I Added a Clothing Steamer to My Kitchen Cleaning Kit — And Cleaning Will Never Be the Same

A few years ago, my fella declared he had decided to exclusively wear dress shirts. While I appreciated his shedding of band tees and hoodies, I knew this fashionable evolution wouldn’t last if he had to iron every single shirt before wearing, so I ordered a handheld fabric steamer. I’m not sure how we survived for so long without one, because they are an absolutely amazing invention.

Of course, when I heard steamers could be used for small cleaning tasks, I wasn’t the least bit surprised! I hate scrubbing. Luckily, using a steamer makes cleaning easy! Read on to see what I cleaned with my steamer and how it went.

I wasn’t sure how powerful the steamer would be against kitchen grease and grime, so I started small. Wiping down the cabinets is a regular task in our kitchen, but I often forget the knobs and areas behind the knobs. I liked using the steamer because I was able to quickly clean and sanitize this area with nothing more than steam.

Instead of a range hood, we have a microwave above our stovetop. The bottom is just low enough that it’s out of my line of sight, which means I often forget to wipe it down after cooking. This leads to a bunch of gross caked-on gunk that can be really difficult to clean when I eventually remember.

Cleaning this area usually requires a few different tools — like a toothbrush, scrubbing sponge, and powerful cleaning agent — however, I was able to tackle it this time with just the steamer, a sponge, and a few sprays of vinegar and water. The steam helped to break down gunk, and there was hardly any scrubbing involved. It still took a while to clean, but that time was mostly spent holding the steamer still and letting it do its job instead of scrubbing away with a sponge and cleanser.

Our backsplash gets dirtier than I care to admit. The cleaning process usually requires a good scrubbing sponge and a cleansing spray — but armed with my steamer, it was very easy work! To clean, I simply aimed it about two inches away from the wall and let it build up a good amount of steam and condensation before easily wiping away the tiny food particles. No scrubbing — easy peasy!

How is it that the outside of my dishwasher was that grimy? I almost didn’t show you guys the before photo (color me embarrassed), but the satisfaction of what my little steamer did in about 15 seconds was so great that I figured I’d share. I did this with zero cleaning agents — just steam and a washcloth.

As far as other appliances go, using a steamer to clean the outside is a job for the steamer; however, cleaning the inside isn’t really worth it since said appliance heats up to a temperature hotter than the steamer. I did try using it to clean my microwave, but decided it’s much easier to clean using this method!

Our Instant Pot gets a lot of use and is cleaned just as often. Recently, I realized I hadn’t been cleaning the track that the lid fits into well because it was tough to reach into the nooks and crannies and scrub any dried bits that had found their way in. I really didn’t want to use any sort of chemical-base cleanser to help work up the particles, so the steamer ended up being the absolute perfect tool. I just aimed, let a fair amount of condensation build up on the area, then worked a paper towel into the crevices and dragged them around until it was clean.

I’d read that steamers work really well on stainless steel, so I used it on the only stainless steel item in my kitchen: the exterior of my Instant Pot. It wiped clean in seconds, leaving not a streak behind.

There is one burner (my favorite) on the stovetop that is a literal hot mess. I had high hopes that my small-but-mighty steam cleaner would be able to work a miracle no cleaning agent in my house had yet been able to work. But alas, it wasn’t really able to do much. I spent quite a bit of time steaming it, holding the head of the steamer closer and closer until it was almost pressed up against the surface, but nothing worked. Same with the inside; I tried using the steamer on my oven door, and racks and didn’t get much of anything. Lesson learned: The steamer is for small jobs only.

Do you use a steamer to help with cleaning tasks? Tell us your experiences in the comments below.