Let's do a survey first: When you wash your hands, brush your teeth, or clean eating/ cooking utensils (and whatever else) in the sink, do you wipe the sink afterwards to dry it? Not just the surrounding area, but the sink itself?
There are 3 main answers as below:
1) I do. I always have. If you leave the water on surfaces, it stains and will corrode the spigots, handles, etc. Plus the white spots it leaves from the calcium deposits is kind of unsightly. I wipe and dry everything off. It doesn't take long to do...just a couple of wipes.
2) No I don't dry out the sink, sounds like a waste of time. Sinks are made to drain water, why would I dry the sink? I do clean my sink often so it's not like I just have a gross sink either.
3) I used to when I owned my house. I'm in a rental now and could care less how shiny my stainless sink is.
No matter what is your answer, it is necessery for us to get some tips and tricks to keep our sink counter dry and clearn, right?
1. How to Keep Kitchen Sink Counter Dry
The kitchen is probably the most challenging place in our living spaces than anywhere else for most of us, since it gets use on a daily basis. Unless you're one of those people who don't cook and always eat out or get take-out.
If the kitchen is the heart of the home, then the sink is the heart of the kitchen. So keeping your kitchen sink clean is an important part of a healthy home.
1) How to Organize Your Kitchen Sink Counter Area?
As we all know, having a home for everything makes it feel like it's meant to be and less cluttered. Well, how to organize your usual kitchen sink area to keep countertop dry and clean? That's a question.
If you just have a small kitchen and designed with little counter space and a small sink, then it will get cluttered quickly.
No dishwasher or any space for one.There's usually not even enough counter space to unpack two bags of groceries.
How a regular person who actually cooks and washes dishes keeps their sink area tidy but still convinient?
Some tips and tricks for your reference here:
1) Clear off counters of anything that isn't essential or there's otherwise no other space for. Minimised cooking equipment to essentials and minimised plates, soup bowls, glasses...
2) Use a bowl to hold something before cooking it (marinating chicken or something, for example), then when you start to cook it, you can just wash the bowl and reuse it to eat from or hold something else. You'd be washing 2 dishes anyway, why not just wash the same dish twice if you can?
3) Using a sponge/ scrub holder designed with suction cups or magnets that attach inside your sink. Since a bottle of soap on the counter and a sponge in a little rack in the sink is definitely tidy enough.
4) If you have the space, there is a better solution, that is to devote a cabinet to your dish drainer and dry your dishes behind the cabinet.
I like this cabinet rack idea, since you put the dishes away for drying and they are already in the correct spot. But I also wonder about how much moisture would build up in the cabinet though.
5) The dish rack over the sink (Amazon Link) is also another great suggestion. Some people have racks small enough that they can sit inside a clean sink once they are finished cleaning them too.
6) I you have budget, you can invest in a compact dishwasher, which hooks up to the sink. Better do handwashing only for things that needs handwashing... And then everything else is sent to the dishwasher.
7) The cutting boards can be stored out in the open, using a minimalistic file/ mail holder (Amazon Link) to keep them relatively free-standing.
2) Using Some More Genuis Items to Help
If your house was completely open floor plan. The minute you walked in the front door you could see all the way down to the kitchen. When you have kids it is just impossible to keep it clean 24/7.
For such a open floor plan, you can try to attach something to your ceiling, lets you separate a room with curtains. It looked better than what they use at the hospital to create private spaces.
If you have the old fashioned house with the kitchen all the way in the back, then just try some more genius items below, especially if you have a small kitchen:
#1: Dry Your Sink with A Thick Absorbent Wood Fiber Dish Towel After Each Use
Bacteria breed better in a warm, wet environment. Keeping your sink dry will help cut down on bacteria build-up.
Dry your sink with this super absorbent wood fiber dish towel instead of a paper towel after each use, which will make your sink area dry and clean.
These are not only perfect household cleaning cloth, no odor, easy to clean, and a nice size; but also can save you scores of paper towels monthly due to their thick absorbent function.
As we all know that they’re more economically and environmentally friendly than paper towels.
#2: Keep Damp Sponge or Bar Soap Dry with a Self-draining Soap Holder
When you are trying to get the stinky smells from garlic and onions off your hands, some of you may still like to use a bar soap.
This is a genius soap saver that helps bar soaps, wet brushes or damp sponges dry off in a sanitary manner, while looking really cool on your counter.
#3: Simplify Kitchen Sink Organization & Dish Washing with A Dish Soap Pump Dispenser & Caddy
Maybe you have had a hard time to decide whether you need a built in soap dispenser with your kitchen sink, or just have bottle or pump always on your countertop.
Some of you worry about that the built in kitchen sink soap dispenser may get rusty after a while and stop pumping soap.
Why not try this dish soap pump dispenser and caddy?
It doesn't take up much space on sink, looks better than having a bottle of dish soap there.
And it will dispense the perfect amount of dish soap every time, also keep sponges out of the sink, high and dry with the included caddy.
#4: Soak Excessive Water after Dish Washing with A Dish Drying Mat & Rack 2-in-1 Set
If you have a single bowl kitchen sink, and if you also hate the look of a traditional plastic or metal drying rack sitting on the counter, but you still have to hand-wash your glasses and silverware, as well as glass dishes, you should try this elegant dish drying mat & rack set.
It is easy to move or fold up and put away - however as it is visually so small (and looks nice) you will find that you just tend to leave it in place.
The microfiber is very absorbent that absorbs water quickly, the drying mat soaks all the excessive water and you can rinse it out and dry the mat easily.
It is kindly suggested to buy another kitchen counter mat to alternate when washing them.
The only caution is that although it easily fits all the typical items that we use in a day, families of more than 2 people may find it too small for their needs.
#5:Air Dry Your Dishes and Enjoy More Counter Space Than Ever with A Roll Up Dish Drainer Rack
Are you tired of the mess of kitchen task? Are you looking for a dish drying rack that does not take up space? Do you need a multifunctional kitchen sink organizer?
And if you have a double bowl kitchen sink, this roll up dish drainer rack provides you an awesome solution for your kitchen organization and space saving.
To avoid buying inappropriate size of this drainer rack, please firstly measure the size of your sink before purchasing.
This product will only work for sinks widths up to 16 inches.
2. How to Keep Under Kitchen Sink Dry
Under our kitchen sinks is the area that can become cluttered fast, and it's not attractive because of all the piping and the garbage disposal and all that stuff. But it is a way to make it function and beautiful at the same time.
1) What to Put under Kitchen Sink
First we should know what kind of things you can put and what kind of things you should never store under your kitchen sink?
You can put some organization tools, some cleaning products, a small fire extinguisher, some handy tools under the sink area.
However, some other kind of things as below should not be put under the sink, you should put them in a closet or another storage area.
- Some extra supplies, such as those unopened boxes of trash bags, dishwasher tabs, dish soap and any extra unused items.
- Some harsh chemicals, such as bleach. These chemicals should be stored securely in the garage or basement, out of reach from small children and away from other everyday items
- Some flammable products such as solvents, thinners, polishes, paints, and some cleaners, because these things can randomly burst into flames in the right conditions.
- Kitchen towels and paper bags, since a leak would ruin them.
2) How to Organize Under Kitchen Sink
How do you organize under the kitchen sink with pipes and disposal in the way? Hope these under the sink organization hacks can help.
2-1) You have to plan it out first
When you organize, don't just going buying bins and baskets and then coming home and saying "okay, I'm going to organize under the kitchen sink."
You should take your measurements and look at kind of a diagram for under your sink. When you do that you will find that you're more successful when you are organizing within a space.
2-2) Using divided container
Use a single tiered divided container for small things, like sponges, dishwasher tablets and rinse aid, and gloves, among other things.
2-3) Using kithcen caddy
Use a small caddy that fits under the sink. They are bit slimmer and can hold a lot of stuff
2-4) Use expandble organizer rack
Use this Under Sink 2 Tier Expandable Heavy Duty Metal Shelf Organizer Rack from Amazon, you can remove or move the shelf pieces to make it fit around your pipes.
3. How to Keep Bathroom Sink Counter Dry
You wash your hands, brush your teeth, etc. and the bathroom counter ends up with quite a bit of water on it. What do you use to wipe up your bathroom counter and keep it clean/ dry?
Why is your sink always wet? It may drive you crazy just leaving them with water all over them which eventually dries and just leaves water stains. Try below tips:
1) Use hand towels
You can hang two towels on the towel bar, one for wiping up water and everyday light messes and one for your hands. Then replace the hand towels after wiping down the sink area and do a load of towels once a week.
2) Use small microfiber cloth that dries quickly
You can use it to dry the counter and any water that gets on the floor after a shower. Its very small so it dries quickly.
You can buy a pack of these on Amazon, so they just go in the washer together. Or you can also use reusable absorbent towels. Those cheap blue/ yellow ones from the dollar store.
3) Use those rags from old T-shirts
Just cut up old T-shirts and use those rags to wipe the counter, faucet and mirror after each use. Then hang to dry on a hook. And because they are pretty much free, you can change them often.
Conclusion
So now, you know how to keep your kitchen and bathroom sink dry and tidy, while the most important thing you should remember is that do give your sink a good scrub every day!
If you have any other ideas, welcome to share them in the comment below.
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If you like home cooking, then you may also like to check this post:
11 Must Have Kitchen Tools & Gadgets