52 Weeks to Toxin Free Homemade Stainless Steel Cleaner

When I remodeled my kitchen some ten plus years ago I did not think about the struggles and troubles of owning stainless steel appliances. Granted I only had my oldest son at the time and I figured we would be a one child family, not even considering the possibility of when we had our twins. Now we have 20 hands and 50 fingers all over my gleaming appliances…well once gleaming. I really do not mind the smudges and fingerprints most days, they are a beautiful reminder of the blessings God has granted me with these awesome people in my life. Other days when my inner dragon lady takes hold and we have company headed over, I curse and rue the day I ever bought stainless steel appliances no matter how gorgeous they may look in my kitchen. Those times I want my appliances to shine like new I sought after the best stainless steel cleaner, of which I came up short, a lot! I have tried every commercial cleaner known to man and even tried vinegar and those stainless steel rat bastards got the better of me. Until I opted for a toxin free option for a stainless steel cleaner and with items right from my pantry.

Are you seeing a theme here? Every cleaner we have posted are from your everyday kitchen items that we use to cook. 100% natural, no chemicals, no additives, no bullshit. Just plain old, good old fashioned ingredients from nature. I digress, but truth be told I love to share my passion for living a simpler life with less hassle of finding a cleaning product that works and one that is safe for my family. Spending minutes down the cleaning aisle trying to find the right product, the right price and mulling over the health and safety of my family. Oye, to me that is just too much hassle, not to mention the price to buy a different product for every cleaning – multi-surface, kitchen, bath, glass, stainless steel – I just do not have the time or cabinet space or the budget to purchase that many products.

Instead of purchasing the canned surfactant stainless steel cleaner that still leaves me feeling disappointed with how clean, or lack thereof, my stainless steel appliances truly are, I explored a simpler version of a stainless steel cleaner that is readily accessible in my home. I looked at the consistency of my stainless steel cleaner and realized how oily the product was and the citrus type smell. Looking in my pantry and to my essential oils, I found the perfect solution and one that does not spray out of a can. The results were even better than I expected, no streaking, no smudging, no residual oils and my appliances looked fantastic.

• towel, soft cloth, microfiber cloth or paper towel
• olive oil
• lemon essential oils

Now if you do not have lemon essential oil that is quite alright, the lemon essential oil is the ingredient on your stainless steel cleaner that cuts through goo, grime and gunk. So in the event you do not have the lemon EO, clean your stainless steel first with a 1 to 1 mixture of vinegar and water to cut through the grime and fingerprints. Dry with a soft cloth, wipe down with the olive oil and then buff to a shine. If you have the EO wipe down the appliances with the olive oil and lemon essential oil mixture and then buff to a shine. Your cleaner is petroleum free, toxin free and you do not have to worry about storing additional cleaners under your sink, in your cabinets or spending extra monies purchasing a specific stainless steel cleaner.

Happy cleaning!