Tips to clean the kitchen sink and walls

Keep the heart of your home in sanitary shape by focusing on these two problem areas.

The kitchen sink may be one of the most-used areas in the home. Used for food preparation, cleaning and washing, it can get dirty quickly, but it doesn't have to stay that way. Stainless steel kitchen sinks aren't quite as immune to ugly marks as their name suggests. Here are some solutions to various problems:

• Rust marks Rub the area with a drop of lighter fluid and then clean it with non-abrasive scouring powder and water.
• Watermarks Rub with a cloth dampened with rubbing alcohol.
• Other marks Rub marks with white vinegar or club soda, both of which are excellent polishers.

• Germs can hang around in your sink on microscopic food particles.
• To kill them off, fill a spray bottle with equal parts white vinegar and water.
• After you finish washing dishes, spray the sink and then rub it down with a clean dishtowel or paper towel.

• Charming though they are, porcelain sinks are hard to clean because abrasive cleaners dull (and often scratch) porcelain surfaces.
• Take the gentle route and clean your sink with fresh lemon thyme tea.
• Place four to five bunches of fresh lemon thyme in an 11-litre (three gallon) metal bucket and fill it with boiling water.
• Steep for five or six hours and strain. Stop up your sink, pour in the tea and let it sit overnight.
• When you drain it the next morning, you'll find a gleaming white sink that smells as fresh as, well, a sprig of lemon thyme.

It can be very difficult to keep walls clean of grime, dust and fingerprints and the dirt can be unsightly. Here are some quick and easy ways to keep your walls clean:

• Mix a solution of 3.7 litres (one gallon) of water and 125 millilitres (1/2 cup) of chlorine bleach to give your kitchen walls a brightening sponge-down after frying or sauteéing.
• Remove your young Picasso's kitchen wall pencil sketches with a slice of fresh rye bread (seeded or not). An art-gum eraser can also get rid of the marks.
• If your kitchen walls are covered with waterproof wallpaper, remove excess dirt with a vacuum cleaner, then wash the walls with a solution of 125 millilitres (1/2 cup) each of lemon juice and dishwashing liquid, and about one litre (one quart) of water. Before starting, wash a tiny section in an out-of-sight place to make sure the paper will tolerate the mixture.

You'll love that the most-used room in the house is kept spic and span with these easy-todo cleaning tips. It's kitchen magic!