Keep These Handy Items Next to the Kitchen Sink
When you are in the kitchen, a lot of time is spent by the kitchen sink. Whether you are preparing food for a meal or cleaning up after a meal, the kitchen sink is essential to your activities. You want to make the best use of your time by the sink as efficient as possible by keeping useful tools nearby.
Dish Soap and Holder
One of the most important items you need by the kitchen sink is liquid dish soap. Palmolive, Dawn, Seventh Generation, and others give you many options from which to choose. You can keep the soap in the original bottle or use a built-in dispenser (as shown in the photo) if you have one.
Another way to keep dish soap handy is to use a dish cleaning wand that holds liquid soap. An older model of a Libman dish wand is shown, but other brands are available. I prefer the version with a sponge surface. Some wands and refills come with a scrubber pad surface over the sponge, but this version is sometimes too rough for certain surfaces. Some soap dispensing models are round and have a brush surface for scrubbing.
Scrubbers
A kitchen scrub brush without a soap dispenser, as shown in the photo, is useful when you need extra cleaning power or are cleaning cast iron skillets and griddles when you don’t want to use soap.
For cleaning all types of kitchen surfaces along with dishes and pots and pans, I like a blue kitchen sponge with a darker blue plastic scrubber backing. The blue scrubbing pad is safe to use on dishes, glassware, nonstick cookware and almost all kitchen surfaces. The cellulose sponge, which is made from wood fiber, can be squeezed out of most of its water so it cleans countertops and other surfaces with little water. The squeegee action of the damp sponge will leaves surfaces with a thin coat of moisture. This moisture will usually dry quickly without leaving spots and streaks. Keep in mind that these sponges can get moldy. They need to be rinsed out thoroughly and squeezed dry after use. Washing in the dishwasher about once a week helps keep them fresh. Replace the sponge if it starts to smell or looks discolored.
Some people also like other types of scrubbers. The Scrub Daddy and Scrub Mommy are very versatile for kitchen scrubbing and can be cleaned in the dishwasher. Some people like Scotch-Brite Dobie Pads. These pads have a sponge wrapped in a plastic scrubbing mesh. Some people like the Magic Jetz Scrubz scrubber sponge that can also be cleaned in the dishwasher. For certain kitchen cleaning tasks, S.O.S or Brillo steel wool soap pads are the best choice.
Scrigit Scrapers
For thicker buildups of dried or burnt-on food, scrubber sponges can be very slow since they only remove a small layer with each scrub. Scrigit Scrapers are much faster for removing dried and burnt-on food buildups. They can scrape off more of the substance you are trying to remove with each push forward without scratching surfaces found in most kitchens.
The rounded wedge-shaped scraper tip on both the original blue Scrigit Scraper and the newer green wide-blade model is very good at breaking through thicker build-ups, just a a v-shaped snow plow pushes through snow. The rounded tip also gets into curved corners of pots, pans, instant cooker pots, and slow cooker crock pots. The flat scraper tips are very good at removing buildups on flat surfaces and along edges. The flared tips on the green wide-blade model can clean grooves and corners. Scrigit Scrapers are also very good at removing adhesive stickers and labels.
Drying
For drying washed items, a dish rack with a drain board underneath helps hold everything so they drain and dry quickly. If you don’t want to have a dish rack taking space on the counter, an absorbent dish drying mat is a good option. Once everything, including the mat, is dry, the mat takes up very little storage space.
For drying and initial cleaning of certain messy items, a role of paper towels is another handy item to keep near the kitchen sink. Cotton kitchen towels are also essential for items that need to be dried to prevent water spots or rusting.
Having the right tools by the kitchen sink will make all your cleaning tasks faster and easier.
Leave A Comment