[Candice81]

What do you use to clean your kitchen counters? I'm always concerned about the chemicals in mainstream products getting into the food and I'm in the market for a good green alternative.

[hothouse]

I usually use an easy solution of 1 cup white vinegar to 1 cup water. I put it in a spray bottle of course, so I can use it in the bathrooms, too. Though, some people don't like the smell of vinegar, it doesn't bother me. The smell usually is not that strong, anyway, and it doesn't linger unusually long. I'm always surprised how the vinegar cuts into grease.

[cero]

The vinegar and water trick is great and I found really nice sponges to help out with too. I forget the brand but I want to say Mr Clean makes them, they are organic and dishwasher safe too.

[dustbunny]

I spray down the counters using pure white vinegar once a week. It seems to work for my family, as we are rarely sick. I have read that chemical cleaners are supposedly more effective, but we're not running a hospital here. Plus, using vinegar is so much cheaper.

[golfcaddy01]

Actually, we just use soap-water to clean our kitchen counters with. We have a dishwasher but still have a few items that need to be washed by hand, so when we wash those dishes, we run a sink-full of hot water and mix in dish detergent. Then, we wet a wash cloth in the water and wipe our countertops and kitchen table down.

^The only exception to that is if we handle raw meat on the counter, in which case we wipe it down with Lysol Kitchen spray immediately after we're done with the meat.

[Charlene]

I use a completely biodegradable dish detergent. I just use good old soap and water with a clean dish rag so that I'm not spreading any bacteria around.

[Hypolita]

If there's no raw meat on the counter I just use a dishrag on a daily basis. Once a week (and any time we use raw meat) I use a 50/50 solution of vinegar and water with a few drops of lavender essential oil to make it smell better.

[Izzie]

Originally Posted by golfcaddy01

Actually, we just use soap-water to clean our kitchen counters with. We have a dishwasher but still have a few items that need to be washed by hand, so when we wash those dishes, we run a sink-full of hot water and mix in dish detergent. Then, we wet a wash cloth in the water and wipe our countertops and kitchen table down.

^The only exception to that is if we handle raw meat on the counter, in which case we wipe it down with Lysol Kitchen spray immediately after we're done with the meat.

I was not aware of this until the other day, but those "kitchen" cleaners have a warning in tiny writing about not using it on surfaces that come in contact with food. Now what surface might that be in the kitchen?!?

[Hypolita]

Originally Posted by Izzie

I was not aware of this until the other day, but those "kitchen" cleaners have a warning in tiny writing about not using it on surfaces that come in contact with food. Now what surface might that be in the kitchen?!?

You're kidding! I never noticed that. How ridiculous! Now I'm doubly glad I switched to vinegar/water. I did it to save money and be more environmentally friendly but I didn't realize commercial kitchen sprays were inadvisable for food surfaces!