Stuck-On Kitchen Grime Is No Match Against This Common Clothing Accessory

There's nothing more annoying than burnt grease stuck to the stovetop, or stubborn stains from that time you couldn't stop a shaken soda from exploding. While it might take a while to scrub those spots clean, one common clothing accessory can make the process seamless. Instead of scraping the grime away, possibly damaging your kitchen in the process, give those stains a quick pass with a clothing steamer instead.

This household tool might have been made to get wrinkles out of clothes, but it works similarly to a steam cleaner. Instead of spending money on a whole new gadget, why not grab this tool from your closet instead? After all, it does the same thing. 

The hot steam helps loosen and break up grime, so instead of struggling to scrape it away, all you have to do is wipe. The steam comes from boiling water, so it can kill off certain bacteria in the process too. This makes using a clothing steamer one of the safest ways to clean sticky, grimy wooden cabinets, plus a slew of other surfaces that don't react well to harsh cleaners. Even if you're skeptical, why not give it a try to see how it works?

A clothing steamer might work wonders when lifting heavy stains, but it's not completely foolproof. It's a great tip for tackling stains on durable appliances and kitchenware, but it might prove difficult to use on more sensitive materials. Some wallpapers, for example, are too fragile and could peel in the middle of a steam. The paint on kitchen cabinets could also potentially blister and bubble under the high temperatures. Other materials like plastic, laminate, and wax-polished surfaces could suffer the same fate. To avoid destroying your kitchen instead of fixing it up, don't linger over these spots with the steamer.

Sensitive materials aside, it might be hard to reach certain spots in your kitchen with a handheld clothing steamer, such as deep sinks or microwaves. Luckily, you can still use the power of steam to clean your microwave, just with different tools, and there are plenty of other clever ways to clean your kitchen that work similar magic. All we know is that a steamer saves us scrubbing time and is a lifesaver for fragile glass stovetops. In a pinch, it never hurts to have one of these on hand.