How to Clean a White Porcelain Sink with Baking Soda

See how to clean a white porcelain sink with simple cleaners like baking soda, vinegar, and Bar Keepers friend. This easy tutorial shows you daily & monthly cleaning routines!

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We're working our way through the kitchen with a few cleaning tutorials for those hard-to-clean areas! We've already covered how to clean an oven and how to steam clean a microwave...today, we're working on the kitchen sink.

This spot gets messy fast-crumbs, grime, mystery smells-if you don't stay on top of it, it shows. But with a little elbow grease (and maybe a couple pantry staples), you can have it looking shiny and fresh again in no time. I'll walk you through exactly how I clean ours and keep it that way with just a few simple steps.

Daily Maintenance

I have a sink deep cleaning task on the calendar each month in Journey to Clean, but I'm a big believer in giving it a quick clean with your dish sponge every time you do dishes as well. That goes a long way in keeping the sink clean in between monthly deep cleanings.

Simply get the whole sink wet and give it a good scrub each time you do the nightly tasks in your cleaning routine!

(We use these sponges for dishes and love them for both dishes and sink cleaning - they're so durable and can break up just about any kind of gunk imaginable.)

Monthly Deep Clean for a White Porcelain Sink

Even with those nightly scrubs, you're still going to have some deep cleaning to do every now and then. So, when kitchen week rolls around on my cleaning schedule, this is how I really get our white porcelain sink clean and shiny.

(Sidenote: I get questions all the time about our sink. It's an Ikea Domsjo sink and I absolutely love it, but it was discontinued shortly after we bought it. I'm so sad - it was such a great product!)

1. Coat with Baking Soda & Vinegar

First thing's first - wet your whole sink with water, using a sprayer if you have one. (This is our faucet...it's great! It has an adjustable spray nozzle and the sprayer comes right out as needed.)

Then, I add my absolute favorite secret weapon to getting all of the gunk off and making the white porcelain shine - baking soda. (This is the container from our pantry - you can see how I made these easy clear labels here.)

You'll want to pour a thin coat of baking soda on every surface, including the back drying rack if you have one and down the drains (to help with any smells).

Then, use a spray bottle of half white vinegar/half water and wet down all of the baking soda. This will fizz a little, which seems to help break up all of the dirt and grime. Allow this to set for 5 minutes or so.

2. Scrub the Sink with a Melamine Sponge

After the baking soda and vinegar mixture has set, use a melamine sponge to scrub down everything, including the drains. Don't be afraid to give it a little elbow grease!

(I know this sponge looks TERRIBLE - I promise I threw this one away after this use! 🙂 I get them from here for much cheaper than you get the name-brand ones.)

Make sure you scrub the bottom of your faucet - you wouldn't believe how much nastiness builds up there.

Spray everything down with warm water and make sure you got all of the stained porcelain surfaces as clean as possible, rescrubbing after rinsing as needed.

3. Remove Scuffs and Stains from White Porcelain with Bar Keepers Friend

Next, you'll want to look around your sink for really built-in scratches. (When I'm cleaning my Instant Pot, the lid is notorious for leaving these.)  No matter how much you scrub with a sponge and baking soda, these won't come out!

That's where this magic potion comes in. Bar Keepers Friend is a cleaner that was actually recommended on a Instant Pot Facebook group I'm in for getting your inner pots clean. I use it for getting those really stubborn stains and scratches out of this white porcelain.

Just sprinkle a little Bar Keepers Friend on your scratches or rust stains around the sink drain and really rub it in with circular motions with your melamine sponge. The scuff marks and discoloration should come out really easily.

4. Finishing Touches

After everything's looking good, I like to wipe all of the porcelain surfaces down with a dry dish towel to finish everything up. This makes sure there's no cleaner residue or hard water stains left.

And, that easily, you have a sparkly, pretty, clean porcelain kitchen sink - at least for a few hours! 🙂

It really is as simple as that. By doing a little bit of daily maintenance and taking maybe 10-15 minutes out of your schedule once a month, you can make your white porcelain sink shine too!

Of course, you can use this same method on white porcelain bathroom sinks as well.

Step-by-Step Video

Helpful Maintenance Tips & Tricks

• Keep a sink mat or silicone pad in place. Placing a soft mat at the bottom of the sink protects your porcelain from scratches and heavy dishes-great for preserving the shiny look and preventing chips.
• Straighten the drain daily. After washing dishes, give the drain a quick rinse and pop in a teaspoon of baking soda. Pouring in a bit of hot water afterward keeps smells from settling-and it only takes seconds.
• Use a microfiber cloth to polish. Once the sink is dry, wipe it with a soft microfiber cloth. It buffs away little water spots and brings out a natural shine-no harsh polish needed.
• Catch stains early with a paste. Instead of waiting until stains darken, make a paste of baking soda and water, apply it to any spots (like coffee or tomato splashes), and let it sit for 10 minutes before scrubbing. Saves time and keeps the sink bright!
• Refresh faucet gunk with an old toothbrush. Those small crevices around the faucet collect soap scum and leftover food fast. Keep an old toothbrush by the sink for easy touch-ups after dishes-or just once a week-so you don't end up with ring-around-the-faucet.