Cleaning - The Kitchen Sink

A couple of weeks ago, I was reading a blog (I can't remember which one), and saw a post about using lemons and baking soda to clean a stainless steel sink.  I thought about that post as I was loading the dishwasher after breakfast this morning.  I noticed that even though I spray the sink with my vinegar cleaning solution regularly, I was still left with a nasty black discoloration.  I didn't have any lemons, but I did have some oranges that no one seemed to want to eat.  I was pretty sure that the acid in the oranges would work just like the acid from a lemon, so I gave it a try.

This is what my kitchen sink looked like before I started.  Pretty nasty!  I'm pretty sure this is the result of the kids (and possibly me), dumping food in the sink and not immediately rinsing it down the garbage disposal.  See all of the black discoloration?

I sprinkled the sink with a little baking soda and got to scrubbing with my orange halves.  It started picking up the black stuff right away.  It smelled good too!  There were no harsh fumes from chemicals, and I didn't need to wear gloves.  When I was finished, I just dumped the orange halves down the garbage disposal and ran it.  That way the blades got a cleaning too.

I didn't just stop with cleaning the inside of the sink.  I cleaned the little crevices around the sink too.  I forgot to take pictures of that, which you probably wouldn't have wanted to see anyway.  I sprayed vinegar cleaner around the edges of the sink and then used a toothpick to scrape out all of the gunk that collects there over time.  Not a fun job, but I am glad I took the time to do it.  See how nice the sink looks? (for now)