14 Ways To Clean Your Kitchen With Apple Cider Vinegar

Apple cider vinegar is the MVP of your kitchen. This acid, which gained popularity thanks to a Hollywood health guru, has been long praised for its nutritional qualities and taste. Apple cider vinegar (or ACV for short) has been found to have positive effects on blood sugar and contains powerful anti-microbial properties – and that's all before we get to its fruity, rich taste. Those anti-microbial properties, however, don't just ensure that your lettuce is bacteria-free: They can also be harnessed to keep your kitchen spick and span.

Like any other vinegar, apple cider vinegar is an excellent cleaning solution, thanks to its acidic properties, which help it to capably cut through dirt and grime. While the vinegar dissolves and wicks up grease, it simultaneously kills off any harmful germs clinging to your surfaces — and its scent quickly dissipates to leave your kitchen smelling neutral and sterile. If you're only using ACV to wipe your countertops, though, you're missing out. Apple cider vinegar can be employed on virtually everything in your kitchen, from the insides of your cooking appliances to your dishwasher, to keep things sparkling. Stop wasting money on expensive cleaning products, and grab your ACV.

Ovens are notoriously difficult to clean. Unless you keep on top of your oven's hygiene with regular scrubs, it can quickly develop deep, baked-in grime that generally requires expensive cleaning products to shift. These products often contain powerful ingredients like sodium hydroxide, which can be both harmful to health and destructive to the environment.

Thankfully, there's a cheaper and less damaging way to tackle oven grime, and that's by using a combination of apple cider vinegar and sugar. All you have to do is mix the two together, then spread it over your oven and its trays. Ensure that your oven is warm before you do this, as this will help the vinegar-sugar solution shift grease and dirt more effectively. The acid in the mixture will cut through the grime in your appliance, while the sugar can act as a light abrasive when you scrub it all off. After you've allowed it to sit on your oven's dirty surfaces for an hour or two, wipe it away with a microfiber cloth. For heavier-duty dirt and stains, you can apply a combo of ACV and baking soda, which will permeate the grease more rigorously.

When was the last time you looked inside your microwave — and we mean really looked? Microwaves have a knack for hiding exactly how dirty they are in their interior, but upon closer inspection, you can find years of cooked-on grime and food splatters. Luckily, one of the facts you should master about apple cider vinegar is that it can clean stubborn microwave stains. The best part is, you don't even need that much.

Start by taking a microwave-safe bowl, and then pour a couple tablespoons of apple cider vinegar into it. Follow up with a cup of water to thoroughly dilute the vinegar, and then turn on your microwave for roughly 5 minutes. The water-vinegar solution will steam up, with the slightly acidic liquid working its way into the grime and loosening it considerably. The ACV will also help to neutralize any food odors that might be lingering in your microwave (although you might find that your kitchen smells a bit vinegary for a few hours afterward, so open a window).

After you've microwaved for 5 minutes, remove the bowl, and leave your machine with its door open for a couple minutes more. Then, wipe the entirety of the inside of your microwave with a microfiber cloth. The grime should come away easily.

Cleaning products are expensive, and a lot of them are chock-full of chemicals. These chemicals might help to get rid of grime and dirt, but they can also leave your countertops covered in a residue you'd rather avoid, and a pungent smell in your kitchen that's hard to shift. Well, ditch the countertop cleaners, and use filtered apple cider vinegar instead. Simply grab an old spray bottle, and make a 50/50 solution of vinegar and water. Spray it onto your surfaces, and wipe away with a sponge.

Doing this can occasionally leave streaks on your countertops, so to avoid this, you should follow up by wiping it down once again. After allowing the vinegar solution to sit on the counter for about a minute, simply wipe it off with a fresh paper towel or a clean microfiber cloth.

We're willing to bet you probably haven't cleaned the inside of your dishwasher in a while. After all, why would you? They're self-cleaning, right? Not quite. Over time, dishwashers can build up dirt and grime, as well as detergent and mineral deposits. These can both prevent your dishwasher from working effectively, leaving you with speckled, dirty plates and glasses, but it can also kick up a bit of a stink.

If this happens, don't despair — use apple cider vinegar instead. After you've fully unloaded your dishwasher, pop a cup of apple cider vinegar into the top rack, and then put the machine on a standard cycle at the highest temperature possible. As the dishwasher operates, the apple cider vinegar will both be spread around and evaporate, steam-cleaning your appliance while it also works its way into the deepest interior of the machine. If you don't have any ACV to hand, you can use regular white vinegar for this too.

Importantly, this shouldn't be the only thing you should do if you have a smelly dishwasher. Make sure you're cleaning manually around its seals and the door and clearing the filter, as these can both be contributors to odor.

Stovetops are one of the dirtiest parts of your kitchen. Think about it: Your stovetop is on the front line for any food waste and splatters that come out of your meals as you're making them. If you're not cleaning your stovetop regularly, not only can things become pretty ugly, but they can also become a hotbed for bacteria. Stainless steel stovetops can also be prone to rusting, if you use the wrong cleaning products on them.

Apple cider vinegar (which you can keep forever) comes to the rescue once again. To turn greasy stovetops into glistening cooking surfaces, simply spray it with apple cider vinegar, allow it to sit for a couple of minutes, then wipe it clean with a soft cloth. The acidic solution will help shift cooked-on grime, and you won't stink out your house with any harsh chemicals. Plus, vinegar contains acetic acid, which is a mild corrosive that can help to cut through and get rid of any rust that's dug into your stovetop.

Anyone who has an air fryer will know how gross they can get. After just a few uses, they can go from clean to grimy, with cooked-on dirt and food residue proving hard to shift. The good news is that apple cider vinegar can make short work of any food splatters or crusty black marks in your air fryer basket. You just have to make a 1:1 solution of apple cider vinegar and water in a spray bottle, and then spritz the mixture over the entirety of your air fryer basket. Leave it to sit for a little while before you wipe it off with a sponge or microfiber cloth, hopefully taking the food waste with you. For especially stubborn marks, leave the mixture on for longer.

Bear in mind that this can make your air fryer smell pretty vinegary (as you might expect), so you might want to follow up with a rinse and a wipe with a soapy dishcloth. After doing this, dry it thoroughly, wiping away any leftover vinegar or water residue. It's also crucial to avoid spraying your vinegar-water solution onto any rubber parts of your appliance, as the acid can deteriorate it.

Sinks are pretty disgusting, people. They can harbor all kinds of foodborne bacteria, like E. coli, Salmonella, and Listeria, which if unchecked can then contaminate other parts of your kitchen, leading to serious illness.

As such, cleaning your sink regularly is essential, and you need a powerful combination to do so. That's why we recommend using this slept-on vinegar. A combination of apple cider vinegar and water can act as an antimicrobial that can kill bacteria like E. coli, while simultaneously leaving your sink sparkling.

If your sink needs a more rigorous clean, though, you can bust out the baking soda. This combo can clean your sink's drain easily, without you having to do any work. Just pour baking soda down the drain, wait for a minute or two, and then follow up with a glug or two of ACV. Leave the whole thing to foam up for a little while, before running your sink through with water.

Drying racks can harbor both bacteria and grime pretty easily. You might think that putting clean pans and plates onto a drying rack bears little risk, but over time they can collect little pieces of food waste and grime, building up some pretty foul residue. They can also be susceptible to limescale, and any standing water that pools at the bottom of your rack can also be a potential vehicle for bacteria.

Once again, apple cider vinegar is your best friend here. Submerge your drying rack in your sink in a combination of vinegar and water, leaving it for a while so that the acid can work its way into any dirt. If your rack doesn't fit into your sink, spray it with a combo of ACV and water and leave it for a couple minutes. Then, take an old toothbrush, and scrub your drying rack all over, getting into its corners and between all the slats. You should find that any dirt comes right off. You might wanna rinse your rack after you finish cleaning it, so that you get rid of any leftover vinegar smell.

Have you cleaned your fridge recently? ACV can act as a powerful cleaner inside your refrigerator as it gets rid of grime without any risk of chemical residue that could get into your food. Just spray the it down with a mixture of apple cider vinegar and water (making sure to remove any food in there first, of course), before wiping it all away with a lightly damp cloth. You may wish to take out your fridge shelves to clean them separately, so it's easier to get into every corner properly.

This might sound like an annoying job, but it's incredible just how dirty the inside of a refrigerator can get. Over time, food spills and residue can get everywhere, leaving your fridge looking unsightly. It can also make it a breeding ground for bacteria, particularly if you're leaving food in there for too long, allowing it to go past its prime.

Your backsplash and range hood can get dirtier than you probably think. With backsplashes, the clue's in the name: These walls that sit behind your stovetop can get covered in food splatter, and if you don't get rid of the grime quickly it can dig in. Apple cider vinegar is the best ingredient around to clean them, especially if you have a stainless steel backsplash. A combo of ACV and water will get rid of food grime while also lightly removing any rust stains (just make sure that you wipe away any leftover water afterward).

Range hoods can also get filthy quickly, with both the exterior and the filters prone to food detritus build-up. The filters are especially tricky to clean as they suck grease and grime into them, which then builds up and proves difficult to shift. You can use apple cider vinegar for the outside of the range hood, and to clean the filters themselves. Make a mixture of a small amount of apple cider vinegar and boiling water, and then place the filters inside it. Sprinkle in some baking soda, and then leave everything for about 10 minutes. The baking soda will fizz up, working its way deep into the caked-on grime. Rinse everything off, wipe dry, and replace. Good as new!

Cleaning your kitchen floor probably isn't your favorite job in the world, but someone's gotta do it, right? Ideally, you should be cleaning your kitchen floor every few days (or daily if it's a high-traffic area). You probably don't want to be spending loads of cash on cleaning products to do this — so just use ACV instead. You'll need about a cup of apple cider vinegar to a gallon of water for enough cleaning power to get rid of any stubborn food marks.

Apple cider vinegar is especially useful for cleaning wooden kitchen floors without deteriorating them, but it's just as good on any other material. Just bear in mind that this will likely make your kitchen smell pretty vinegary, so ensure that you crack a window. You can also add a few tablespoons of lemon juice to your ACV-water mixture, with the extra acid both acting as an odor neutralizer and adding some extra cleaning power. If using this combo on a wooden floor, though, make sure you don't douse them too much: You don't want them to warp.

We're willing to bet that cleaning a toaster isn't high on anyone's priority list. However, you'd be amazed by how often you need to do it. Toasters get dirty quicker than most other parts of your kitchen, thanks to the endless crumbs that end up scattered around them. These crumbs can harden and burn themselves onto the appliance over time, and if it's sitting next to your stovetop or your microwave it can also be subject to food splatters.

That's nothing that ACV can't deal with, though. Spray the exterior of your toaster with equal parts water and apple cider vinegar, and then wipe it down with a microfiber cloth. This mixture will clean your appliance easily without exposing it to harsh chemicals, which can always be a risk when you're working with machines that cook food. Crucially, you should always unplug your toaster before spraying it, only plugging it back in when it's totally dry. Ensure that you also clear out the crumb tray with a pastry brush or rag, too, and wipe away any crumbs that are underneath it. You'll be surprised by how many there are.

So, here's the thing: Coffee machines can deteriorate quickly. Not only can the outside of your appliance get covered in grime and dirt, but the inside of your coffee machine can also become plagued with a build-up of oils, residues, and limescale. All of these things can ultimately affect the flavor of your coffee, and over time lead to performance issues with the machine itself if you make the mistake of not cleaning your coffee maker regularly.

Apple cider vinegar can be used both to clean the outside of your machine, and to give it a deep clean inside. It can capably cut through and dissolve many of the build-ups in a coffee machine, leaving it clean and allowing your coffee to taste as it should. To begin, ensure that your coffee machine is clear of any coffee or filters and totally dry. Pour an equal amount of ACV and water into its reservoir, and then run a half-brew cycle. Leave it for around an hour, before activating a full-brew cycle, and then pour out the vinegar solution. Finally, run through a few hot water cycles to get rid of any leftover vinegar.

Food processors can be pretty annoying to clean. Although they're generally dishwasher-safe and have wipe-clean surfaces, they're also appliances that are full of fairly annoying little corners and rivets. This can make getting to the deep-seated grime a real issue, and over time food waste can build up around its blades which can be difficult to shift.

This is where apple cider vinegar comes into its own. Pour some ACV onto the blades and any caked food residue or dirt, and then sprinkle it with some baking soda. The fizzing action will work its way into the grime, loosening it up considerably. Then you can take an old toothbrush and shift the rest of it, before popping the blade attachment into your dishwasher. If doing this, though, make sure that it doesn't come into contact with any rubber or aluminum, as both the vinegar and baking soda respectively can deteriorate these materials. Apple cider vinegar and baking soda can also be used to shift any grime on the processor's container, but we'd hope that you're cleaning that enough for food not to get stuck on it.