For an extra deep clean, sanitize your drain too. Pour 1 tsp. of bleach and 1 quart of water down the drain, and also clean any food traps, strainers, or drainers you have over your drain with bleach, too. This should be done at least monthly.
Next up, to sanitize the sink, stop the drain and fill the basin with warm water. Add a small amount of bleach and let that sit for upwards of five minutes before draining the sink. Be sure to wipe down the handles and faucet with the bleach solution as well. Finally, rinse with warm water to remove the bleach.
To sanitize any sink after cleaning, plug the drain and fill the basin with a gallon of warm water. Swish in a tablespoon of bleach. Dip in a sponge; wipe down the faucet and handles. Let sit at least five minutes.
Using White Vinegar
If you're looking to disinfect your kitchen sink, vinegar is also your answer. White vinegar can kill bacteria without presenting the same risks as chemical cleaners. To clean your sink with vinegar, mix up a solution of equal parts vinegar and water in a spray bottle.
Remember the 1:2 ratio: one part baking soda to two parts white vinegar. First place the baking soda down the drain, followed by a slow pour of white vinegar. Wait 15 minutes for the bubbling duo to do its thing, then wash away with boiling hot water to rid the drain of any remaining residue.
In this How To, we recommend using bleach to disinfect your sink. That's because bleach is a highly effective disinfectant that eliminates mold, bacteria, and viruses. That said, bleach can be dangerous if it's used incorrectly.
Bleach is a powerful, toxic substance that should be used carefully and properly, and pouring it down a drain is not a proper use. Bleach can react with other substances in your pipes, potentially release fumes, and further plug up the system.
Regarding bleach working as well as vinegar, vinegar is NOT as effective as bleach and does NOT kill as many germs. Vinegar does kill some things but it is only 90% effective against bacteria and 80%-83% effective against viruses and mold/mildew. Bleach kills 99.9% of bacteria, viruses and mold/mildew.
Here's what to do: Spray Lysol® Kitchen Pro Antibacterial Cleaner in and around your sink and let it sit for 10 minutes. Wipe down the sink with paper towels and run warm water over any food contact surfaces to rinse. Feel free to use this method to clean kitchen faucet spray heads and other parts of the sink, too.
If you happen to have baking soda on hand, pour some onto a clean sponge and give the sink a quick scrub—but don't rinse after scrubbing. Instead, pour your hydrogen peroxide into a spray bottle and spritz the whole sink (or, just splash it around a bit, it's totally OK if it gets on your hands).
A mixture of mild dish soap and water is the best way to clean most sinks, particularly those with more delicate surfaces like copper or enameled cast iron.
› We recommend that you do not use chlorine bleach in your stainless steel sink, as chlorine will attack the protective layer that makes stainless steel truly stainless. Any drain cleaning products containing sulphuric or hydrochloric acid will also attack the sink.
Try cleaning your sink with a paste of baking soda and water. You can then rinse the sink with vinegar, which will bubble and fizz. Vinegar naturally disinfects while helping remove hard water stains from your stainless steel sink. Once your sink is clean and dry, you can easily add an extra shine.
Simply take your bathroom cleaner of choice (we would recommend Lysol® Power Bathroom Cleaner, as well as a clean cloth – and you're ready to go. Your bathroom sink steadily sees a build-up of dirt and grime every day, so you should aim to give it a wipe down daily and a deeper clean once per week.
Your Skin – Disinfectant wipes are meant for hard surfaces, not your hands, face, or any other parts of your body. Dishes and Food Containers – Don't use a disinfectant wipe to clean anything that touches your mouth, including utensils, dishes, and glassware. The chemicals in the wipes could be harmful if ingested.
First off, you probably need to deep clean it way more often than you already do. Lisa Yakas, microbiologist and Senior Certification Project Manager of Food Equipment at NSF International, told Bon Appetit that kitchen sinks should be deep cleaned at least once a week.
How does it work? Vinegar, be it white or malt or rosemary-infused, is about 5 per cent acetic acid. The acid kills bacteria and viruses, by chemically changing the proteins and fats that make up these nasties and destroying their cell structures.
Dish soap can get rid of bacteria and even the viruses such as coronavirus. Dish soap is mainly used to remove grease and food residue off from your dishes. Like hand soap, dish soap does not kill bacteria, but it lifts them off surfaces to be washed away by water.
The most common vinegar cleaning solution contains one cup of vinegar mixed with one cup of warm water. Warm water helps to dissolve grease and hard water spots more quickly. People who are filling a spray bottle that they will use over time may want to mix the vinegar with distilled water, not tap water.
For an extra deep clean, sanitize your drain too. Pour 1 tsp. of bleach and 1 quart of water down the drain, and also clean any food traps, strainers, or drainers you have over your drain with bleach, too. This should be done at least monthly.
The bubbling reaction from the baking soda and vinegar helps to loosen the drain clog, and the boiling water in step 4 helps remove it from your pipes. Baking soda and vinegar can serve as a natural drain cleaner.
Although you can use 1/5 to 3/4 of a cup of bleach to clean and deodorize drains, followed by a good flushing of hot water, it will not clear a clog. Bleach is amazing at sanitizing and killing germs, but it won't eat through hair and soap scum that's trapped in the pipes and causing a clog.
You can use any EPA-certified disinfectant on your Sinkology fireclay, vitreous china, nickel, or stainless steel sink. It's possible that you have some of these products already in your home, like Clorox or Lysol wipes, so you can get to disinfecting right away.