Make Your Own All-Purpose Kitchen Cleaner With Just 3 Ingredients

Digging through aisles of cleaning products can feel tedious, especially when you just need a simple yet effective all-purpose cleaner. Thankfully, you can abandon those endless shelves of complicated products and make your own all-purpose kitchen cleaner at home using just three classic ingredients. Just grab a spray bottle of your choice, and it's time to whip up this easy mixture.

While there are plenty of recipes out there for kitchen cleaners, nothing beats using ingredients you already have at home. For this cleaner, you'll need rubbing alcohol, water, and dish detergent. For every cup of alcohol, combine with three cups of water and around ¼ teaspoon of the dish detergent — a little goes a long way in this case. Note that dish detergent is more commonly used in dishwashers, and isn't necessarily the same as the soap you may have next to a kitchen sink.

Shake everything to combine, and you are all set to clean! While other ingredients like baking soda are commonly used to clean kitchens, this all-purpose mixture will work on a variety of surfaces without being too aggressive. This includes counters and stovetops, appliances like mixers and refrigerators, and can even work to clean every nook and cranny of your oven. Either spray the cleaner directly onto the surface or spray it onto a cloth for more delicate materials like wood, and watch as your homemade recipe does the trick.

One of the great things about this all-purpose cleaner is that the recipe is adjustable depending on your cleaning needs and preferences. For those who don't have rubbing alcohol or don't want to use as harsh a chemical, apple cider vinegar is another common cleaner ingredient you can use instead. However, there are certain kitchen surfaces you shouldn't clean with vinegar, like wooden cabinets, because they may get damaged — so the cleaner may not be totally all-purpose.

The main downside of a simple cleaner recipe like the one above is that there is no way around the smell of the ingredients. You can use a scented dish detergent, but with so little added to the mixture, it's hard to combat the strong smell of rubbing alcohol. Yes, your kitchen will smell clean, but it may not be the fresh scent you hope for. To balance this, you can do a few things: First, use more natural ingredients like lemon rinds and rosemary stalks to create a more earthy aroma. Or add a few drops of your favorite essential oil to the all-purpose mixture for something more subtle and calming — mint and lavender are both great options. These added ingredients will have little to no effect on the actual cleaning ability of the solution, but won't give your kitchen that sterile, hospital-like atmosphere.