Grab This Bathroom Staple To Tackle Some Of The Toughest Kitchen Messes

Everyone has their favorite products for keeping a kitchen clean and tidy. From pre-made cleaners purchased in supermarkets to non-toxic sprays you mix up yourself with just the right ingredients, most of the time they do the trick just fine. Occasionally, though, calling in the big guns is needed to remove stubborn stains and odors. Isn't it great to know you can count on something you probably already have in your bathroom to accomplish those tough jobs? What is it, you ask? A simple tube of toothpaste can help you get your kitchen cleaner than ever.

What's the best type of toothpaste to use for kitchen cleaning? Plain white pastes – rather than gels — have just what you need to do the job without dyes or whitening agents (that can have the unintended consequence of bleaching surfaces). This makes sense because regular, old toothpaste foams up when you use it and serves as a neutralizer to acids in the mouth. Those same properties safely keeping your teeth healthy and sparkling will also clean grime in a kitchen. Toothpastes also have mild abrasives like silica, aluminum oxide, or calcium pyrophosphate that boost the cleaning power and help remove plaque from teeth. In a similar way, they can provide some extra cleanup muscle in every corner of your kitchen. These types of abrasives are gentle enough for your teeth, so they won't harm surfaces ranging from countertops to flooring.

As you've probably discovered, when spills prone to stain like tomato-based sauces, colorful juices, or your favorite tea or coffee aren't wiped up right away, they can indeed leave a stain on a countertop. No worries, though, with a little patience and a tube of toothpaste, you can get your stained countertops looking good as new. One of the reasons toothpastes work so well for cleaning stains is their pasty form. This lets you apply a little directly onto a stubborn stain and really concentrate the cleaning agents. To do this on countertops, just squeeze a dab of toothpaste on the stain, then use a soft cloth or cleaning eraser to lightly scrub the stain away using a circular motion. Rinse away any residue with a damp cloth or paper towel. Keep in mind, though, some toothpastes can damage sealers on natural stone like granite so save this hack for other types of countertops. 

Some foods like garlic, onions, and those made with strong spices can leave a bad smell on dishes and in food containers even after you've washed them. This is especially true with plastics, since they are far more porous than materials like glass or ceramics. That's the reason plastics more readily absorb odors that are hard to banish. If you've ever stored leftover Indian food in a plastic container, you're probably nodding your head right now in agreement. The good news is that toothpaste eliminates odors in your mouth, and those same odor-fighting properties can help deodorize while you wash the dishes. All you need is enough white toothpaste so that you can spread it over the malodorous item in question, then scrub it, and rinse the item as you usually would. If needed, you can repeat the process until all the offending odors disappear.

Glass stovetops are generally easy to keep clean since they have a flat surface that can be efficiently wiped off after they are fully cooled. Following the manufacturer's guidelines for products to use for daily cleaning is a best practice; one KitchenAid recommends is vinegar applied with a spray bottle. If you have a stain that won't budge with your regular cleaning method, however, you can try using toothpaste to effectively eliminate it. Simply dampen a soft cloth and rub some toothpaste on the stained area. When finished, rinse your cloth, wring it dry, and swipe away the leftover toothpaste. The bonus is that toothpaste can also eliminate minor scratches on glass stovetops in the process. After you've cleaned your glass stovetop, KitchenAid also recommends finishing up by polishing the entire surface with a soft, dry rag or paper towel to finish up the job. 

Just like with countertops, spills and splashes from pasta sauces, grape juice, and other brightly colored foods and drinks inside your refrigerator can result in stained surfaces. The bad part is that the products you normally use to wipe away fridge grime may not have enough cleaning oomph to remove hard refrigerator stains. That's when your handy tube of toothpaste has the potential to come to the rescue yet again. All you need to do is apply a scant squeeze of toothpaste on a soft cloth and gently scrub the stain until it disappears. Use the other side of the cloth to wipe up any toothpaste residue left on the surface. If you like, follow up with another dampened microfiber cloth to further rinse the area cleaned with toothpaste. Since refrigerators are notorious for harboring odors, spot cleaning with toothpaste can freshen them up, too. 

Heat stains usually happen when a warm, moist vessel is placed on a wood surface. The heat makes the wood expand, wetness then enters, and it's trapped when the wood cools and contracts. Ever have a ring left on a wooden table from a coffee mug? That's how a heat stain like that occurs. 

Never fear, though, toothpaste can really remove heat stains from your wooden table. The acid neutralizing properties of toothpaste are what makes this work. For this cleaning project, though, you'll want to add a small amount of baking soda to a squirt of toothpaste to make a pasty mixture. Apply the paste to the heat stain with a damp cloth and let it sit for about 10 minutes so it can go to work. Wipe the area clean with another soft cloth making sure the wood is dry to finish up.

From top to bottom, toothpaste can indeed be used all around the kitchen. This includes serving as a supplemental cleaner to make your linoleum floors shine by remove scuffing and light scratching caused by daily wear and tear. To get rid of these types of linoleum blemishes, just apply a dab of toothpaste onto the surface of the floor and rub it with a soft cloth in a rotating motion (rather than rubbing vigorously back and forth). The circular cleaning action will likely pick up most of the toothpaste as you work, but you can wipe the area with a damp cloth or paper towel if you like after you're done. With all that toothpaste can do to eliminate stains and odors in the one of the busiest rooms in the house, you may even decide to pick up an extra tube to add to your cleaning kitchen caddy just so it's always close at hand.