This DIY streak-free appliance cleaner works especially well on black and stainles steel appliances to get them shiny clean with no streaks!
I’m bringing you a bit of a different recipe today. One of the biggest problems with cooking is that you make messes. If you’re a food blogger, you make a LOT of messes. Like 2 loads through the dishwasher each day size messes. On top of the dishes, I feel like I’m always cleaning off the stove and microwave.
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When we moved in, I was actually a bit excited to have black appliances. We had stainless previously, and it seemed like it was always picking up ALL THE FINGERPRINTS! Stainless won’t be discolored, but it will always be covered in fingerprints. Seems like a pretty big downside. Plus, they’re not magnetic (where do I put my fridge magnet collection?!) So, you can see why I was really excited to have magnetic black appliances and no fingerprints. Until I discovered their downside: visible streaks! Can I get a cleaning break please?
Fortunately, I ran out of appliance cleaner one day and tried some of my homemade laminate floor cleaner on the stove. Lo and behold, no streaks! The “before” photo above shows the streaks left by one of those cleaning wipes. The right side is after a spray of my DIY Streak-free Appliance Cleaner and a swipe with a microfiber cloth. So much better right?! This works pretty similarly on our stainless steel trashcan and microwave, so maybe you can solve the fingerprint issue on stainless too. (By the way, it’s super-hard to get good photos of streaks on your appliances. This shot involved both my hubby and I, 2 light sources, and 2 pieces of foam board.)
I think the biggest secret to this trick, besides the rubbing alcohol, is to use a microfiber cloth to wipe down the appliances after you spray them with the cleaner. Paper towels will work okay, but it’s really worth investing $10 in a huge pack of microfiber towels at your favorite big box store and washing them every so often. (To keep them absorbent, avoid using fabric softener in the wash.) Enjoy!
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DIY Streak-Free Appliance Cleaner
- Prep Time: 5 min
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 24 oz 1x
Description
This DIY streak-free appliance cleaner works especially well on black and stainles steel appliances to get them shiny clean with no streaks!
Ingredients
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup white vinegar
- 1 cup rubbing/Isopropyl alcohol (The stuff you’d find in the pharmacy for first aid, not the drinkable kind.)
- 2–3 drops liquid dish soap (Dawn, Joy, Castile, etc.)
- 3–4 drops of your favorite essential oil (or extract your own from orange peels – see notes)(This is totally optional to counter the strong vinegar scent)
Other Materials Needed
- 1 24oz plastic spray bottle (found in the cleaning aisle)
- 1 microfiber cloth (found in the cleaning aisle or on Amazon)
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to a 24 oz misting spray bottle and shake to combine.
- Spray cleaner onto your appliances in a small area.
- Wipe up with a microfiber cloth (microfiber is the key to no streaks).
- Repeat until cleaned.
- Enjoy your streak-free finish!
Notes
- **I take no responsibility for any damages that may occur from this cleaner. When using homemade products, always test in a small area to ensure no damages will occur.
- *The first time I used this, there was a small amount of waxy buildup on the appliances that fogged over. It was streak-free after a second pass with the cleaner.
- This also works wonders on my laminate (not hardwood) flooring. Spray a small area and mop up with a microfiber cloth on a swiffer.
- To extract your own orange oil: Soak 2-3 orange peels in the 1 c vinegar for 1-2 weeks, then strain out and discard peels. Use the orange essence vinegar in place of plain white vinegar to make the recipe as directed above.
This is great! I love finding DIY cleaning products. Pinning it!
Thank you for the pin! I love that I always have these ingredients on hand so I can make more.
This works great! I’ve tried all kinds of citrus cleaners but this works very well. Thanks!
This worked for me too! I used it on my black fridge, microwave and stove dials. They look brand new, just the shine I was hoping for. It works with paper towel also. Thank you.
I’m going to have to try this!!! I’ve got black/stainless in our kitchen and the prints on everything really bug me sometimes. 🙂
They bug me too!! Why haven’t we figured this out yet? Let me know how it works for you!
Has anyone ever tried soaking clove buds in a quart of water? When the water turns brown you can spray it on countertops, etc. for sanitary purposes. I tried a little on some grease pin drops on the black enamel and it seemed to cut through the streaks.
This stuff is A-mazing! I had searched all over and tried several different cleaners, but I always had streaks. I was beyond frustrated. Even though they were clean, they always looked horrible. I would stare in disgust at my black refrigerator. Another failed attempt. I was ready to throw it out. Then I came across your site while doing yet another web search. I must of typed in something different because I’d never seen it before. I had everything on hand so I whipped up a batch. I held my breath as I gave myself that pep talk you give when you feel like you need to manage your expectations. Then, to my surprise, it WORKED! I went on a cleaning rampage! I decided to try it out on my dark cabinets and again it worked. Next was the backsplash, baseboards, then the windows, and finally I ended with my stainless steel trash can. All of them are sparkling. I can’t stop staring at my kitchen, its beautiful. So beautiful that I don’t want to cook and mess it up right now. I just want to relish in the sparkle a little longer. Thank you so much for posting this. You have saved my appliances, and my sanity.
This is one of the best comments I’ve recieved! Thank you for sharing your experience and what a great idea to try it on baseboards! I’ll have to give it a test and see how it interacts with my paint.
Enjoy your sparkling kitchen!
Hi Stephanie,
My poor friend was lamenting about the cheap black appliances in his apartment and how he wasn’t able to clean them. Saw your “recipe” and made some up for him (I am visiting). So amazing that I am going to make it when I get home for my old off-white appliances. Don’t know how you came up with this but it’s truly incredible and will share this with my friends. Isn’t it nice to have one less thing to complain about?
Thanks a million, Bill
Thanks for making my day! I’m so glad it worked for you!! It’s so funny how you think black appliances means no dirt will show and then you just end up with streaks and fingerprints all over. Please come back and let me know how it works on white appliances!
I’ve been using this same mixture as an all purpose cleaner for years, only I substitute wintergreen rubbing alcohol and leave out the essential oils. People comment on the fresh scent in my home when they walk in. It’s the wintergreen alcohol. This mixture really is all purpose…kitchen, bathrooms, painted baseboards and other surfaces, windows and mirrors, too.. When someone is sick in our home, I use the straight wintergreen alcohol to wipe down door knobs, kitchen and bathroom counters, remotes, phones and any other areas the sick person might have left germs that we don’t want passed around. We really love the scent!
I had no idea wintergreen rubbing alcohol was a thing! Thanks for the tip. I’ll have to look for it!
You are officially a goddess! I make homemade soft pretzels that call for a boiling hot water bath with 2/3 cup baking soda and every time I pretty much murder my black cook top!
Easy to make and easy to use.
BTW, I’m just outside of Austin having moved from So. California. Hope Colorado is treating you well.
Was desperate to find something that didn’t leave streaks. My cleaning lady brought something over but, still steaks! I just made this and tried it and it is amazing. No streaks and shiny as can be. Thanks so much!
It’s funny how all the cleaning stuff seems to leave streaks isn’t it? I’m so glad you can have shiny appliances too!
Thank you soooo much!! I’m a HUGE neatfreak (seriously, huge). Anyways when I moved in with my roomate I liked all the black appliances (so sleek!) until I realized that no matter what I did, no matter what I used- they’d always end up covered in streaks after being cleaned. My roomate is a messy person and drops food a lot when cooking (right on the stove top -__-)
they’ve improved a lot since my pestering, but alas, it still needs to be cleaned from time to time. I picked up one of my car microfiber cloths and went to town with some cleaning spray- PERFECT. No streaks!!! <3 <3 Much thanks!! You took away the near physical pain I felt when I saw it dirty, knowing what kind of battle I'd have to put up haha
Yay!! I’m so glad it works well for you! We thought the same thing when we bought our house: Oh black is great! We won’t have as many prints as stainless does or grime like with white. But then the darn streaks show up! You can’t win with any choice it seems. Enjoy your shiny appliances!
Tried this out today on my black appliances, and it was AMAZING!!!!!! What a difference it made–they look like NEW!! Nothing else has worked before, and this world like a DREAM!!!! 🙂
I’m so glad it works well for you! It still amazes me every time I use it!
Wow! Double WOW. Had to replace the stove, so got the stainless steel/black top. Have really learned what a pain it is to clean. But the hubby loves it. – We share a lot of the home chores. So now as the dishwashers on the fritz, you know he wants the stainless model. Of course after that it will be the fridge at some point. I have been dreading this ever since early this week when I I realized how tough it was going to be to clean my kitchen now. First search found your site. Just tried it on this “solution ” (😂Pun intended ) and it’s made my whole year! Thanks👍🏼
Could I substitute white vinegar for apple cider vinegar???
This cleaner is amazing. I had streaks in my black dishwasher I had been trying to get out for a long time I thought it was actually ruined, then I tried this got it clean and shiny!!!! Easy and ingredients I had in our home already.
This is a fabulous cleaner. I have used it on all my appliances, even the plain old white ones. After reading one of the comments I tried it on my windows and it did a fantastic job. Thank you so much for this wonder recipe!
I found your Streak-Free recipe while searching the net. What a great cleaner for most all of the kitchen. I just installed a new black cooktop and cringed when I saw how much it showed the mess after cooking, then looked streaked after cleaning. Now it looks like new all the time. We tend to forget that the same dirt and grime is still there, just doesn’t show with the new colors on appliances. Just like all that dirt you see on the nice laminate or hardwood floor is still there in the carpet, but you don’t notice it. I did property maintenance for years and saw many things, but this cleaner is the best solution I have seen to date. Thanks so much for sharing it with us.
Richard
Is this cleaner safe to use on a gas stove?
As with any cleaner, don’t use it while the stove is on – alcohol is flammable. But I don’t see why it wouldn’t be safe? I cook and wash pans with these same ingredients and they’re all food-safe.
I can’t believe how well this works. Thank you SOOOOO much. YEAH! for no streaks on my new black stove that I was starting to hate. Something so simple that does the job!!
I didn’t believe it would work but I tried it and it is amazing. I had just remodeled my kitchen and bought all black appliances and I was just sick how streaked they were. Anyway thanks for the recipe.
I have never found anything that would clean my black appliances without leaving streaks. Just made this recipe and it is amazing! My appliances look new. Thank you so much!
This works so well! ! Thank you so much!