I Tried 5 Different Sponges, And I'll Only Ever Use This One For Dishes Again

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Kitchen sponges aren't always something you think about much in day-to-day life; however, once you find one that's mind-blowing for cleaning the dishes, you'll likely never use another one again. Cleaning the kitchen properly is a big part of cooking and keeping the house clean, and the tools that you choose to utilize can make a big difference in how intimidating or how simple you find this task.

Some people may prefer using sturdy dish brushes over sponges, as the extra task of cleaning the sponge regularly may seem annoying (fortunately, younger generations seem to have left the gross habit of not cleaning kitchen sponges in the past). However, sponges have their own advantages, such as being fairly cheap and easy to replace, as well as being absorbent and more capable of reaching small, tight spaces.

There are multiple factors that can make a dish sponge worth your time and money. For this story, I mainly noted sturdiness, price, ability to remove stubborn residue, and effectiveness on counters. After testing five common household sponges, I decided that there's only one that deserves a permanent place by the kitchen sink.

Unfortunately, the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser sponge is the lowest on my list because it performed the worst according to my criteria. I enjoy this brand for cleaning other areas of the house, but for the dishes, it was a different story entirely.

This sponge has built-in soap, which could be a benefit if you don't mind forfeiting your favorite kitchen dish soap. However, when it comes to wiping down the counters, this is a bit of a disadvantage due to the soap making it impossible to rinse as you go. Despite this, I felt that the strong point of this sponge is definitely how well it performed on the surfaces, if you don't count having to rinse with a separate product.

Disappointingly, this sponge began to fall apart right away during the first time actually washing dishes, and I knew it wouldn't stand a chance against routine sponge cleaning. I was nervous to scrub the pots too hard because of this, which resulted in a longer process overall. However, my dishes ended up looking fairly clean.

The Scotch-Brite is a sponge that's made an appearance in my house once or twice before, but I didn't consider its features very much until I tested it for this article. The dishes and countertops ultimately appeared clean after using this sponge, and it did a good job scrubbing homemade pasta sauce from a saucepan, but there were also a few disappointing aspects to this product.

The most apparent issue was its lack of sturdiness. As I wrung it out to rinse while washing the dishes, the sponge quickly became tattered and torn. This could have also been due to the fact that the sponge did not retain soap well at all while washing dishes, so I had to continuously reapply. Oddly enough, it still left quite a bit of soap residue on the countertops, which required some extra rinsing in the end.

Although it ranked higher than the Mr Clean sponge due to being a little more durable and having a tougher surface for scrubbing, I wouldn't consider this product a great investment for cleaning the whole kitchen. 

The Brillo Estracell Heavy Duty Scrub Sponge looks similar to the Scotch-Brite sponge. However, compared to the Scotch Brite, this sponge did well for the price (it's the cheapest sponge on our list), and was actually a bit more durable. I appreciated the rough side for removing baked-on food; compared to the other sponges on this list, it was very gritty and held up against stubborn residue pretty well.

The Brillo sponge did tear very slightly during the first use, while wringing it out between dishes. Nonetheless, it seemed fairly sturdy during the rest of the process. It did a great job removing stuck-on residue from a baking dish and cleaned flatware fairly well, leaving minimal streaks once it was dry.

Regarding the countertops and stovetop, this sponge did a decent job. It wasn't the best when it came to the tough grease stuck onto the stove, but the countertops themselves appeared clean and shiny with no streaks.

This sponge performed much better than I expected. Out of all the sponges I tested in this experiment, the Tuff-Scrub Scrub-N-Wipe was by far the most sturdy. Its "Tuff-Scrub" side is made from charcoal-infused foam, which is very strong compared to the other sponges. While this product will likely last a very long time, unfortunately, its overall performance still wasn't quite as great as I'd hoped.

I felt that the final appearance of the dishes and countertops was far from perfect, though it got the job done. In addition to this, the scrubbing itself was a bit of a chore. I didn't like how long it took to wash each dish, which was probably due to how soft the sponge's material is. It didn't provide any "grit" to really tackle stubborn leftovers, and the microfiber side was even less effective. Because of this, I docked a couple of points as it made the washing up process take a little too long. I would definitely recommend this for some quick tidying up as opposed to long cleaning sessions in the kitchen. You'll definitely get multiple washes out of this sponge though, despite it being slightly more expensive than the Brillo and Scotch Brite products, leading me to rank it in second place.

My household is no stranger to the Scrub Daddy brand, so trying out the Sponge Daddy Non-Scratch Sponge for this ranking felt like a no-brainer. The brand is popular due to its eccentric social media presence, but it takes first-hand experience to decide whether or not it lives up to the hype.

I had a few dinner dishes to clean as well as my air fryer, and ultimately, using Scrub Daddy resulted in nice, clean pans and utensils. There were no streaks, and I found that the sponge retained soap very well, meaning it wasn't necessary to frequently add more. When it came to washing the outside of the dishes where some residue had hardened while cooking, I'll admit the rougher side wasn't much help. I ended up having to scrub with a paper towel to get them completely clean.

While the sponge did an excellent job overall with the dishes themselves, the countertops and stove had less favorable results. It didn't stand a chance against baked-on spills from cooking, and I was also disappointed to find that the countertops were covered in streaks the next morning. However, I felt that the 4-pack was a good deal for the price, especially since they appear to be quite durable, should last for a while, and gave favorable results with the dishes.

For this piece, I tried to be objective about the pros and cons of each product. I mainly considered durability/sturdiness, price, clean appearance after use, effectiveness on everyday utensils, and how easy it was to remove dried residue. It was also very important to note how well the sponges cleaned kitchen surfaces, such as the stovetop, as this is an important aspect of the kitchen cleaning routine. I evaluated the final result, meaning whether or not any streaks were left and how genuinely clean the counters looked, as well as how long it took to scrub them to a satisfactory point.

I used each sponge after cooking dinner and tried to clean at least one non-everyday item (such as a baking dish that had been housing leftovers, a blender, and an air fryer). Although I typically wash flatware in the dishwasher, for this experiment, I cleaned it by hand to get the full effect of each sponge.

Also, I left the washing up a little bit longer than I normally would in order to give the sponges a challenge (although cleaning as you cook is a kitchen life-hack, I sacrificed this step for the sake of the article), and to see how well they'd hold up against a bigger mess. I refrained from allowing them to soak (a science-backed way to clean dirty dishes) as well because this would also help soften any residue and make the job easier for the sponges.