Category Archives: Cleaning

How To Clean Your Washing Machine

Posted on by

From your yoga pants to your bedsheets, your washer carries a heavy load for you, delivering pristine clothes and linens week after week. But did you ever consider you may need to clean the machine that you use to clean your clothes? Vicious cycle, but it’s true, your washing machine should be washed every now and then. Whether you use a top-loader or front-loader, learn how to clean your washing machine.

Washing Machine Cleaning

Has your washing machine lost its shine? Start by cleaning the outside of your washer. Affresh machine cleaning wipes work wonders removing built-in grime from the exterior surface, controls, detergent tray and door.

Once your washing machine is looking so fresh, so clean from the outside, it’s time to think about what’s on the inside. Use a cleaner specifically formulated for your washer interior, such as affresh tablets. With affresh, you simply place one tablet in the washer tub, run the washer on a normal cycle with your hottest water setting and then wipe away any residue left once the cycle ends. The tablet dissolves slowly throughout the entire wash cycle to break up dirt and soap residue.

Bonus Washer Cleaning Tips

Anytime you have water, there’s a chance for mildew. To avoid a mildew smell in your washing machine, keep the door open after you run a load. This allows the machine to air out and dry. With front-load machines in particular, the gasket can be a common culprit contributing to the mildew smell. Wipe your gasket dry when you’re finished with laundry for the day.

black Samsung washing machine

Image via Samsung

Some newer washing machines come with a self-clean function. Samsung is well known for their self-cleaning washers, which remove dirt and bacteria through a combination of soaking, pulsating and high-speed spinning.

Now that you know how to clean your washing machine, there’s only one thing left to do. Give it a spin.

Do you have any washing machine cleaning tips? Share them in the comments below.

This is an updated version of an article previously published on Oct. 28, 2009.
Featured image via LG

How To Clean Your Stovetop

Posted on by

Pots boil over. Taco fillings overflow. Pancake batter spills off the griddle. It happens, and often results in burnt on messes that are difficult to clean. But we’ve been around a stovetop or two, and lucky for you, are sharing our knowledge on how to clean your stovetop. Roll up your sleeves and get started.

How to Clean Porcelain Stovetop

gas-stove-top-cleaning-tips

No. 1 Enemy: Clean up spills containing acids, such as vinegar and tomato, as soon as the surface is cool enough, as they could affect the finish.

Tool: Nonabrasive plastic scrubbing pad and cooktop cleaner. Mr. Clean Magic Eraser saves a lot of elbow grease.

Timesaver: Throw grates in the dishwasher on the most powerful cycle you have. It’s recommended to give it a good bath in the sink first, but if you have a great Warners’ Stellian dishwasher, no pre-rinsing necessary!

DO NOT: Put caps on the dishwasher or reassemble caps on burners while they are wet. If you put caps back on the burners while they are wet, it could lead to future issues with trying to ignite your burners.

How to Clean Glass/Ceramic Stovetops

how-to-clean-ceramic-stove-top

No. 1 Enemy: Sugary spills (jellies, candy, syrup).

Tool: Cooktop Scraper or a razor blade. Clean while the cooktop is still warm, wearing oven mitts if necessary.

Culprit: Heavy soil, dark streaks, specks, and discoloration

Tool: Cooktop Polishing Cream or soap and water (and some elbow grease!). Do like Mr. Miyagi taught you: wax on, wax off until white film disappears and takes mess with it.

Culprit: Burned-on soil

Tool: Cooktop Cleaner and Cooktop Scraper (or razor blade). First apply cleaner. Then scrape surface keeping blade as flat as possible. Finish polishing cooktop until film disappears.

Culprit: Overboiling residue

Tool: A melamine sponge (aka Mr. Clean Magic Eraser) eliminates the evidence quite well.

How to Clean Cast Iron Grates

cleaning cast iron grates

Here are some steps recommended by Wolf appliances, which we picked up after a smart question from one of our customers.

Step 1: Remove grates from unit and place on a flat surface near the sink to clean. DO NOT immerse in water. Towel dry.

Step 2: Use a no-scratch cleaning pad to scrub with hot water and mild detergent or a paste made of baking soda and water.

Step 3: If needed, use a degreaser, such as Formula 409. Then, rinse and towel dry.

Step 4: In a worst case scenarios, spot clean with Fume-free Easy Off or use Carbona Oven Rack Cleaner.

For more background, read this post. HOW TO: clean cast iron grates.

How to Clean Stainless Steel Cooktop

how to clean stainless steel cooktop

You might have a full stainless steel stove top under your grates.

First try stainless steel cleaner. For tougher messes, try a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. Always go with the grain for best results.

How To Clean a Grill and Prepare it for Spring

Posted on by

Along with shorts and mosquitoes, grilling season is coming in hot! Follow these tuneup tips to make sure your gas grill or charcoal grill is barbecue-ready.

Clean the Grill

Clean the interior using a putty knife to scrape off burnt-on food particles inside your grill. This isn’t just aesthetic. Build-up prevents your grill from heating correctly.

To clean your grates, Weber Grill suggests putting them in a dark-colored plastic bag with a cup of ammonia into the bag. After a day in the sun, residue should easily hose off.

If you have a grease drain, make sure it’s unclogged by running a coat hanger down it. Just keep your hands away from the grease bucket, because the grease will drain out fast and could burn you.

Season the Grill

Use nonstick cooking spray to oil the grates, drip pans and inside of the grill. This helps keep food from sticking to the surfaces and speeds cleaning. Light the grill and let it burn empty with the lid closed for 30 minutes to burn off the preservatives.

Level the Grill

Level the grill. If one side of your grill burns burgers while the other leaves them raw, it’s probably not level. Check both side-to-side and front-to-back to ensure even heating.

Check Grill for Leaks

Check for leaks by inspecting connections for tightness and hoses for cracks. Another good way to scope out leaks is by brushing non-ammonia soapy water around the fitting with an old toothbrush. Turn the gas on and watch for bubbles.

And if you need a new grill for spring, visit Warners’ Stellian.

Microwave Odor? How to Get Smell Out of Microwave

Posted on by

Microwave-CleaningYou know how sometimes you microwave food and it ends up smelling like something you made last week?

No one wants broccoli vaguely reminiscent of burnt popcorn or that super greasy pizza.

But as much as you clean it, you just can’t get rid of that darn stinky odor in the microwave.

Until now.

Removing Microwave Odors

Frigidaire passed along this odor-removing solution that requires little more than pushing buttons.

You’ll need:

  • 1 cup water
  • juice of 1 lemon
  • grated lemon peel
  • several whole cloves

Combine all ingredients together in a glass measuring cup and boil for several minutes in the microwave on full power. Allow the hot mixture to sit in the microwave until cool (this is when the magic happens).

Wipe interior with a soft cloth.

Voila!

How To Clean Stove Drip Pans

Posted on by

Cleaning your stove top is like making the bed: even if you do it today, you’re still going to have to do it tomorrow, too.

If you have an electric coil stove you have drip pans, which – by name – catch drips. Even if you clean your range top often, it’s a mess the next time you cook. Make cleaning drip pans easier with these methods.

How To Clean Stove Drip Pans Fast

The fastest, easiest – and perhaps even most effective way to clean the surface – is with Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, or a generic version of this melamine foam sponge.

It looks like an ordinary sponge, but because it’s melamine, it actually has little microscrubbers that can remove discoloration and baked on mess with minimal elbow grease.

That being said, it is abrasive in nature so it can scratch or dull surfaces if you’re not careful. Let’s save this cleaning method for Why didn’t you tell me you’re mother was visiting? times.

How To Spot Clean Stove Drip Pans

For day to day drips and stains, make sure the burner’s completely cooled and pull it up and out from the stove top. Wet the drip pan and sprinkle on a liberal amount of Bar Keeper’s Friend. Use a rag to work the cleaner into a paste and polish off the mess. Rinse and dry thoroughly before replacing the pans.

How To Deep Clean Stove Drip Pans

Pick a time when you don’t need to use your sink or stove for several hours, like right before bed or work. Again, wait until the stove is cool and remove the burners. Put each burner pan in separate gallon plastic bags. Add 1/4 cup of ammonia to each and fill the remainder with hot tap water. Close the bags and let them sit overnight (or for several hours).

Then, drain the bags and scrub off the loosened mess. Rinse well before applying any other cleaners, as ammonia can create toxic fumes when mixed. Rinse and dry thoroughly before replacing.

Bonus: Clean drip pans for your electric stove don’t just serve cosmetic purposes; keeping the surface reflective ensures the most efficient use of heat, meaning you’ll use less energy when you keep your burners and drip pans clean.

How do you keep your stove drip pans clean? Tell us in the comments!