- This is grapefruit- I would like literally
use this as perfume, it smells so good. I really did spray myself. It smells good though! I'm not mad about it. (laughs) (upbeat music) - If you love cooking,
cleaning is a part of the deal. I'm talking dishes,
counters, pots and pans. - Cleaning might be unavoidable but we've tested some
products over the years that will actually make
cleaning easier, faster and keep your tools in tip-top shape. - That's right, choosing
the right products can actually help you clean less. So Lisa and I are going to show you some of our favorite cleaning tips and tools. - First up, Hannah. - All right, no home cleaning
arsenal would be complete without some dish soap,
because as much as we want to shove everything in the dishwasher, you can't always do that. Or you might not have one. Dish soaps are very amazing inventions and they work by a little
tadpole shaped chemical called surfactants. Surfactants have heads that attract water and tails that attract oil,
encouraging the two to mix. And this is what washes your dishes. Surfactants can be derived
from plants or petroleum and experts we spoke with told us from an effectiveness perspective it doesn't matter where they come from. It matters more the individual formula and quality of the surfactants
used in the product. Witnessing this testing was
where I became completely brand loyal to our
winner here Mrs. Meyer's. Because it was amazing
how much more effective it is than other soaps. We made a total mess in this testing, burning on all kinds of things and one of the things we
chose was teriyaki sauce. Because it has so much sugar in it it can be a total pain to
clean once it's burnt on. Mrs. Meyer's soap cleaned teriyaki sauce more than two times faster
than other soaps in our lineup. It's also 97% naturally derived. So this is one of the
plant-based products. Dawn, for example, Dawn was in our lineup. It did really well on cleaning but Dawn is derived from petroleum. So this is a more eco-friendly choice. Mrs. Meyer's can be a little
more pricey than other options if you just buy a single
bottle at the supermarket. But I actually buy them
in packs of four or five which makes them much more cost-effective. And I buy them and refill them. They have these bulk
containers right here. I've actually had this
bottle for over a year now. It looks pretty good still. And you can buy it and refill this. So there are ways to make
this more cost-effective. All right, now let's head over to the sink and I'm going to show you
how well this stuff works. One of the things we learned is if you want your dishes
to go faster, soak them. Slightly- I'm not talking overnight. Here we go, little soap. (jazzy music) So easy. All right, so next up, paper towels. One of my most favorite
testings we've ever done. And that is because the outcome
of this just (blows air) blew my mind. We tested 12 different
rolls of paper towels. We looked at everything
you could possibly imagine. We tested them on six different surfaces. We cleaned out wineglasses
looking for lint left behind. We drained bacon. There's more, I'm not
even listing them all. Point is we tested the
heck out of these things. And we learned so many interesting things. The first thing: select
a size versus full size. It doesn't matter. It's up to you, personal preference. Do you want to be able to
select a smaller sheet? Or do you just want a
consistently large sheet? That's up to you. Beyond that brand really, really matters. Our winner here from Bounty
just knocked it out of the park. It is much more absorbent,
much more durable. You can really scrub one of
these like it's a washcloth. We found a single full
size sheet of Bounty could hold a quarter cup of water. That's about twice as much
as lower ranked brands in our lineup. It's also a double ply which means they didn't
leave any lint behind which is really nice. You don't want lint on
your wine or on your steak. And get this- this is
what really blew my mind. All of these brands-
Bounty, Viva, et cetera- they have a budget line and then they have their flagship line. So Bounty has the
Essentials or the basic line which is cheaper when you buy one roll compared to the flagship Bounty roll. But get this, it actually
is more expensive per sheet. We ripped off single sheets, counted the sheets per
roll to figure this out. Bounty is actually cheaper
in the long run, per sheet. It's also cheaper and more
effective in the long run because it is so strong and durable. You can grab one sheet to do something. With smaller rolls, thinner rolls- Check this one out. Look at that. With this roll, you're
grabbing two, three of these to contain a spill. With Bounty you just grab one and done. It might cost a couple more cents per roll but you're actually saving money in the long run with Bounty. Cleaning sprays are another tool we love to make cleaning easier
and more effective at home. They are comprised of
three primary elements: Surfactants, which go in
and help break stuff up. Solvents which are cleaning agents. And buffering agents which go in and they
adjust the target's acidity to help the cleaning
product bond more readily to the mess, which helps
it lift it up easier. All right, so our winner was right here. This is the Method all-purpose cleaner. It's half full because this is mine. 'Cause I use this at home ever since witnessing this testing. It is effective, smells good. They come in all different scents. Smell was kind of a big thing here. Some of them were really powerful. Whether it was like
fragranced, floral fragrances, or whether it was like
the bleach in there. Some of them really- woo! Slapped you across the face. This one was effective and
had a nice gentle scent that we could smell but
we weren't bothered by. It took a very minimal number of sprays to be effective at
cleaning, which is great. You know, some of these things
took like a million sprays to get something clean. And it also made cleaning fast
'cause it was so effective. It was so good at breaking things up. Much like, you know, with dish soaps it can be petroleum derived
or naturally derived. This is a naturally derived product, which is very nice. It doesn't leave any streaks behind. And it doesn't damage the
surface you're working on. And we actually did see
some of this, you know, some of the really
strongly fragranced models left the surfaces smelling stinky too. Which you don't want that. Other ones that had bleach in them, they actually dappled the surface of some of our wooden testing surfaces. You don't want that either. You want something that's effective but not harmful to your surfaces. And our winner here from Method really just nailed it
on both of those fronts. You should have seen
some of these testings were just out of this world. We cleaned the stove tops and
hoods in our testing kitchen which is like, it's a
professional kitchen. People are cooking in there
40 hours a week nonstop. There was a huge range in
how effective these were. Our winner here took eight
sprays to get a stove completely clean compared
to like 14 sprays for some of the other models. That's a huge difference. The other test we did that
I thought was so funny, we exploded tomato sauce
inside a microwave. I've definitely done that unintentionally. You might have to. So we did that test 'cause you
know what a pain it can be. Some of it gets cooked on. Tomato sauce is sugary,
it's hard to clean. When you're dealing
with a problem like that you want it over as quickly
and painlessly as possible. And finding the right
cleaning spray will definitely help you clean up messes like that faster. And Method aced it on that test too. All right, now let's go check out Lisa. (upbeat music) - One of the most important things that you're going to be using- at least I use every single day when I'm
cleaning up- is a kitchen sponge. I use it to wash dishes,
sometimes wipe down counters. Basically clean everything. I started here. We tested 10 sponges of
all different materials and shapes and sizes. And this was the best. The O-Cedar scrunge, which
is kind of a silly name, but it's a great sponge. And it's a scrubber, so scrunge. And I kind of thought, eh, you know, aside from the really
weird gimmicky sponges, like how much better is this sponge than any other normal kitchen sponge? I'm here to tell you it is so much better. It's a good size. It's not oversized or undersized. The really small ones
we were like folding up and trying to hold with our fingertips. The big ones couldn't
get into small spaces. This one has a really winning
combination of cellulose foam and then this acrylic scrubbing surface. It's got ripples in it and
those ripples actually matter. The texture helped us get
in there and lift off food. It really does a better job at cleaning, but then it also rinses clean really well. Things don't get in there and stay there. Normal kitchen sponges
as you're using them, they get kind of smelly,
they get food in them. You can never really get them clean. You chuck them out, you get a new one. This one lasts so much longer. We also tested how much they absorbed. And this was one of the most absorbent. We had one that was made out of silicone and obviously it absorbed zero- nothing. We had another one that was covered with this sort of plushy fur. Which seems super nice,
except when it got wet and full of biscuit dough
it was like a disgusting, wet teddy bear. Do not buy that sponge. So a few years ago, people
were scared of sponges. They learned that
bacteria can grow in them and that maybe they
shouldn't be using them. I'm here to tell you that we
actually did those lab tests. We took the same sponges that we used and we set them to one side, still wet, like people do where they'll
wipe something that's dirty and then leave it face down in
the sink where it stays wet. And then we did the same
thing and we rinsed it and squeezed it out really well. The difference is amazing. It's called colony
forming units of bacteria. The ones that were still dirty and left in a pool of moisture grew like 300,000 colony
forming units of bacteria versus about 20. So 300,000... 20. This is what you want to do. (chuckling) You want to squeeze out your sponge. You want to rinse out your sponge and it will keep going for a long time. And it's perfectly safe
and nice and clean. I have one that I bought
a pack of six of these. This one I've been using for two months and I rinse it out and I
squeeze it out and I clean it. The only thing that's
happened to it in two months is that I have really sharp knives and I've cut little corners
off of it over time. The back is perfectly fine. I used it this morning. It's in great shape. Totally worth it, these
are better sponges. So when you've got messes that even our amazing
scrubby sponge can't handle that's when we turn to a scrub brush. Now we tested nine of these
and this is our favorite. It is also by O-Cedar, and it's the O-Cedar Rinse
Fresh Pot and Pan Brush. It has a lot of features that we love and that really made a difference. These bristles are made of plastic and they are clumped together with wide spaces in between. So when you rinse it, it
actually rinses clean. The bristles are just stiff
enough to really scrub and cut through gunky things
that are stuck on there. The handle is a good shape. It's got this little curve
and it keeps your hands out of the hot water
and away from the mess. We had two other styles
that we just didn't love. Ones that were straight out
from the head of the brush. And ones that went straight up. None of those gave us
the comfortable angle and the good leverage and
power for good active scrubbing without making our elbows or wrists get into weird positions. It's got a nice size too. It's not too skinny. Some of them were like little toothpicks. The real winning part of this thing is this row in the back. It has an extra stiff,
little thin row of bristles. And these got down between
the thinnest, narrowest spaces on a grill pan and got all
that old hamburger gunk out of there, the grease, the
stuck on food, it was amazing. It could get into anything
and you could get it clean and it didn't damage the seasoning. Which is kind of an amazing feat. You want it really scrubbing, but you don't want to just
rip off the old seasoning. So you can't go in there
with steel wool or something. The scrub brush is the answer. I often will take a cast iron
pan, while it's still warm, take the food out of it before
it can really harden on there I will put it in the sink
under hot running water and I'll scrub with this brush, rinse it. It's back on that same warm burner to dry, wipe it with a towel and
maybe a little bit of oil if necessary, and you're done. Your pan is already washed
before you sit down to eat. So this thing has come in really handy. One of the questions that we get a lot is how do you clean wooden utensils? Like wooden spoons or cutting
boards or knife handles or any of the things you
have around the kitchen made of wood. I have a wooden spoon here
that I pulled out of a drawer. This is just one I happen to have around. It's pretty dry and parched looking. Our favorites are the
Jonathan's Spoons spootle and the Faay teak thirteen
and a half inch wooden spoon. Both of them are really terrific. You don't ever want to
leave part of them in water and part out or submerge
them in water and soak them. You want to wash them fairly
quickly in hot soapy water, pat them dry and use mineral
oil to moisturize the surface. And that keeps the wood in great shape. So you just want to use a little
bit and you can either use- use your hands if you want to, because honestly it's really
good for your skin too. And just rub it in. Get the whole thing- get the
sides, the bottom, everything. You know, a cutting board, the same way. Do the sides, do the bottom, do the top. And then leave it somewhere that it can fully dry and sink in. You want that oil to absorb as deeply into the wood as you can. You can't taste it. Mineral oil is safe for you to eat. (chuckles) It's funny 'cause
on the container here, it says lubricant and laxative. So you don't want to
drink it, particularly, but it's not going to hurt you. It's not like motor oil or something. And it's really good for the wood and basically keeps your wooden tools in the best shape they can be in. It will help prevent cracking. It will help prevent staining. It really brings it back to new. And will keep it going for years to come. A lot of people ask me how do you keep stainless
steel looking nice and shiny? Or any cookware or even your sink? You know, I have a steel sink and it can get kind of stained looking. Our secret is Bar Keepers Friend. If you know, you know. I know some of you already use this. If you don't already- go get some. I get this at the hardware,
cost a couple of bucks. It's a big can. It's a cleanser and it's for
stainless steel, porcelain, ceramic, copper, brass, fiberglass, Corian, chrome, aluminum. It will get under any kind of
stain and really lift it off and leaves your stainless
steel pans really shiny. Don't use it on cast iron it
will take off the seasoning. You don't want to get
it on your skin per se so it's a good idea to wear some gloves. It is really good, I use it on everything. I use it to clean my
counters, sink, pots and pans. This is my beloved All-Clad D3 stainless
steel 12 inch skillet. This is our favorite, our
test kitchen favorite. I've had this for about 15 years and this is what happens to the bottom. Gets kind of brown. And for people who like
to hang up their pans as a decorative thing between cooking you want to get that
cleaned off so it's shiny like this side. The active ingredient is oxalic acid which really cuts through
grease and baked on brown stuff and rust and all kinds of things. I've got my pan wet, I'm
going to sprinkle it with plenty of Bar Keepers Friend. Now normally I would do this in the sink but I want you to be able to see. As you scrub... Oh, this is kind of amazing. This little silver spot is
appearing in all the brown. I'm just going to do a little more and then I'm going to
rinse it off and show you. This is so satisfying, honestly. In just a couple seconds I've got this like reflective, shiny spot. And I will show you. Look at that. You saw it right here, couple of seconds and that brown stuff that
was baked on there forever- it's gone. The people in our dish
room at the test kitchen use it all the time. They're geniuses at getting anything clean and this is what they like to use. So I'm like, "Hey, I'm getting some too." And I love it. - All right, so cleaning sucks. But with the right gear you can get it done faster and easier. - For more information
about all the products we talked about, check
out the links below. - Yep, make sure to like this video, leave us your cleaning
questions in the comments and hit that subscribe button.
