Filed under: Storage & Cleaning, Storage & Organization, Cleaning
Housekeepers rely on it. Housewives probably haven't heard of it. But Bar Keepers Friend may just be the most important cleaner in your life.New cleaning products are rolled out weekly, each batch smelling better than the last. And they all promise cleaner results, like none you've ever seen. But there are a few tried and true products that don't need any revamping.
Bar Keepers Friend has been in production since 1882, and with all of the products on the market, it still holds up as one of the toughest cleaners out there. Cleaning guru Rebecca Page owns Concierge Home Services in Ottawa, Canada, and cleaning house is among the company's specialties. She says that she and her staff rely on the product to get out the most stubborn stains on everything from kitchen fixtures to stove tops. "We do a lot of move-in and move-out cleans, and this is definitely in our kit," says Page. It does the job of baking soda, she says, only much, much better.
Photo: Jolie Novak, AOL
You can use Bar Keepers Friend pretty much anywhere in the house, but especially in the kitchen and bathroom. It's really good at removing rust lurking inside cast-iron bath tubs and eliminating food messes that build up on a kitchen backsplash.
"The primary use is for hard, metallic finishes, like stainless steel, chrome, brass and laminate, which a lot of counter tops are made out of," says Page. "It also makes white fixtures sparkling and clean." And stainless appliances. It is also useful for polishing up brass doorknobs and letterboxes for your mail.
You can buy the cleaner in a non-bleach, powder-based cleanser at Williams-Sonoma, Target, Bed Bath & Beyond, Ace Hardware, and many supermarket chains; a liquid option does the same job that the powder cleanser does.
Derek Christian, who owns Cincinnati-based My Maid Service, is a huge fan of Bar Keepers Friend. Here are three areas he suggests using the product. All you have to do is apply a little bit of the product (start with a teaspoon and then adjust based on the size of the area and how terrible the stain is) to a surface or to a wet sponge. (If you're polishing fixtures, you may want to squeeze some of the liquid version onto a sponge.) Then scrub! But not too hard. The product foams easily so that you don't risk ruining your house by injecting scratches and marks from the cleaning process.
1. Stainless steel surfaces
Those annoying scratches? Bar Keepers Friend will remove them. "This makes us a hero in many homes damaged by other products that scratch the surface," says Christian.
2. Glass shower doors
Bar Keepers Friend contains a mild abrasive to scrub off the soap scum and oxalic acid, which chemically dissolves the soap scum and hard water, he says.
3. Cookware
Who wouldn't want a set of pots and pans that look brand-new? "We clean furnished corporate apartments and Bar Keepers Friend makes the pots look like new," says Christian. "The abrasive removes the food residue and the oxalic acid gets rid of the water spots."
"On the flip side," says Christian, "Bar Keepers Friend cannot be used on pewter or natural stone like marble. The acid that makes it so effective can damage these surfaces. In cleaning homes it is just as important to know where not to use a product to avoid damages."
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