My silly question is.....my sink NEVER feels clean. How do get yours clean? How often do you clean it? What do you clean with (baking soda, something harsher)? I clean it, wipe it down every night, but would never think to actually put clean dishes in there to dry. That grosses me out. Let alone every time I see a rack for drying dishes, it looks dirty (like at my family or friend's houses), dusty, crumbs in their racks, or gunk in the corners of rack. How do you all clean the rack or is there some kind of regularity to it?
I have a small amount of counterspace (my kitchen is a fabulous original midcentury kitchen), and I suppose getting over my phobias over a clean sink and/or clean drying rack would give me back a lot of counter space.
Also, I am home all day with my kids, so our sink is used constantly. Water cups, snacks, lunch, prepping dinner, baking, etc.
Any ideas on having a clean sink? Has anyone thought of this?
Edited to add: I have a stainless steel sink.
If I started with a clean sink and washed maybe a day's worth of fresh dishes, I'll just wipe it down with the dish sponge or a rag and rinse well with water. If dishes have been sitting because I've been busy, and/or I see staining (I have a white sink so it's more frequent than when I've lived with SS sinks :'( ), or any other grossness, I'll throw on some Comet powder (and let it sit a few mins for disinfection by bleach in the Comet).
For the rack, I don't worry too much because the dishes mostly just touch the top part(s) and any grime collects in the bottom/water channels. My parents' enameled-wire rack practically doesn't get dirty (ok, it gets sticky dust and some hard water on it eventually, we do clean it, but less than I clean my plastic basket rack)...the water-draining tray underneath, however, can get a little nasty. Basically, I'll scrub the rack and any sub-rack trays, mats, etc with a brush and soap anytime they look gross, which is generally rarer than 1x/week. Hard water stains don't bother me from a cleanliness perspective if they don't come off easily, but for aesthetics I'll scrub with citric acid on occasion.
General thoughts on cleaning:
-water is great at rinsing dirt, and any germs living in that dirt, away. Often takes copious amounts to rinse and hard to as well for stationary surfaces (e.g. floor, counter). Wiping with a wet rag you might spread germs around more than you take them away.
-some types of dirt don't dissolve well in water, e.g. greasy dirt (because oil and water don't mix!). To dissolve those in water you need surfactants--chemicals found in soaps and detergents that bind to grease/dirt on one end and water on the other, allowing water to rinse away grease/dirt. Detergents (any kind of "liquid soap" like dish, hand, maybe laundry) are generally formulated to rinse away better and dissolve better in hard water.
-some types of dirt don't come away with soap and water, but you can scrub them away because they're only a surface layer on the object (e.g. burned on stuff in a pan). Baking soda is a good scrubber.
-some dirt takes an inordinate amount of scrubbing to try to get off; finding an alternative solvent (instead of water) to actually dissolve the dirt may help, and it depends on the dirt. Vinegar (acid) can be a good alternative solvent, e.g. for hard water stains. Rubbing alcohol works wonders on that sticky buildup of grease+dust on the tops of cabinets, range hoods, etc. or sometimes when getting a label off a jar. Nail polish remover (acetone) dissolves permanent marker (and also paint...so be careful).
-Soap, water, and scrubbing don't disinfect! Heat (boiling or hotter), bleach, and alcohol do a good job disinfecting. Vinegar, I think, does some. And of course there are commercial sprays (Lysol, Fantastik, 409, etc), many of which are also solvents of some kind. Most of these take a few minutes to actually work for disinfecting.
-Finally, I think it's important to remember that we aren't necessarily built for a sterile environment. Around the house, I generally figure if it looks clean, smells clean, and feels clean...it's clean, while applying common sense...so my sanitizing is basically limited to: after working with meat/eggs, anything stinky, and bathroom ~1x/week at most. Most things are resolved with soap, water, scrubbing.