Clean Your Kitchen and More With Bar Keepers Friend

All our kitchens have become filthy from heavy use over the past six months. If you’re like me, you’ve noticed all your pots and pans have baked-on stains, your appliances are coated in gunk, and your silverware is rusting.

One of our favorite cleansers here at Lifehacker is Bar Keepers Friend. This powder is known for cleaning stainless steel (which it does incredibly well), but it has uses all over (and even outside) the house.

Before cleaning anything with BKF, check the package to make sure that it is a recommended use. First wet your surface—be it an oven door, a sink, or the face of an appliance. Rub on some BKF with a wet sponge to form a paste. Let sit for one minute. Then wipe off with a damp cloth, and dry.

This stuff works so well on stainless steel, it removed rust from all my steak knives, and did away with years of buildup on my pots and pans. It also removed scratches on my ceramic cereal bowls, and it fixed scratches on my car. I really doubted that one when I first heard it, but took the stuff outside and spread it on my car, and sure enough—the scratches were gone in a minute.

For all these tips and more, check out the video above.