How to maintain stainless steel tableware

Easily Clean Water Spots from Utensils

I've been putting this chore off because...well, I guess just because I'm lazy! It's always much simpler than I think it's going to be, and only takes about 15 minutes to sparkling clean utensils! Plus, if you have a Science geek in the house, they'll definitely enjoy watching the process!

Household Supplies

Rather than buying expensive (and likely toxic) products to clean my stainless steel and silver utensils, I find these household giants do the job just as well, maybe even better!

tin foil

baking soda

white vinegar

boiling water

That is all you need! Now let me show you a little before picture of my water-spotted, grimy looking utensils...do yours look like this?

I find peanut butter (and any nut butter for that matter) doesn't completely come off in our dishwasher. I'm left with dirty-looking stains, dried on food, and even a few rusty spots.

How to Clean Utensils

The first thing to do is fill a kettle with water and start it boiling. If you don't have a kettle, fill a large pot with water on the stovetop.

Lay a sheet of tin foil, shiny side up, in your sink.

I usually do all of one kind of utensil at a time (ie: all my teaspoons), so spread them out on the tin foil, front side up. It's okay if it's a little crowded, but try to have them in a single layer.

Harness the Power of Baking Soda and Vinegar!

Next, generously sprinkle baking soda over the utensils, making sure to coat any dirty spots. Then pour about 1/4 cup of white vinegar over the top and watch it foam as it removes all that grime.

Once the foaming stops, pour about a cup of boiling water over the top(flatware set). This seems to reactivate the baking powder and vinegar cleaning action and gives an additional boost to the job!

If utensils are really dirty, let them soak in this cleaning solution for a few minutes. Then I like to hand wash the utensils using dish soap and a gentle scrubber. Rinse well and then dry.

I leave the piece of tin foil, and any cleaning leftovers, in the sink and just keeping adding a new batch of utensils. You'll be amazed how dirty the tin foil looks once you're finished! It's like it draws all that grime out and hangs onto it!

I find that our utensils often get put away wet, or damp, and our hard water loves to create stains on the stainless!

Only when the cleaned utensils are completely dry do they get returned to the caddy.

It feels SO good to spend 15 minutes on this cleaning chore and be rewarded with clean and sparkly utensils in a clean caddy!

Before and After

I took before and after photos of the same knives, just so you can really see the comparison!

First the dirty...

Can you see the difference? WOW right?!

If you still have some rusty looking spots after following this cleaning method, you may need to use a piece of steel wool to help finish the job. I only have to do that once a year or even every other year. This method does a fantastic job in between!

I hope you found this cleaning tutorial helpful! Please let me know if you have any questions...I'm certainly no cleaning expert but maybe I'll be able to help!