The Lemon Hack That'll Bring Shine Back To Your Dirty Sink In An Instant

How does the old proverb go? If life gives you lemons, use them to shine your kitchen sink? That doesn't quite roll off the tongue, but it might still be worth your while to try this clever cleaning hack. All it takes is one dirty sink, half of an already squeezed lemon, and a few drops of dish soap.

If you already gravitate toward natural cleaners, this hack is a no-brainer. Even if you don't, you might already have cleaning products containing lemon or at least a lemony scent — and for good reason. Citrus is well known as an effective natural cleaner. The acid in lemons can cut through challenging stains, limescale, and even rust. Citrus juice, especially lemon juice, also has antibacterial properties. And, lemons just smell good. They have that fresh, crisp scent that is synonymous with cleanliness. It's no wonder there are so many ways to clean your home with lemons.

If that's not enough to convince you to try this hack, you might like the fact that it's also a low-waste approach to your kitchen cleaning routine. Just grab half of a juiced lemon, your preferred dish soap, and get scrubbing. We tried it ourselves just to make sure it works. Was it a sweet success or did we sour on it? Here are the unfiltered results.

This kitchen sink is stainless steel and has two almost identical sides. It hadn't been cleaned in a few days (because, life!) and the left side was dirtier and duller due to lack of regular use. I added a few drops of Palmolive dish soap onto the cut side of half of a lemon and proceeded to scrub both sides of the sink. You really can't scrub hard or the lemon will fall apart, so use a light touch.

After scrubbing the entire sink and rinsing with cold water, both sides of the sink were noticeably shinier and cleaner looking, especially the left side that hadn't had water in it recently and had the duller appearance. I tried to clean in the drain area to see if it would also render an equally impressive shine, but the lemon was too big to fit in the drain cup. This is where a dishcloth would have been a better tool to get into the nooks and crannies. 

I did a final rinse and I noticed some brown areas near the drain had not disappeared. A liquid or powdered abrasive cleaner like Bar Keepers Friend and a bristle brush would be better tools for this deeper cleaning job. A lemon just doesn't have the structural integrity or the brush-like nature needed to get deeper into the hard material. 

Now that my sink is much shinier, I noticed an added bonus: the smell! It smells lemony-fresh throughout the entire kitchen. Another wonderful property of lemons is that they are odor neutralizers. They do this by nature of an acid-base reaction that removes volatile odors in the base materials that are causing the smells. Lemons are especially effective in reducing fishy odors. Also, if you have a porcelain sink, you can still use this method with no concerns. The only warning is to keep citrus juice away from grout, marble, and granite as it could eat away at these surfaces over time.

One place that can really stink up a kitchen is the garbage disposal, so after shining the sink, chop up a little bit of the used lemon and toss it in there. If you have more lemons, this DIY lemon air freshener will keep your home smelling clean. You'll be happy to know that this lemony fresh scent is actually good for you! The scent of lemon can improve alertness and positively affect mood.

If you have any lemon left after freshening up the disposal, chuck it in your compost bin. That lemon will live out its remaining days giving everything it has back to the earth. All you're left with is a fresh smelling kitchen, a no waste, chemical-free, green cleaner – and a sparkling sink.