Kitchen towels get dirty every day. In terms of contamination, the kitchen is the most dangerous place. These are splashes of grease, drops, stains from jam or fruit; we encounter all this every day.
Getting rid of stains is not so easy. Regular washing cannot remove every stain. For proper service and a neat, pleasant appearance, towels need to be clean. We will look at how to wash kitchen towels from this dirt in this article.
Heavily soiled kitchen towels can be washed by hand in a washing machine. But it is most effective to combine both of these washing methods, when the initial preparation and processing is done manually, and the main one is done in the washing machine. It is important to know how to wash kitchen towels from old greasy stains at home, with or without boiling. What methods are the most effective?
How to wash a towel in a washing machine
The rules for washing textiles from our kitchens, and the main one is that it is easier to wash things that are not very dirty.
To do this, you should listen to these tips:
- There should be several towels in the kitchen at the same time, which are changed as often as possible;
- Stains should be treated immediately, without shelving;
- It is better to wipe the table and stove and remove heavy dirt without resorting to dish towels, but using disposable or special napkins and sponges;
- It is not recommended to use terry towels in the kitchen; they absorb dirt too quickly and are difficult to wash. Products that are easier to care for are better.
In this case, there will be no particular difficulties with washing in a washing machine; it will be enough to take a good powder. When there is no particular dirt or stains, then how to wash our kitchen utensils in a washing machine will be determined only by the properties of colored and white fabrics.
Washing mode and temperature
At what temperature and in what mode to wash towels in an automatic machine depends on several factors:
- Material properties;
- Degree of contamination and nature of stains.
Typically kitchen towels are made from cotton or linen. The fibers of these materials are not afraid of hot water or intense impacts, but other properties of the fabric, coloring and features of the woven fabric may be important here.
It is permissible to wash towels made of white or light-colored fabric at high temperatures:
- With a slight degree of pollution - 60 degrees;
- Requiring bleaching, very dirty, should be washed in an intensive wash cycle at a temperature close to boiling.
How to wash kitchen towels using available products
No matter how hard the housewife tries, from time to time kitchen towels acquire stains of various origins and a gray coating appears. Industrial detergents for washing towels can help cope with this - these are the most common household chemicals for automatic washing machines.
But they may not always be at hand. It is better to remove stains immediately. Fortunately, you can get rid of them using folk remedies. In the advice for the housewife, you can find the most everyday things that are in every home - salt, mustard, laundry soap, soda, vinegar, etc.
Each of them is suitable for removing different stains.
Usually they are recommended to be used at the soaking stage; sometimes they need to be added during the washing process. Before analyzing specific recipes that are used to soak dirty towels before washing, we will warn you that you should not do such intensive treatment more often than once a month.
Otherwise, the fabric will quickly wear out and lose color.
One of the most versatile and accessible folk remedies for soaking kitchen towels in before washing is mustard. It is enough to put a few spoons of powder per liter of water and leave it in this solution for half a day, and the stains will go away.
Salt
Another available substance that can get rid of contaminants is ordinary salt. It is used for soaking stains, and then washing becomes noticeably easier. Salt will help remove traces of coffee, tomato juice, red wine and blood. This method is suitable for white, because salt does not stain it any color; it is also suitable for multi-colored towels without discoloring them.
- To remove coffee or tomato stains, prepare a saline solution at the rate of 1 spoon per 1 liter and soak in it for an hour;
- For more stubborn wine or blood stains, add more salt so that the solution is directly supersaturated with salt and soak only in cold water. Most likely, you will also have to keep it in this solution longer until the stains fade.
After this, the items should be rinsed well and washed as usual.
Laundry soap
Caring for kitchen textiles requires attention and care, but not necessarily a lot of money. As many housewives know, it is possible to wash even white towels well with inexpensive laundry soap. It will effectively remove most contaminants.
True, there is a little trick on how to do this for sure.
You need to soap them and put them in a bag for 6 – 8 hours. Then rinse and wash. A solution of potassium permanganate will help to bleach and at the same time disinfect an item with laundry soap. It must be poured into water until it turns pale pink. Planed soap is also added there and washable items are placed there for half a day. Then you need to rinse and wash as usual.
Washing in Japanese
Housewives of older generations still use this method. The components of the product can be found in any home, and their complex action provides excellent results. This wash is suitable for textiles that can be washed at a maximum of 60 degrees .
You will need:
- 6–8 liters of water
- 1 tbsp. l. vinegar (9%)
- 1 tbsp. l. mustard powder
- 2 tbsp. l. vegetable oil
How to wash:
- Heat the water to a temperature of 60 degrees (it’s better if it has already been boiled, then just cool it to the indicated degrees).
- Add mustard powder, oil and vinegar to a bucket of water and stir.
- Soak the towels in the resulting liquid, stirring them thoroughly there, for 10–12 hours.
- After this, wash as usual. Rinse the laundry several times, alternating cold water with hot water.
Is it possible to boil towels
The traditional way to effectively bleach laundry at home is to use boiling water.
There are two answers to our title question:
- Washing colored kitchen utensils is done without boiling, as it can damage the color;
- It is used as a way to bleach light-colored towels.
The rules for boiling kitchen towels are:
- Before boiling things, they must be washed, trying to remove the main contaminants.
- Otherwise, boiling may, on the contrary, fix them and it will be completely impossible to remove them;
- You can’t boil it often, as this will make the fabric thinner and wear out faster.
You can boil the laundry well in an hour using baking soda or oxygen bleach. Then rinse and wash again.
How to bleach kitchen towels using vegetable oil
Although this is somewhat unexpected, there are ways to wash kitchen towels using vegetable oil. With its help, some stains that are better dissolved by oil solvents are effectively removed.
Contaminants soaked in sunflower oil soften and then come off easily when washed. But now we are talking about whitening with vegetable oil.
The recipe for whitening with oil says:
- Bring at least 5 liters of water to a boil;
- Add vegetable oil, washing powder for automatic washing machines, bleach or stain remover to boiling water, 2 tablespoons each;
- Soak kitchen utensils in this boiling water with vegetable oil and continue boiling for about an hour;
- Then the fire is turned off, the pan is closed with a lid and cools;
- When everything has cooled down, take them out and wash them as always.
Useful tips
To keep your kitchen towels clean and looking great, follow these simple tips:
Change kitchen towels every 2-3 days and wash them immediately - this way you can avoid the appearance of stubborn and old stains
Wash white cotton towels at a temperature of +60…+90 ℃. For colored fabrics, select a mode from +40 ℃ to +60 ℃
Be sure to iron kitchen towels after washing - this will make them less dirty.
Dry kitchen towels in the sun. Ultraviolet light will have an additional whitening effect and give the laundry a fresh aroma
Use cotton and linen towels for the kitchen - they are easier to wash and retain a neat appearance longer
Do not buy terry towels for the kitchen - they quickly become dirty and lose their neatness. Save them for bath treatments
Do not use dish towels instead of rags. Do not wipe your oily hands when cooking and do not use towels as oven mitts.
Fresh stains from fat, wine, fruits or vegetables should be immediately covered with salt, soda or crushed chalk for 30 minutes, and then soaked and washed with towels
To get rid of unpleasant odors, soak towels in a soda solution for 3-4 hours
Use the table and the stain removal methods described above for stains of various origins.
| Problem | Solution |
| Fruit stains | Apply hair shampoo to the stains, soak for 1-2 hours |
| Stains from coffee, tea and cocoa | Dilute ammonia with water 1:1, soak stains for 30 minutes |
| Tea | Mix ammonia and glycerin 1:4, apply to stains |
| Mold | Soak in vinegar or peroxide for 15-30 minutes |
| Yellow plaque | Hydrogen peroxide, laundry soap |
| Oily stains | Vegetable oil, dishwashing detergent |
| Unpleasant smell | Soda, potassium permanganate |
| Old stains | Peroxide, citric acid |
| Red wine | Salt + warm water |
| Tomato sauce, juices | Salt, soda, vinegar |
| Berries | Lemon juice and vinegar 1:1, apply to the stain for 15 minutes |
After soaking stains, be sure to wash your towels as usual.
Remember to sort your laundry by color before washing. Do not wash dishtowels with clothes and separate light-colored towels from bright and dark colors
Take care of your kitchen towels and they will keep you clean and fresh for a long time. We hope that our tips will be useful to you. Have you already tried one of the methods? Share your experience in the comments.
Citric acid and hydrogen peroxide for old stains
Using soap you can easily get rid of fresh dirt. But how to get rid of old grease stains? It is especially important to know how to wash terry towels, which require more delicate handling than others.
Citric acid and hydrogen peroxide will help get rid of old stains:
- First, using laundry soap, you need to wash off the initial layer of dirt, and then apply a strong solution of citric acid to the stains for five minutes. Wash it off thoroughly;
- To wash dirty towels, prepare a solution of hydrogen peroxide in a proportion of one tbsp. l. for 0.5 liters of water. Soak it in it for half an hour and then wash it.
Boiling
This long-known and popular method is still used today. For maximum effectiveness, add the following ingredients to your water.
You will need:
- 8 liters of water
- 2 tbsp. l. laundry soap in the form of shavings
- 2 tbsp. l. soda ash
- 2 tbsp. l. vegetable oil
- 1–2 tbsp. l. bleach
How to wash:
- Pour water into a large enamel saucepan or stainless steel bucket. Heat the water to 40 degrees.
- Add all other ingredients and stir thoroughly.
- Immerse the towels in the resulting solution. Boil everything together for about 15 minutes.
- Then wash as usual, preferably with bleach. Rinse well.
Soap, oil and boiling water can cope even with old and ingrained dirt. And after a test wash with bleach, kitchen textiles will simply be unrecognizable: colored items will take on an impeccable appearance, and white waffle and linen items will sparkle with perfect cleanliness and freshness.
Try washing your kitchen towels using one of the suggested methods. Perhaps new recipes for home remedies will be part of your arsenal as a housewife for a long time. Tell us about your results in the comments. And share the article on social networks!
Previous article Next article
