the squeegee worked so well on my counters, I wondered how it might work with other messes, like food splatters in the microwave. My microwave looked relatively clean to the naked eye, but as an experiment, I ran the squeegee over the inside of the door just to see what would happen. To my surprise, it cleared away some small spots of tomato sauce that I hadn’t noticed before!
The OXO Dish Squeegee has become one of my favorite cleaning tools because it’s small, lightweight, and does an amazing job of keeping my kitchen clean. And since I’m spending less on sponges, paper towels, and wipes, it’s also saving me money. Of course, its use is not just limited to sinks, counters, or dishes (as much as I love using it to wipe out leftover oatmeal that gets stuck to the side of bowl). Anywhere there’s a spill or splatter that needs some extra attention, the squeegee is ready to clean it right up.
Buy: OXO Good Grips Dish Squeegee, $5.99
This post originally appeared on Apartment Therapy. See it there: This Surprising $6 Find Keeps My Kitchen Counters Completely Spotless