What?
How to Clean?
Where the heck is the kitchen tour?
What do you want me to tell you?
Last Friday I was taking pictures and I noticed that the kitchen looked incomplete.
So, I decided to add a back splash!
Today all I have left is to do a few touch ups and hopefully by Wednesday I can give you a tour.
Be patient! We are almost there!
Now, as part of our kitchen makeover we contemplated the idea of replacing our old porcelain sink.
We love our sink. It is huge, it has a lot of character but after having our home rented out for two years
we found it stained BADLY.
Sick!
I tried different ways to clean it and I came up with one that brought it back to pure white again.
It took me three steps and just a few minutes to complete the process.
{ Come on! Pretend you are excited!}
1
If you have a porcelain sink the first thing you want to do is to wash it with dish soup or dishwasher detergent using a sponge and warm water.
When we moved into our house as you could see the sink was in pretty bad shape so dishwasher detergent worked better for me.
After you are done, rinse it thoroughly.
This is how our sink looked after this step.
A lot better… but far from perfect.
2
Spray bleach or a bleach product all over the sink.
Let the bleach sit for a few minutes while you try to wash off the little bit of bleach that went on your shirt.
Darn it!
I hate when that happens.
Gently give a general scrub all over and rinse thoroughly again.
After this step the yellowish color was gone but the black stains were still there.
3
I used this product.
I love this stuff.
You can find it at Lowes or Home Depot over in the cleaning aisle.
The bottle cost around $5.00.
Shake it well and apply a small amount directly on the areas where you see stains.
I like to scrub those areas in a circular motion… I don’t know what this liquid has but you’ll see the stains disappear before your eyes.
Check this OUT!
look at the before and after pictures…
Shut The Front Door!
One more!
There you have it… a perfectly clean porcelain sink!
Amazing! Huh!
Do you have any cleaning tips of your own?
If you do please share them with me!
Happy Monday Sunshines!
♥
Desirée.
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40 Responses to How to clean a Porcelain Sink.
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I am Desirée, the heart behind
The 36th Avenue.
I am a mamá X 4, a thrifty shopper,
a fabric lover,a paint brush best friend
and a never ending makeover believer.
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I have been using the powder form of this with just a scotch brite scrub pad on my porcelain sink for years and you honestly don’t even need to do the first 2 steps. Just wet your sink all over, sprinkle on the powder & let sit for just a couple of minutes, scrub and then rinse! I haven’t seen the “liquid” form of it, but I’m happy with the powder.
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HOLY SMOKES! Our porcelain sink was 10 times more grungy than yours. It was stained yellow and covered in gray scratches and rust. I read somewhere else that it was better to lay down paper towels and spray those with the bleach. I let them sit for a couple of hours since the sink was so stained. Then, I used bar keepers friend for the scratches.
IT LOOKS BRAND SPANKIN’ NEW!
So excited!
Thanks for the tips!
I am so glad Sarah… they look so pretty when they are clean!
I’m going to have to try this on our porcelain tub because it was a hideous mess when we bought this house and years of other “sure fire” attempts to clean it have resulted in only a modicum of stain removal. Thanks for the tips!
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I use the Magic Erasers on my stainless steel sink and it always looks brand new afterward. I also use them on my glass top range. Works great on most things. You should try them out.
I LOVE Bar Keepers Friend. I use the powdered cleaner all the time on my sink. If you can’t get it in your country, you could use Cream of Tartar, but Bar Keepers Friend is much cheaper. And Baking Soda is not made up of Oxalic Acid. They are totally different chemicals. If I get rust stains on my concrete patio, it gets them out. It is also great for cleaning copper cookware.
The bleach will eventually, if not already eat through the enamel seal on the porcelain, which will cause further staining in the future. This works great but I use a non-toxic version in one bottle! Took me forever, I tried EVERYTHING to get mine white and then it dawned on me! I used Tub & Tile by Melaleuca! It is actually their bathroom cleaner, so it’s amazing at bleaching out white. And as a bonus, it doesn’t bleach my clothes! It’s only $5.69 for a bottle of concentration that makes 6 spray bottles, if you are a Melaleuca customer. If you want to know more, I’d be happy to give you some info! I was on the verge of pulling out the sink and putting in a stainless one! Just in the nick of time!s
I don’t mean to be a nerd, but BKF is oxalic acid. It is in baking soda, but not at the same potency as BKF. It does have a bleaching effect…which is obvious by your pictures. I’ve seen Martha use it to clean and restore wood. It is a gentle cleanser, would be a good choice before moving on to harsh chemicals in that application.
That being said…beautiful sink!
Apply paste car wax to your newly cleaned sink. It will prevent stains from reappearing
Pam,
What a great tip! I will try that!
Thank you so much!
Thanks for the tips…Mine looks very much like your “before”! Off to clean it now…thanks!
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Love that barkeep’s friend stuff. Works on hard water stains too. Your new kitchen is gorgeous!
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My sink looks like your before! I have all those cleaning items so I’ll be doing your trick on my nasty sink today!!! Thank you!
I use the powder form of Bar Keepers Friend to get rust spots out of clothing. It works great for that. Now I’ll have to try it on our tub!
Bleach will eat tiny holes in whatever you pour it on for cleaning. Notice how decanters and vases etc get a sort of bloom-haze after a while? It isn’t dirt at all but where bleach has etched the surface. If you rub sweet almond oil onto surface it will fill the microscopic bubbles and leave the glass looking lovely again – use it on your shower screen and it will also be easier to clean.
And only use bicarbonate of soda and vinegar for cleaning it (that Bar Keepers Friend (where is the apostrophe in that stuff????) is probably mostly bicarb soda so you are paying a lot for a cheap product…) Here, in Australia, there is an absolute Domestic Goddess – Shannon Lush who has written books on cleaning using natural products etc and I learned all this from her! http://shannonlush.com/ (No affs at all, nor kickbacks but just a satisfied customer).
Lovely sink, lovely website, too!
Jasmine,
Thank you so much for your tips. I will give them a try!
Have a great day!
it worked on my iron ore stained sink!!!!!!!!! I was very skeptical. Nothing had ever worked. I was ready to rip the darn sink out! Thank you thank you!
I am so glad!
It is pretty amazing!
Hello Desiree` what a fabulous job you did on that lovely sink. I also am crazy about your spring wreath! it makes me want to go pool-side with fresh fruit smoothie…. My cleaning secret is to put a slice-or-wedge of lemon with a small amout of the juice into a cereal sized bowl of water (3/4 full) into the microwave. turn it on for about 2-3 minutes and all your spaghetti splashes and bursting pintos will wipe away super easily!! If you don’t have a microvave with spaghetti or burtsted beans type of dirty well thats GREAT!! Its still perfect for disinfecting from the lemon and for odors as it leaves a nice scent. =)
What a beautiful sink! I’m partial to the older, bigger sinks that once were. I happen to have a stainless steel one, but hope to change out to a porcelain one if & when I get to renovating. I will, however, be trying your method to clean my porcelain tub. Thanks!
No Way! Wonder if I can get that here in the UK? I have a huge old dublin sink in my utility room which I though I would have to rip out but I’ll maybe give this a try first. Thanks
Susan
I’ve gotta say, that is a pretty darn fabulous sink. Not only the transformation, but just the shape and style of it. I’d definitely want to keep it too.
I’ve got to try that bar keeper’s friend stuff on my white plates that have grey scratch marks on them. Thanks!
I swear that if you use the old standby green scotch scrubbing pad with the bar keepers friend, you can even skip steps 1 and 2. I brought back 3 tubs and 4 sinks in our 1939 fixer with just those two tools. You are right, it is amazing, and MY friend too for so many reasons. In fact, I just posted on my blog about it’s ability to remove carpet stains yesterday.
I have used the powder for of this for years!!! It is magic that is for sure…It will take rust off of plates as well…and well just about anything I have tried it on it works.
thanks for sharing
charlene
Your sink is so beautiful and big!! I have a porcelain sink…uggh, it’s awful to keep it looking nice! I like how well yours turned out. Believe it or not I use NO bleach products in my home {it’s just my own choice and we have severe allergy sufferers, etc.} but I have used the scour paste by Shaklee and it’s actually the best {natural} product I’ve found to get it really white, too {I also use an all natural anti-germ product so no yuckies}! You did a great job – that bar friend cleanser looks pretty good though! You have my sympathy for a porcelain sink…I hope to change ours out one day for stainless steel
Oh, and I second the other comment about GFC – it’s still working for all my blogs I follow!
Becky B.
http://www.organizingmadefun.com
Organizing Made Fun
I am stopping by Lowe’s on my way home to try this! It annoys me to no end how gross my sink is… I hope it works on mine!
Follow all three steps. You are going to love the new look.
Great steps, I always just used #3 but I am going to try #1 and #2 first. Thanks!!!
Awesome! Some of my readers have told me about that stuff. I think I need to find something with a stain so I can try it out.
Great tip, thanks for sharing!
Anna
http://www.askannamoseley.com
I LOVE bar keepers friend! I have never seen it in a liguid only the powder, and the powder works amazing, it gets my sink sparkling white!
Love the vintage unique sink, I want one just like it! We have a porcelian tub, will have to try bar keeps friend.
Bar Keeper’s Friend is my BEST friend
I won’t use anything else on the kitchen sink because nothing else works…of course now I am wondering if it will work on the porcelain tub….hmmmmm
I think it should work. Give it a try!
Wow! What a difference! I love that sink ~ it’s beautiful. I have never tried Bar Keeper’s Friend, so I need to find some. My go to trick to get the stains out of our porcelain sink is to fill each side with water and add bleach (a good amount) and let it sit overnight before you drain it. Works like a charm!
Good to know Karen!
Thank you for the tip!
Uau!! Congratulations!!!
Baci
Great product… I’m partial to bleach but this stuff is wow….thanks for sharing…btw..I don’t know if I missed something but I thought I would not be able to see your blog through GFC but you still appear on my list and I came to your blog through there…..maybe they’re still haven’t made a full transition…..anyway…I was happy to see you there…..que tengas un buen dia…xo
Lu
Hi thanks for this…we moved into our house two years ago and have a white porcelain bath that is positively grey and I have used all sorts to no avail, even Mr Clean magic bath eraser. Funny because I always used Bar Keepers Friend in the UK but I forgot all about this magical product! So today I am off to Home Hardware to see if I can get it here in Canada! Fingers crossed!
Rona,
Good Luck!
You are going to love it!