How To Clean Your Kitchen and Bathroom With Vinegar

How To Clean Your Kitchen and Bathroom with White Vinegar

White vinegar is something you should have in your pantry at all times. Not only does it work to clean your fruits and veggies, but it also gets that mildew smell out of towels, deodorizes the disposal, freshens linens, and even gets rid of soap scum and build-up on your shower doors. As a fantastic multi-purpose cleaner for your home, nothing beats the effectiveness of vinegar. It’s inexpensive, eco-friendly, and tough on dirt, grime, bacteria, and mildew.

While it may not have that lemony-fresh scent you are used to with store-bought cleaners, vinegar makes a versatile and affordable household cleaning product. You can soften the smell of vinegar with essential oils and use it on just about any surface from the inside of the refrigerator to countertops (just don’t use it on natural stone surfaces like marble or granite). Check out the cleaning tips below on how to clean your kitchen and bathroom with distilled white vinegar. 

Cleaning The Kitchen With Vinegar

White vinegar is a magical kitchen cleaning agent, praised for its ability to dissolve mineral deposits, bacteria, dirt, grease, and grime. From descaling kettles to cleaning your microwave, it’s a natural disinfectant that is brilliant for cleaning the kitchen.  

Clean your microwave

Remove hard-to-clean microwave splatters and stains by placing 1/2-cup vinegar and 1/2-cup water in a glass bowl. Microwave 2-3 minutes, or until it boils. Remove the bowl and wipe away any grease and dirt with a clean cloth. 

Clean your dishwasher

One of the most common causes of dishwasher odor comes from trapped food and grease. Cleaning your dishwasher regularly is essential. Add a half cup of white vinegar into a dishwasher-safe container. Place it in your empty dishwasher and set it to run for a full cycle on a high heat level. The vinegar will break down any food, grease, soap scum and residue stuck inside the dishwasher and get it smelling fresh again. 

Remove grease from your backsplash 

Regularly exposed to food, grease, and steam, your backsplashes can end up with a nasty build-up of unsightly grime and grease. If your backsplash is ceramic, porcelain, or glass tile, white vinegar can be mixed with warm water in a spray bottle to clean away kitchen grease or food remnants.  

Clean your drain 

Natural products for drain cleaning are safer than toxic chemical-based cleaners. Synthetic cleaners have sodium hydroxide or sulfuric acid in them, which can eat away at your pipes over time. Instead, freshen the drains with vinegar and baking soda. First, mix 1/2 cup baking soda with 1/4 cup table salt and pour down the drain. Follow by pouring 1 cup of vinegar down the drain. it will foam and bubble. Let it sit for about 15 minutes, then run hot tap water or pour boiling water down the drain for 30-60 seconds. Performing this method once a month will keep your drain clear and smelling fresh.

Remove limescale

Remove limescale around your kitchen faucet by giving it a good scrub with a white vinegar and water solution. Simply mix them together in equal parts and submerge your cleaning cloth into the solution. Then, use the cloth to scrub away any limescale. You’ll be amazed at the results.

Clean your coffee maker 

Germs love warmth and moisture, two things that your coffee maker produces while brewing your morning cup. In fact, 50% of coffee makers contain yeast and mold, according to an NSF study, and should be cleaned on a regular basis. Over time, hard water minerals can also build up in your machine and you may notice that coffee takes longer to drip. Simply fill the reservoir with equal parts vinegar and water and run the machine. Next, dump the full pot of vinegar and water, rinse everything out, and brew another full pot of clean water. Repeat. 

Descale your kettle

If you are a daily tea drinker, cleaning the kettle is vital to remove bacteria and grime buildup. Descale your kettle like a pro by filling it up with equal parts white vinegar and water. Then, let it soak for about an hour before boiling. Once it starts to boil, unplug the kettle and leave it soaking for another 15-20 minutes. Empty the kettle, rinse thoroughly with clean water. Time for some tea!  

Get rid of grease from oven racks

Oven racks naturally get greasy and grimy over time. In order to get those racks looking as good as new, place them in an empty tub, sprinkle baking soda over them, and spray with white vinegar. The baking soda and white vinegar will create a foam that will work to remove any grease. Set the oven racks in hot water overnight before scrubbing away any grime left on the racks with a sponge or towel in the morning. Rinse with cool water and dry before placing back in the oven. 

Clean your washing machine

Efficiently remove any build-up in your washing machine by pouring two cups of white vinegar into your empty washing machine. Let the cycle run on the hot water setting. If possible, clean your machine with vinegar every couple of weeks to help keep mold and bacteria at bay.

Clean your wooden cutting board 

Vinegar is a great natural way to clean and sanitize your wooden cutting board. Mix one part white distilled vinegar to 4 parts water and spray it onto the board surface directly. Leave it for five minutes, and then rinse down and dry completely.

Clean your cupboards

Vinegar is the go-to natural cleaner when faced with greasy cabinets. Mix equal parts vinegar and warm water and pour it into a spray bottle. Mist on cabinets, let it sit for a minute or two, and then wipe clean with a soft cloth.

Clean your refrigerator

Consider skipping the toxic chemicals where you store your food. Instead, try cleaning refrigerator surfaces with white vinegar. Wipe up spills using a cloth dampened with a vinegar cleaning solution of equal parts vinegar and water. You can even keep a bottle of the mixture stored in your fridge.

Cleaning The Bathroom With Vinegar

Vinegar works great for cleaning the bathroom. The high acidity level of vinegar helps loosen mineral deposits (such as lime & rust) and dissolve soap scum. And because it is so acidic, it creates a “hostile” environment for many microorganisms.

Clean your shower and tub

It’s hard to feel clean when getting out of a dirty shower or tub. Get it ultra-clean by mixing equal parts of vinegar and dawn in a spray bottle. Spray the walls, and floor with the mixture. The gel consistency of the dish soap will prevent the solution from immediately running down into the drain. Allow the solution to sit for as long as you like and then wipe it away with a sponge and warm water.  

Clean your glass shower door

Distilled vinegar can also work wonders on your shower glass (and on your windows, too). Simply fill a spray bottle with equal parts of white vinegar and water, and spray your shower door. For a streak-free shine, opt for an affordable squeegee.

Clean Your Mirror

Fill a spray bottle with equal parts vinegar and water and use it to clean your bathroom mirrors. Vinegar is a great cleaner and leaves a streak-free shine.

Clean your shower head  

As hard water build-up collects on your shower head, it affects the spray and pressure of the water. Descale it using vinegar, in a gallon-size Ziploc bag. Place the bag of vinegar over the showerhead and secure it with a heavy rubber band. Make sure there’s enough vinegar so the bottom part of the showerhead is submerged. If possible, allow it to soak overnight.  Once you remove the bag of vinegar, wipe the showerhead down with a sponge or cloth to remove any particles, then run warm water through the showerhead.

Clear your drain 

Got a stopped-up or slow-moving drain in your bathroom? Clear the drain with white vinegar, a bit of baking soda, and hot water. Start by pouring a pot of boiling water down the drain. Next, pour a cup of baking soda and a solution of one cup water and one cup white vinegar. Cover with the drain plug and wait for 5 to 10 minutes. Pour boiling water down the drain again.

Clean your toilet  

Get your toilet sparkling clean with white vinegar. Vinegar doesn’t harm the environment, and it’s a biodegradable alternative to other cleaning products including bleach, powdered detergents, and cleaners. Vinegar is also safe for septic tanks and drain fields. Hard water stains caused by a buildup of minerals in the water can contribute to an unsightly toilet bowl. Distilled white vinegar has a pH of 2.4.

This pH level means that vinegar can break down not just hard water stains, but also soap scum and residue, among other stains. Pour a cup of vinegar into the bowl and let it sit overnight. The next morning, sprinkle the bowl with baking soda and lightly scrub,  then flush.  

Clean your floor and wall tile

White vinegar handles dirt, hard water deposits, soap scum, and mildew, which means it works well at cleaning most kinds of bathroom floors and wall tile. Vinegar is safe for ceramic, porcelain, vinyl, and laminate tiles and makes them clean and shiny. Pour ¼ cup of white vinegar into a bucket containing 1 gallon of warm water. (This vinegar and water solution may be used on all tile materials except for natural stone such as marble, granite, and travertine). 

Dip a clean sponge into the solution and scrub down all wall tile. For any mildewed areas, add a little extra vinegar by pouring vinegar directly on the sponge and wiping this over the mildew. Sweep the tile floor and then mop it with the vinegar and water solution.

Leave the room and let the vinegar have some time to kill any mildew, about 5 to 10 minutes. Rinse off the mildewed areas of tile on the walls with a sponge, dampened in clean water. Mop the floor with clean water to rinse away the vinegar-water solution.

Final Thoughts

According to the Farmer’s Almanac, vinegar has been produced commercially for about 2,500 years, making it one of the oldest products in use by humans. It’s a wonderfully versatile and eco-friendly cleaning agent. If you want your house sparkling clean and smelling fresh without the use of harsh cleaning chemicals, break out the white vinegar!

Note of caution: While vinegar is a common pantry staple that many people use to safely and effectively clean their homes with, never mix it with hydrogen peroxide or bleach.

• Hydrogen peroxide + vinegar – Combining these two cleaning solutions creates peracetic acid. It is corrosive and an irritant that can harm your skin, eyes, nose, and throat in high concentrations. 
• Bleach + vinegar – The combination of bleach and vinegar releases chlorine and chloramine vapors, which can cause a chemical burn. Many cleaning products use either bleach and mixing it with vinegar can cause this reaction. 

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