14 Things You Can Clean with Bar Keepers Friend

14 Things You Can Clean with Bar Keepers Friend

You know those few household products you can’t live without… the ones that pull double or triple duty around the home? Bar Keepers Friend is one of those things. It cleans, it polishes, it brings old stuff back to life. Seriously amazing. Here are 14 Bar Keepers Friend uses that you want to try immediately.

bar keepers friend collage with stovetop, dirty pot and bar keepers friend product

Ways to Use the Cleaner Bar Keepers Friend

What is Bar Keepers Friend?

Bar Keepers Friend or BKF is a cleaning product that was originally used and marketed for those running bars, but because of its popularity has uses outside of the bar!  Many uses.

Bar Keepers Friend superior hard surface cleansers tackle rust, mineral deposits, baked-on food, and other tough stains with gentle, bleach-free formulations. Bar Keepers Friend makes industrial-strength cleaning safe, quick, and easy.

–Bar Keepers Friend Website

If you haven’t tried this stuff yet, you can get it HERE (affiliate). Seriously, folks, it will change the way you clean.

1. Make Your Vintage Pyrex Beautiful Again

Vintage Pyrex is gorgeous, but after years of use, those scratches really show. Sometimes there are baked-on grease and grime or black marks that look like scuff marks. Clean and polish your Vintage Pyrex with Bar Keepers Friend to make it look new again. Some Pyrex pieces are very rare today and this is a great idea to keep them looking their best.

clean and restore vintage pyrex before and after images

2. Clean Rusty Old Tools with Bar Keepers Friend

Clean and restore rusty old tools in your garage or shed. Test a small area first before beginning. Just sprinkle a small amount on your tools and add a little water. Work the product into the rusty old tools using a scrubby pad or a metal brush. This may take a little bit of elbow grease and possibly several applications.

You can pretty much clean any tool that has a coating of rust, like wrenches, saws, and screwdrivers. When you’re done, just rinse well with water. This should remove years of neglect and rust, and I love that I can use it on most of my tools. I’ve even used it on my stainless steel baking sheets in my kitchen. Works like a charm!

Bar keepers friend sitting on a towel with a rusty wrench laying in front of it

3. Bar Keepers Friend for Your Appliances

I love my stainless steel appliances, but you really can see every fingerprint and smudge. Bar Keepers Fried gets rid of them all, and makes your appliances look like new again! There’s a liquid and a powder version, and they both work great. Personally, I use the liquid one because I find it easier to clean up. Such a simple cleaning hack.

before and after pics of stainless steel refrigerator handle using bar keepers friend, much cleaner after

4. Use Bar Keepers Friend to Get Rid of Rust on Your Knives

Have you wondered where those rust spots on your kitchen knives come from? I’ve tried so many tricks to make my rusty knives shine again. I wish I had tried this first. It would have saved me a lot of scrubbing! Make a paste with bar keepers friend and some water; apply and the rust should vanish pretty quickly.

big stainless steel knife, before and after pictures, top one rusty and bottom one not. using bar keepers friend.

5. Cleaning Made Easier for Glass Stovetops

Make your glass cooktop sparkle. I’ve had mine for several years now, and bar keepers friend makes it shine like it’s brand new. I use the liquid but there is a powder available as well. We all know how messy glass stovetops get, even after cooking just one meal, and cleaning it can be a pain. Anything that makes cleaning easier for me, I’m definitely on board!

Bar Keepers Friend helps make housework a little less daunting. But I DO love this quote!

“Housework can’t kill you but why take a chance.” – Phyllis Diller

Glass cooktop shiny, with bar keepers friend on top and a sponge on top of that. also a pitcher sitting on top with kitchen spoons inside.

6. Restore Your Porcelain Sink in no Time

Barkeeper’s friend is a cleanser and a polish and it works great on porcelain. You’ll never believe how stained and scratched this porcelain sink was until you look for yourself. What a miracle product! It also works on plastics, stainless steel, and brass, but you should do a test area first when beginning any project, to make sure it will work well. If you’re using the powder, mix a little with water to form a paste, then apply (you can also use a scrubby if you like).

white porcelain sink with two sections (sinks) side by side

7. Remove Those Ugly Scratches From Your Dishes

Have you ever noticed the ugly grayish-black marks and the millions of tiny scratches that some of our dishes get? My kitchen cabinet is full of dishes with these unsightly scratches. Remove those utensil scratches from your dishes with bar keepers friend. I know we kind of covered this with the pyrex, but I can’t believe the transformation here. Amazing, I can’t wait to transform my dishes!

white dish with scratches on one side and the word

Bar Keepers Friend Uses for the Home

8. Use Bar Keepers Friend to Clean Inside Your Dishwasher

There are several ways you can clean the inside of your dishwasher, like using a steam cleaner, doing a vinegar rinse, or even using bleach. But, my favorite way is to clean it with Bar Keepers’ friend. Just spray the inside with water and sprinkle with bar keepers friend, then work it in. When you’re done with this part, you’ll want to wipe it out with a cloth or paper towels to get rid of any residue. Run your dishwasher afterward with an empty cycle; you can even add some vinegar to this if you like.

You could also fill your dishwasher detergent dispenser with BF, set it to the hottest setting, and watch it work on your dingy dishwasher. If that doesn’t work, try our dishwasher cleaning trick. The cleaner our dishwasher is, the better we feel when we unload our dishes, pots, and pans. Have you noticed that too?

before and after pics of the inside of a white dishwasher using bar keepers friend to clean it.

9. How to Clean Those Stainless Steel Pots and Pans

Stainless steel pots and pans get notoriously dirty on the bottom, but no matter how much you clean them, it doesn’t help. At least that’s what happens at my house. Wouldn’t you like to see your pots and pans, shiny and pretty again? This simple little trick is so easy. Barkeepers friend combined with a little water, a scrubbing pad, and some elbow grease, and those pots can look like new again.

dirty stainless steel pot turned upside down with bar keepers friend sitting next to it and a green and yellow sponge in between.

10. Restore Your Brass Pieces with Bar Keepers Friend

Have you ever had a piece of brass full of so many nasty scratches, it looked like it was beyond hope? Nothing I’ve tried works better on brass than Bar Keepers Friend. I’ve even seen it take care of some ugly discolorization and some goof-ups I thought couldn’t be reversed. With a little water and a light scrub, it will make your brass look all shiny again. You might even end up with a result that’s better than the original!

round brass item with a scrubby and bar keepers friend, showing how to strip paint from brass.

11. Miracle Uses – Remove Rust from a Lawn Chair

This metal chair was a yard sale find, and she was considering ditching it. Not anymore, all the rust is gone. It took bar keepers friend mixed with a little water and a whole lot of elbow grease, but I’d say it was well worth it. When you’re tackling a project like this, run your cloth underwater ever so often, then reload with more bar keepers friend. Rinse and repeat.

outdoor furniture before and after pic. left side has rust on stainless steel, and right side doesn't.

12. Remove Tarnish from Antique Hardware Pieces

Remove tarnish from hardware with bar keepers friend. This is a great idea if you find some ornate or antique pieces that you’d love to use on your furniture. Antique hardware added to furniture gives it that beautiful vintage look, but when there is so much tarnish on the hardware, it can be disheartening. Now there’s a way to make them all pretty again. Mix bar keepers friend with a little water, apply and leave it for just a minute, then rub it in (maybe even use a scrubby pad), and rinse.

oval hardware on top and key type hardware on bottom, with tarnish removed

13. Remove Dark Water Stains from Wood

Make a thick paste of Bar Keepers Friend and water to remove dark stains from wood furniture. It works on water rings, too! Apply it to the wood (you can use a disposable paintbrush if you like), and leave it on till it dries. You can add another application on top of the first one, repeat, till it lightens. But, if for some reason, you don’t see an improvement after several applications, the dark stain may be caused by something other than water.

wood table with a dark stain on top.

14. Clean Dirty Old Grout with Bar Keepers Friend

When you’re at your wit’s end trying to get your tile and grout clean, try this stuff. Sprinkle a little bit of bar keepers friend on the grout, wet your brush, and scrub till clean. Then, take a damp paper towel, washcloth, or hand towel and wipe the area of excess cleaner and any dirt left behind. Grout gets dirty so fast, it’s nice to know there is a solution to make your floors look new again. Superfast too.

Items you’ll need:

  • Bar Keepers Friend
  • Water
  • A little brush to scrub the area
  • A damp paper towel, hand towel, or washcloth

tile with a tiny brush and some bar keepers friend powder showing how to clean grout.

What do YOU clean with Bar Keepers Friend? Let us know on our Facebook page!

How do you know what you can use bar keepers friend on?

Here is a little list from their website:

Use  Bar Keepers Friend on:

  • Stainless steel
  • Copper
  • Brass
  • Glass
  • Fiberglass
  • Ceramic
  • Tile
  • Chrome
  • Formica
  • Porcelain
  • Corian

Ideal for:

  • Kitchens
  • Bathrooms
  • Locker rooms
  • Industrial sites
  • Shower doors
  • Stainless steel sinks
  • Cookware
  • Ceramic cooktops
  • Grouted floors and walls

Love These Bar Keepers Friend Uses? Check Out These Other Cleaning Posts:

things to do with bar keepers friend. collage, dishwasher inside, dirty upside down pan with bar keepers friend, wrench and cloth.

The post 14 Things You Can Clean with Bar Keepers Friend appeared first on DIY House Hacks - One Crazy House.

Back to blog