This week’s ‘How To’ feature is all about the guy who does the brunt of our kitchen duty: The Dishwasher. I never really gave much concern to this appliance until my kitchen started to smell a little funky. I would clean the counters, mop the floor, wipe down the inside of the cabinets, even deodorize the disposal, but we still smelled the funk. So, during one of the many daily internal conversation I have with myself, I asked myself, “Self, what is the one thing I never clean – ding ding ding! My dishwasher.” Maybe he (yes, my dishwasher is a male…) is the stinky culprit in all this kitchen madness because it was driving my husband and I crazy.
I went to the store and bought a giant bottle of white distilled vinegar because that stuff cleaned the hell out of my front loaders when we had a stank issue in the laundry room. I rolled up my sleeves, and got down to business cleaning this guy up, because after 4 years of dish washing (I’m embarrassed to even admit that it’s been that long!) it’s time to get him clean!
Here is what you will need to do to clean your dishwasher in only 4 simple steps:
1. Make sure your dishwasher is empty. Take a rag or paper towel and put a little vinegar on it and clean around the edges of the dishwasher.
2. Use about 2 cups worth of white distilled vinegar and 1/4 cup of Baking Soda (optional). But don’t mix them together unless you are ready for an at home science experiment. Luckily, I was already in the dishwasher when I added the baking soda to the vinegar and it foamed like crazy out of the measuring cup. I would pour the vinegar in the bottom first, then sprinkle the baking soda if you choose to use it.
3. Run the dishwasher on HOT and/or sanitize cycle. My dishwasher doesn’t have a sanitize cycle, so I just ran a hot one.
4. Once it’s done, use a rag and dry your dishwasher and the edges. It will be sparkly clean after that! No stinky smells anymore!
I plan on doing this every month or so to keep it looking and smelling fresh.
– Amanda
