DIY Appliance Cleaners

Suppose you have run out of your favorite appliance cleaner, or you are looking to start cleaning with more simple and natural ingredients. In that case, this is the article for you. Atlanta Appliance Services has plenty of suggestions below, including how-to, ingredients for DIY appliance cleaners, and helpful tips.

DIY Appliance Cleaners for the Dishwasher

Dishwashers do a great job of cleaning our dishes, but they don’t, unfortunately, clean themselves. After a few months of use, your dishwasher can get clogged with food and debris.

Remove Items-The first thing you will want to do is locate your drain, remove the filter, and clean it out very well. Make sure there are no food chunks in it.

Wash Racks and Door Gasket- Put hot soapy water in a bowl and grab a scrub brush to clean the door gasket and racks. If you don’t want to scrub, you can spray them with a vinegar and water mixture.

Scrub Inside Walls- With the constant use of soap, grime, and soap, scum builds up on the walls and door of the dishwasher. “Scrubbing them down with hot soapy water and a cloth or scrub brush can make a huge difference,” says Peterson.

Clean Cycle- Place a large bowl or cup of white distilled vinegar in the bottom rack and half a cup of baking soda in another bowl on the dishwasher’s top rack.

Regular Cycle- After you run the clean cycle, run a regular dishwashing cycle. Doing so will allow the vinegar and baking soda to work together while you focus on another task.

Cleaning the Exterior- You can clean the exterior while the dishwasher is running its clean cycle. If you have a stainless steel dishwasher, use a stainless steel cleaner and wipe dry with a microfiber cloth. 

If you have a plastic or glass surface, clean it with a damp cloth and a drop of detergent, rinse it with a damp cloth, and then dry it. If you have a glass dishwasher door, use a glass cleaner and a lint-free rag to wipe away the build-up.

Appliance Cleaners for the Oven 

A clean environment and healthy food are more important than most realize. Keeping your oven clean is crucial when it comes to keeping your family healthy. Ovens get messy way faster than we’d like, and cleaning up all those drips and stains can be a challenge.

Let’s keep your oven clean with these simple steps:

Oven Racks

First, remove your oven racks and let them soak in the bathtub of a wash bin.

No matter what kind of oven you have, the best way to clean metal racks is to remove them entirely. Once you take them out, soak them in boiling water with a little bit of dishwasher detergent.

“The bathtub is a suitable place to soak oven racks, though you may want to clean the tub afterward. After soaking for two hours, scrub the racks with a stiff brush, rinse, and dry before returning them to the oven.” Says Ron from Mr. Appliance.

Oven Knobs

Avoid spraying cleaner directly on the knobs as it can get behind the knobs and ruin the switches, shortening out the control panel.

To clean your oven knobs, use a microfiber cloth with a bit of dish soap and gently wipe them off. If your knobs need more cleaning, you can use a non-abrasive sponge and wipe them off more.

Oven Glass Door

The oven’s glass door needs a more gentle approach when it comes to cleaning it because it is more susceptible to scratches. So, skip the scrubbing and abrasive products.

To clean the door:

1. Mix baking soda and water until it becomes a thick paste.
2. Spread the paste generously on the glass.
3. Let it sit for 20 minutes.
4. Gently wipe away with a microfiber cloth.
5. Rinse thoroughly with water.

Inside Your Oven

Your ingredient for this cleaner is three simple things: baking soda, water, and vinegar.

“We say skip the chemical oven cleaner and use a safe and simple solution that still gives you awesome results. A great homemade oven cleaner is a combination of baking soda and water. The baking soda acts as an abrasive and the water softens baked-on crud and loosens food particles,” says Jessica Samson, spokesperson for The Maids. “Make a paste and apply it liberally on the oven’s interior surfaces and give it [at least] 20 minutes (ideally longer) to break down the burned food.”

You can add vinegar to your cleaning mixture for some extra cleaning power, but it’s not a must. If you choose to add the vinegar, spray it over the baking soda mixture and allow it to sit and bubble for about 20 minutes.

Next, use a non-abrasive pad and gently scrub all the oven surfaces. Once that is done, you can wipe the surface dry with a cloth or paper towel.

Appliance Cleaner Tips for the Stove

One homeowner suggests using this recipe for a streak-free look on your black appliances, and even black ones will leave it streak free. This mixture only takes 5 minutes to make and makes 24 fluid ounces of cleaner.

• 1 cup of water
• 1 cup of white vinegar
• 1 cup of rubbing alcohol
• 2–3 drops of liquid dish soap
• 3–4 drops of your favorite essential oil or fruit extract. (This is optional to counteract the pungent vinegar smell.)

To extract your own oil from an orange: Soak two to three orange peels in one cup of vinegar for one to two weeks and then strain out into a jar and discard the peels. You can also use the orange essence vinegar in place of regular white vinegar to make the recipe above.

Other Materials Needed

Microfiber cloths

24 oz. spray bottle

Instructions

1. Add all your ingredients to the 24oz spray bottle and shake it well to combine.
2. Spray the mixture straight onto your black stove.
3. Wipe away the mixture with your microfiber cloth. Using microfiber is the key to no streaks.
4. Continue this process until it is clean.

DIY Refrigerator Cleaning

Inside the Refrigerator

When it comes to cleaning your refrigerator, hold off on the bleach and harsh chemicals to make it clean and beautiful again. All you need is a few simple ingredients.

To clean your refrigerator, use one cup of white vinegar, two cups of hot water, and about ten drops of lemon essential oil.

Combine these ingredients into a spray bottle and spray the inside and outside of your refrigerator. You’ll see food slide down the wall of your refrigerator with ease. Having the food fall down means less scrubbing for you.

Get Rid of Odors with DIY Appliance Cleaners

• To fight off household and food odors, you can soak cotton balls in an essential oil of your preference and place them in a bowl in the refrigerator.
• Fill a clean old sock with activated charcoal. (You can find this at an aquarium store.) Tie a knot in the top of the sock and put it in the back of your refrigerator. This odor hack will last you about a month or two, depending on the amount of space you have and how heavily you use your refrigerator.
• If something in your refrigerator smells really bad, you can quickly get rid of it by sprinkling vanilla extract on cotton balls and putting them in a bowl in the back of the fridge.

Using Appliance Cleaners Under the Refrigerator

To get rid of dust bunnies from underneath the refrigerator, you will:

1. Remove the grill from the front of the refrigerator.
2. Take the grill outside and dust off the built-up dust. If it’s super built up, spray it off with the water hose and let it air dry out in the sun.
3. Go back inside, sweep under the refrigerator as far as you can, and then vacuum up whatever you find. You’ll be surprised to see everything that has accumulated under the fridge.
4. Once the grill has dried and you have cleaned around the area where it goes, put the clean grill back on.

After Appliance Cleaners, Appliance Repair with Atlanta Appliance Services

There is no doubt cleaning your appliances regularly helps them stay in good working condition. Nevertheless, appliances do need repairs now and again. When you have cleaned and troubleshot your appliances, but they are still not in the best working condition, call us.

Atlanta Appliance Services has founded its business on quality and integrity. If you are stumped when it comes to one of your appliances, give us a call. We love a good challenge and helping our customers figure out the puzzle that appliances can be. We serve the Atlanta area and the surrounding cities of Loganville, GA.

Reach out to our friendly and trained staff today to get a technician to your house at your earliest convenience. We work, play, and live here in the community and want to make you proud. We look forward to hearing from you and servicing your appliances.