How to Clean Almost Anything With Bar Keepers Friend
Want the ability to clean pretty much anything?
Then Bar Keepers Friend will be your new best friend! 🤗 This versatile product will magically take off all those years of burnt-on messes, scratches, and even so many more things around the house! You’re going to be so WOWED, the very next thing I bet you’ll do after reading this post is go try this product. 😏
Originally used to clean brass rails in taverns, this powdered cleanser contains the active ingredient oxalic acid, a plant-based cleaner that breaks down rust and stains on a molecular level. It claims to get rid of rust stains, tarnishes, oxidation, hard water deposits, soap scum, mildew, grease, and grime from a variety of surfaces such as copper, tile, brass, stainless steel, porcelain, plastics, and glass.
Here are the top ways we like to use Bar Keepers Friend:
1. Use Bar Keepers Friend in the backyard.
You may think it’s time to throw out that metal patio furniture — after all, it’s totally covered in rust. But with Bar Keepers Friend and some scrubbing, you can clean and polish it to look like it just came from the store!
Use BKF to get your outdoor grill sparkling clean, too, and you’ll be ready to host that summer barbecue in style! Just be sure to clean (with gentle dish soap) and rinse any surface that’ll onlinee into contact with food. While oxalates are naturally occurring in foods like spinach, broccoli, cabbage, brussels sprouts, and rhubarb, ingesting too much oxalic acid can be harmful.
2. Remove scratch marks, stains, and baked-on residue from dishes.
You know those unsightly marks silverware can leave on your dishes? Not having a solution is frustrating. Plus, it can be embarrassing to serve guests when your dishes are starting to look pretty rough and questionably dirty.
Bar Keepers Friend (and just a little bit of effort) will remove those marks on your everyday items, china, and any other ceramic dishes, like Corelle, Fiestaware, and even vintage Pyrex. Just make sure to thoroughly clean with dish detergent afterward to make sure all the BKF residue is removed.
Take my Hip sidekick, Jen’s, word on it. She recently gave it a shot on some white dishes that she’d had for over 20 years! Here’s what she said:
“I love my white dishes, but every time we use a utensil on them it leaves a silver mark. I’ve tried for many years to find any way to get those marks off. I’ve used abrasive pads, scrubbers, and harsh cleaners, but they wouldn’t onlinee off. 😫
After talking about my dishes with a friend, she had started telling me how amazing Bar Keepers Friend is. So I went out and got some and immediately went home. I first sprinkled a little on the surface of a dish and added just a little bit of water to make a paste. Then I used a non-abrasive sponge and gently scrubbed over the scratches for a few minutes, and it magically took the silver marks off! The picture literally speaks for itself!”
3. Remove rust and scorch marks from your cookware.
It may seem like those ugly marks and burnt on gunk on the bottom of your pots and pans are here to stay, but a little paste of Bar Keepers Friend plus water can make your stainless steel or copper pots look like new again.
After getting her white dishes all nice and new again, Jen went to town on her pots and pans (shown above) and here’s what she said:
“I was shocked with the outonlinee of my dishes! I starting going to town on everything! Next, I did the same process on the bottom of a really dirty pan in my kitchen that just drives me nuts! I had to scrub a little bit harder, but not enough to use elbow grease by any means.
Low and behold, the nasty gunk came right off! 😱 I’m so impressed and amazed and now I want to clean anything and everything I can find with this stuff. I’m going to keep it on hand at all times now!”
Hip Tip: Don’t feel like making your own paste? BKF makes it’s own highly-rated liquid Soft Cleanser if you’d like to skip that step!
4. Use it in the garage.
Take Bar Keepers Friend to the garage to clean rust and grime off of tools, bicycles, tire rims, car chrome, and motorcycle, ATV, and snowmobile parts. It even works to clean and shine up golf clubs.
Hip Tip: Be sure NOT to use BKF on painted finishes or black plastic vehicle trim.
5. Polish metal and brass with Bar Keepers Friend.
Have a metal or brass serving tray or decorative item that’s seen better days? Just scrub on the Bar Keepers Friend, and grandma’s serving platter is ready for the Thanksgiving table once again!
Hip Tip: Use sparingly, as a little goes a long way on metals.
6. Make your kitchen look shiny and new.
Thankfully, Bar Keepers Friend makes short work of cleaning your stainless steel knives and other kitchen cutlery. It can make your sink look shiny and new again, too!
It’s also great for removing cooked-on crud and scorch marks from your glass or ceramic cooktop. Just make a paste with BKF and water, scrub, and then remove the cleaner thoroughly with a clean cloth or sponge.
If your oven’s glass door is covered in grease and burned-on food, a little BKF will have it gleaming in no time.
Hip Tip: It is not advised to use BKF on cosmetic areas of your stainless steel appliances. Many manufacturers apply a clear protective layer to help reduce fingerprints, and abrasive cleaners like BKF may harm this protective layer or damage the brushed finish of your stainless steel appliances.
7. Put a spring in your step with brighter sneakers.
Are your sneakers or athletic shoes looking a little worse for the wear? A little scrubbing with a gentle brush and a paste made from Bar Keepers Friend will spruce them up in no time!
Want even more ways to use Bar Keepers Friend? Here are some other reonlinemended ideas:
Kitchen ideas:
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- Burnt residue on cookware
- Built-up grease on an oven
- Hard water deposits on stainless steel and porcelain
- Stainless steel rust stains
- Stainless steel, laminate, and Corian countertops
- Dingy faucets and handles
- Splashes and stains on tile backsplash
- Safe for most cooktops and grates
- Restore cloudy glassware
- Scratches on mugs and dishes
Bathroom ideas:
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- Soap scum and stains on bathtubs and sinks
- Bathtub drains
- Light-colored grout
- Shower doors
- Most other fixtures
- Ceramic tiles and countertops
Other ideas:
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- Rust stains on gardening tools
- Mildew and dirt from vinyl siding
- Tough grease on grill grates
- Hard water deposits on window panes
- Rust stained-patio furniture
- Grime on vinyl and aluminum garage doors and siding
- Dirty lawn ornaments
- Stainless steel golf clubs
Not totally sold yet? Here’s what others have been saying about BKF:
“I have an antique porcelain sink in my kitchen and this really revived it back to new! I also use a non-stick spray in my pans and have used Bar Keepers Friend for years to remove the residue. It’s gentle but excellent for stainless steel. It cleans the bathroom sink, leaving behind a beautiful shine. The options are endless! This is an excellent product at an excellent price.” – Anna ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
“My onlinemode had some stains that I could not get out with any cleaner I tried – we have well water and no softener. A friend reonlinemended the Bar Keepers Friend to get these stains out and it got the job done. I turned the water off and got as much water out as I could and it got those stains and rings right out.” – Patty ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
“This stuff works great on countertop stains and tea stains without scratching. I use this often on many surfaces to remove stains. I also use it on all of my stainless steel pots and pans and it works fantastic!” – Mandy ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Here are a few major retailers where you can buy Bar Keepers Friend:
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- Walmart – $1.93
- Target – $1.99
- Dollar General – $2.00
- Home Depot – $2.18
- Amazon (currently sold out)
*Please note that online prices change all the time.
Now that you’re on a cleaning binge, check out our FREE 4 Week Declutter Challenge!
