10 All-Purpose Kitchen Cleaners, Ranked

Keeping your kitchen spotless is important not just for looks but also to avoid food contaminants and to clean up germs. A good all-purpose cleaner can take care of sticky messes as well as help avoid staining. They should work on plenty of surfaces and materials to keep things clean. So whether you've splattered your flavor-packed spaghetti sauce or made one of many common mistakes with raw chicken, like contaminating your counters with it, a spray cleaner that can handle it all is the perfect thing to have around.

Chemical cleaners sometimes have a bad reputation for a strong, off-putting scent, but many of the options on the store shelves today use essential oils and other natural scents that are a bit more pleasant for the nose. Some even have entire lines of other cleaning products to create a signature scent for your home. We put the top cleaners to work in the kitchen and around the house to see which scents we liked, and more importantly, which were the best at tackling spills. The best ones combined good cleaning power with fragrances that made us (almost) look forward to the next mess. With kids and pets around our home, there were plenty of opportunities to put them to the test.

Maybe it's because we had to use Fabuloso in a past job that required daily cleaning and maintenance on a large scale, but the chemical scent of this purple bottle screams industrial-strength cleaner and didn't work for us in our home, and especially not in the kitchen. It cleans well, but it's super concentrated and has a distinct fragrance that smells even hours after use. We went with the Lavender product to compare it to other lavender-scented cleaners out there. This one has a slightly floral element, but describing it as lavender was a bit of a stretch.

The 56-ounce bottle, which you have to dilute with water and put in a separate spray bottle, costs less than $5. It can take care of just about any mess, including the tomato sauce, flour, and peanut butter that we used for testing. It didn't leave behind any residue on the surface but definitely added a chemical odor to the air. There are other fragrance options, including Peach and Watermelon, that may be worth trying.

It was the most budget-friendly option that we tried by far, which was the main benefit for Fabuloso. But since we didn't actually like using this cleaner, it would probably just end up taking up space below the sink. Even though it was effective on messes, we had to put it at the bottom of the list due to the super strong odor. (And please don't boil Fabuloso to try to combat this issue or other odors like people have been suggesting.)

Pine-Sol is known as a reliable wood cleaner, but you can also try the all-purpose formula on other surfaces around the kitchen. The Lemon Fresh scent worked well in the kitchen, but it was pretty strong. We also only found this cleaner in a large 48-ounce bottle of concentrate, so we needed to have a smaller spray bottle on hand to use it. When we sprayed it on flour and tomato sauce, it whisked the messes up with just a swipe or two of a paper towel. The peanut butter required a little bit more work, but that was true of all of the cleaners. 

In addition to good cleaning power, Pine-Sol is pretty budget-friendly. The 48-ounce bottle costs about $8. You only need around a quarter of a cup of it when mixed with 1 cup of water, and even that was pretty strong. We liked that we could customize how much to make and use, plus that we could use the same formula in a bucket for larger cleaning jobs. In the end, this one was just okay in terms of smell, which was a pretty big factor for us when considering it as a daily cleaner. We'd be more likely to keep this on hand for big messes or deep cleaning rather than as our go-to all-purpose cleaner.

If you want a cleaner that smells more like a luxury candle than a chemical cleaner, Maison&Muse is perfect. The all-purpose cleaner is scented with lime and French pear, which is pretty subtle. The kitchen cleaner version instead uses guava and elderflower, although other than the fragrance, we couldn't really tell a big difference between the two formulas, so we'd use either on most surfaces. 

It's not the strongest at tackling tough messes, however. The formula is plant-based, which means it isn't harsh on your surfaces. If you have to just take care of general dust and dirt, this formula works well. But for sticky substances, it'll take quite a bit of scrubbing and cleaner to really get it. The bottle, which has 25.36 ounces, costs around $4.50, which is too pricey for us to use if we're having to go over a mess multiple times.

If you find a Maison&Muse fragrance that you love, you can also get it in an air freshener, car freshener, and candle. The scent is the draw with this option. The company turns household chores into a full experience, even offering playlists on Spotify to enjoy in your newly cleaned space. If you don't have a lot of really gross messes, this may work for you. But for most of us, we'd have to do a preliminary cleaning with something a bit stronger, which cuts down on the all-purpose utility of this cleaner.

The scent options from Everyspring are a little bit more varied, plus there are other cleaning products in the line to keep the smell consistent throughout your house. We've had the Lavender and Bergamot in our cleaning routine for bathroom counters, but we've also tried the Lemon and Mint, which had a brighter, more refreshing scent. While we've used it for general purposes, including on some spots in the kitchen you're probably forgetting to clean, it only did okay in the side-by-side comparison with other products.

The fragrance uses plant-based ingredients and essential oils rather than harsh chemicals, so it's a bit lighter than some of the other options out there. The formula is still good on kitchen grease and dirt, but we found that we needed to use more to tackle the same messes as the other cleaners. This was most apparent when we sprayed it on oily peanut butter. 

We did like the price and the company's commitment to sustainability. A 28-ounce bottle costs around $3, but you can also get a larger 32-ounce refill container of cleaning concentrate. Just add 1 cup of water to a quarter cup of cleaner in a spray bottle. You'll be able to save some money and reduce your plastic consumption as well. Overall, this was a good option for its scent, but it was just okay for cleaning power.

Mr. Clean Magic Erasers are magic for stuck-on messes, so we were excited to give the all-purpose spray cleaner a try as well. It has a Lemon Zest scent that we like for the kitchen. It's a bit more predictable than some of the more elevated scents from other brands, but it works on a variety of surfaces.

The 16-ounce container costs around $5, which sounds expensive. But it comes out in a fine mist rather than a thick spray and goes over a large area. We'd expect this small bottle to last just as long or longer than some of the bigger options that have a more concentrated spray. The Mr. Clean version has a pretty strong formula, so even the finer spray works on a lot of spills. It isn't as powerful as some of the other chemical-based cleaners, but it still worked for most of what we needed it for.

With its super light spray that spreads evenly across your surface, it has a good cleaning effect, even on sticky messes. This is an especially good option for delicate surfaces because it doesn't soak them in cleaning solution. We just wish that the fragrances were a bit more upgraded than the mostly basic citrus scents if offers.

If you want the most eco-friendly cleaner out there, Cleancult is about as environmentally-conscious as you can get at the store. It comes in a reusable aluminum bottle that you can refill when it's time to make a new batch. This reduces plastic waste by as much as 90% and looks pretty nice in your cleaning cabinet. The scents are essential oil-based and include Pink Grapefruit, Lemon Verbana, Wild Lavender, and Sweet Basil. We'd compare them to Mrs. Meyer's, as both seem inspired by the garden, but these are a bit more subtle and don't linger for long. The formula is dye-free as well, which we liked for use on food prep surfaces.

The cleaning power was decent and similar to other naturally-derived formulas that don't include harsh chemicals. It worked for our daily use but wouldn't be enough to tackle some really deep cleaning. We'd pick this one to easily clean the kitchen while cooking.

Cleancult is a little expensive upfront but is budget-friendly for refills. The 16-ounce bottle normally costs around $5, but we were able to save around $1 through a sale. We're not sure how often these are discounted, but we'd recommend holding out for lower pricing. The refill containers, which are lined paper cartons that use minimal plastic, are around $8 and include enough for two refills.

If we had an award for best scent, it would go to Mrs. Meyer's every time. The all-purpose spray cleaner comes in Blueberry, Compassion Flower, Clementine, Peony, Lemon Verbena, Rainwater, Honeysuckle, and many more. They are made with essential oils, so the scents are much more nuanced while still being noticeable. 

If you love a particular smell, Mrs. Meyer's might also make it in hand soap, dish soap, and other products. You can also find popular seasonal options during certain times of the year, such as Fresh Cut Grass in the summer and Gingerbread during the winter holidays. This is a good way to get your entire home clean while also adding some seasonal scents to spruce things up.

The fragrances are the best, but the cleaning power is nothing great. It could handle common kitchen messes and even some of the tougher ones if we cleaned them up right away. But once sticky messes had set and dried, it took quite a bit of scrubbing to get our counters clean again. Mrs. Meyer's is a bit milder, but it can be used on just about any non-porous surface, so consider that if you're planning to use your all-purpose cleaner in a variety of places.

Mrs. Meyer's can be a little pricey, costing just under $5 for a small 16-ounce spray bottle. The refill containers help cut down on costs, but this is still one of the more expensive brands.

Method has been our go-to cleaner for years thanks to the nice scents and good price, especially when you can find a store discount. You can use Method All-Purpose Cleaner on natural stone, metal, wood, and glass. It truly is an all-purpose option with a pleasant smell.

When we tested this option side-by-side with other cleaners, we were happy to see that it stood up even to some of the tougher chemical-based options. A 28-ounce bottle costs just over $4, which is a bit pricier than some other naturally-derived versions. But given the superior cleaning power that we saw, it's still a good value.

We tried the French Lavender scent, but you can also get options like Lime and Sea Salt, Sandalwood and Cedar, Eucalyptus and Rosemary, Lemon and Freesia, or Pink Grapefruit, which would be nice, refreshing options for a kitchen. Some of the most popular scents are also available in 68-ounce refill bottles that you can combine with water to replenish your spray bottle.

Our only complaint about the Method bottle is the spray nozzle, which tends to be a bit flimsy and breaks easily. While we didn't see this happen in the side-by-side test, we know from years of use to be careful with how we store our Method cleaners. If you put anything on top, the nozzle easily breaks and the bottle can leak. This doesn't always cause problems, but it does make the cleaner harder to use without getting it all over your hands.

When you think of kitchen cleaners, Lysol is probably the top brand that comes to mind. This all-purpose cleaner truly could handle it all, whether it was sticky peanut butter or acidic tomato sauce. When we wanted to get a mess taken care of quickly with minimal effort, this was the bottle we were most likely to grab. It also reports that this formula kills 99.9% of germs. We didn't have a super scientific way to test this, but it did take care of all of the messes that we tested it with.

It's worth mentioning that the spray nozzle on this bottle helps it get super sudsy and expand over a large area. This means that you need less cleaner to get the same job done. Though it didn't linger, the Lemon Breeze scent was a bit strong for our noses. If you're doing a lot of cleaning, you might want to open a nearby window or run a fan to provide a little bit of ventilation. But for smaller messes, the stronger chemical-based fragrance shouldn't cause issues unless you're really sensitive.

A 32-ounce spray bottle is just about $4, and because the nozzle helps it spray over a pretty sizable space, it'll last quite a bit longer than some of the other bottles. We'd happily put it in our arsenal of cleaning supplies, especially for sticky messes. This would be our top pick for deep cleaning or if you have particularly messy kids.

Seventh Generation is named for its commitment to making a difference for the next seven generations. It uses plant-based essential oils for scents as well as a cleaning agent made from a component of thyme oil. We liked it for its combination of elevated scents, cleaning and disinfecting power, and budget-friendly price. It checks all of the boxes, earning it the top spot on our list. The Lemongrass Citrus scent is similar to some of the chemical-based citrus cleaners, but a bit milder. It also doesn't linger super long, which we like when cleaning the kitchen. We'd rather smell something tasty to eat instead of cleaning supplies. It gets rid of 99.9% of germs, but you have to leave it on the surface for 10 minutes for the full effect. Fortunately, you don't need to worry about rinsing, even when you use it on food prep surfaces or kids' toys.

A 26-ounce spray bottle costs around $5, which is a good value given the size and how little you need to use to get the job done. It sprays in a pretty steady stream over a large area, but you can hold it back a bit further for a lighter mist. We found that one pass was enough to tackle tomato sauce and flour, although we needed a couple of rounds to get all of the oily peanut butter. For day-to-day uses, one spray was plenty for any mess that we needed to clean up.

We put all of the cleaners to the test with a few common kitchen messes. We set up a spray test to see how they each performed side-by-side when cleaning up tomato sauce, flour, and peanut butter. The best cleaners were truly all-purpose and worked equally well on things that were sticky and oily as well as spills that were dry and cakey. We also wanted to see which could clean up common food stains or residue.

We put each cleaner through its paces in day-to-day use as well. We have to deal with plenty of messes from our young kids and pets, giving us ample opportunities to spray each product. We considered how easy they were to use and how quickly they got the job done. This also gave us a chance to test the cleaners on a variety of surfaces, including kitchen counters, the dining table, bathroom sinks, and even the floor. Our favorites performed well in every scenario, making them truly all-purpose.