There seems to be an almost endless amount of Bar Keepers Friend uses! Read on to discover 30 special uses for Bar Keepers Friend all around your home, from cleaning stainless steel to glass to an acrylic tub and so much more!
If you’re looking for a way to clean your glass cooktop and kitchen sinks while also getting rid of hard water stains and mineral deposits, just a small amount of bar keepers friend is going to do the trick! With just a little elbow grease, you’re going to be amazing at how it gets rid of stubborn stains and truly is a miracle cleaner. I always make sure that I have a little bar keepers friend in the house no matter what!
Ever since I was introduced to Bar Keepers Friend, years ago now, by a friend, I have used it again and again. This stuff works so well on so many different otherwise hard to clean surfaces and items! I love it!
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I know, it’s a little lame to love a cleaning product, but I love high-quality low-cost products and Bar Keepers Friend certainly fits that bill.
The good news too is that it really isn’t a very harsh chemical cleaner either. It’s actually non-abrasive and biodegradable and doesn’t require special equipment just to use it safely (just use common sense). If you are curious about what’s in it, you can check out my post about Bar Keepers Friend ingredients to get the whole rundown on their specs.
Anyway, as I said, I have used Bar Keepers Friend for years and have found so many Bar Keepers Friend uses all around my home and have blogged about many of them. I decided to put them all together in one place for you and even find some other Bar Keepers Friend uses on other products and surfaces from around the web so that you can use it effectively to clean almost your whole house.
Can I use Bar Keepers Friend in toilet?
Yep – you bet! Clean those toilets and make ’em shine!
Does Bar Keepers Friend clean chrome?
Absolutely. It makes the chrome sparkle and shine!
Is Bar Keepers Friend the same as baking soda?
It’s actually not. It’s made of oxalic acid and it’s quite the stain-fighting force.
Can I use Bar Keepers Friend in dishwasher?
You can actually use it to clean the actual dishwasher and keep it running at its best.
Why is it called Bar Keepers Friend?
The name came from the fact that this was what was sold to bars back in the day to clean, and now it’s available for you and me to use!
How to Use Bar Keepers Friend
If you have ever wondered “What is Bar Keepers Friend used for?” this is the section for you!
While I love to use Bar Keepers Friend all around my home, you can’t actually use it to clean everything!
On their packaging and website they list the following surfaces which Bar Keepers Friend can be used:
- Stainless Steel
- Brass
- bronze
- copper alloys
- Aluminum
- ceramic
- porcelain
- glass
- Corian
Essentially, Bar Keepers Friend is used for cleaning and/or polishing most hard, nonporous surfaces.
What should you not use Bar Keepers Friend on?
However, they also tell you that Bar Keepers Friend should not be used on:
- Gold
- Silver (sterling silver is okay)
- Colored grout
- Cast Iron
- Polished Stone
- Marble
- Granite
- Wood
- Leather
- Fabric
- Lacquered surfaces
- Painted surfaces
- Mirrored Surfaces
It is recommended that you do not mix Bar Keepers Friend with other chemicals including bleach or ammonia. You also should not use it where rinsing thoroughly is difficult, or impossible.
Different Bar Keepers Friend Products:
You can check out the various Bar Keepers Friend products below and their various uses. I’ve linked to them all on Amazon, but you can buy them at your local grocery or hardware stores as well or even Walmart and Target (though the last three are only available on Amazon).
- Cleanser (powder in a can)
- Soft Cleanser (liquid in a squeeze bottle)
- More Spray and Foam
- Cooktop Cleanser & Polish (powder in a silver can)
- Cookware Cleaner (liquid in a squeeze bottle)
- Coffee Maker Descaler
- Coffee Maker Cleaner
- Toilet Bowl Cleaner
Bar Keepers Friend Uses
There are so many great applications for Bar Keepers Friend! I tried to find the most common uses for Bar Keepers Friend and find some excellent tutorials on how to use it for those things! I hope you enjoy the list!
Bar Keepers Friend Stainless Steel
A stainless steel pizza pan is actually the very first thing I ever used Bar Keepers Friend on. The pizza pan was almost black with grime and Bar Keepers friend lifted it all off so easily and left me with a silver pan again! It was from then on that I was a believer in this miracle product!
Someone submitted this great stainless steel sink cleaned with Bar Keepers Friend to their website!
I loved this tutorial from Logic and Laughter where she shows how to make a paste of Bar Keepers Friend and use it to clean her stainless steel cooktop!
It you are looking for some tutorials on how to clean stainless steel cookware, you know, all those stainless steel pots and pans, The Kitchn has a great tutorial for cleaning them with Bar Keepers Friend!
I even tried using Bar Keepers Friend for cleaning my stainless steel drip pans (but it didn’t work perfectly though was the best of the methods I tried).
Bar Keepers Friend is perfect for cleaning stainless steel appliances in your kitchen too, from the toaster to the outside of the dishwasher, microwave, and fridge!
I also know some people use it or cleaning their ovens. I have found success using it to clean oven racks!
You can also use Bar Keepers Friend to remove rust from stainless steel knives!
Bar Keepers Friend on Glass
Use Bar Keepers Friend on glass is one of the more surprising wins with this product!! I enjoy using it in my shower surrounds and other glass items that get cloudy or covered in hard water spots.
The best way to clean glass cooktops has got to be with Bar Keepers Friend! They even have a specific cooktop cleanser for the job (though the regular stuff works too!).
Bar Keepers Friend outscored three other soap scum removing remedies for shower doors by a landslide!
You can use Bar Keepers Friend on glass cups too! It’s probably why bar keepers liked back in the day.
More Bar Keepers Friend Uses in the Kitchen
When it comes to removing hard water and buildup and marks, Bar Keepers Friend is great at cleaning the inside of a dishwasher!
In the kitchen, you can also use Bar Keepers Friend to remove scratches from dishes and plates and bowls! After seeing it done on several other blogs, I tried it myself and it totally worked!
I love that you can restore vintage Pyrex dishes to a shiny new appearance even with Bar Keepers Friend!
Despite my friend cleaning her burnt Le Creuset pan a different way, even Bon Appetit recommends some Bar Keepers Friend for cleaning a Le Creuset dutch oven!
I have many tutorials for cleaning copper and Bar Keepers Friend is a great way to clean a burnt pot bottom that is made of copper, to clean a copper sink, and to
I have also used Bar Keepers Friend on the middle metal part of my electric stove’s coils to make them shiny again!
Bar Keepers Friend Uses in the Bathroom
I love using Bar Keepers Friend in my bathroom! It is an easy and effective way to clean porcelain sinks.
Bar Keepers Friend works so well to remove rust!! I have used Bar Keepers Friend to remove rust stains from my porcelain sink (that I thought for sure was permanent!).
But, one of my favorite ways to use Bar Keepers Friend is for the acrylic tub! All the soap scum and scuff marks and buildup in our bathtub disappear so quickly and it leaves me with such a pretty white tub afterward!
Special Uses for Bar Keepers Friend
Along with tools, you can clean other outdoor metals and equipment – I use it to clean golf clubs!
You can remove rust from outdoor furniture too!Despite it saying not to use on silver, Dimples and Tangles found great success using it on some silver plated trays and champagne buckets!
She also used Bar Keepers Friend on a brass serving tray (that was previously painted and then stripped of paint) and it turned out SO shiny again!
Restore tarnished hardware to its former glory so easily with Bar Keepers Friend.
And Little Green Notebook also used a pumice stone and Bar Keepers Friend to remove rust from the steel legs on an old chair.
You can even use Bar Keepers Friend on your car! Check out this awesome before and after someone submitted to the company of shiny exhaust pipes!!
I used it to clean my car’s chrome rims too! And it totally worked!
This woman even used some Bar Keepers Friend and Magic Eraser to remove scratches on her car!
Again one of the materials listed as something you should NOT use it on, I have heard of many people finding good results using Bar Keepers Friend on wood all the same to remove old water stains!
I hope you have enjoyed learning about 30 amazing Bar Keepers Friend uses!! It’s SUCH a versatile product that works so well and isn’t even a harsh abrasive or harsh chemical! Hooray! Enjoy your cleaning!
Be sure to pick up a can (or twelve) and start using it!!
Don’t forget to pin this!!
Julie T. says
Hello, my new blue jeans have left blue dye in my washing machine. Most recommend using cup of Clorox bleach to clean it (running it on wash cycle hot water and bleach). I wondered if I could use bar keepers friend instead. Your thoughts? The drum is not stainless steel and I rent, not own my apartment so don’t want to do damage or leave it like this either.
Thank you!
Cindy Mather says
You love Bar Keepers Friend, would you consider a trial of a different product? I am curious how the one I have compares. If you would like to talk about what I have in mind, please email me cindymather @ yahoo . com