Things You Should Never Clean With Dish Soap

Plenty of us have found ourselves possessed by the fleeting though wonderfully productive desire to make our kitchens and valuables as clean as humanly possible. It’s not uncommon to naturally reach for the dish soap when such an urge arises, but you’d be very surprised by just how many things are not supposed to be exposed to dish soap. 

Whether it's window blinds or your cast iron cookware, there are far too many “pros” out there that are misleading you when it comes to the “advice” they’re imparting regarding where dish soap can be used. The last thing you want to do is unknowingly damage a nice item you purchased while the whole time assuming that you’re cleaning it. 

We’ll now take a look at the items around your home that you should never clean with dish soap.

If you’ve ever tried to clean your coffee maker with dish soap you’ll know the first thing about the horrendous, aggressively bubbly mess that can ensue from the attempt, and then just how difficult it can be to clean up. Instead of using dish soap to clean your coffee maker, you should use a vinegar solution. This can clean your coffee maker with far better efficiency.

Related: The Best Coffee Makers

The natural oils that you have available at your disposal are what’s responsible for maintaining good leather. Any time you proceed to use dish soap instead, you’re essentially stripping those essential natural oils away. This then can lead to unwanted drying and even cracking.

While you might think that dish soap could be fine to use when cleaning your marble countertops, thus is absolutely not the case. Dish soap can actually end up marking up and even dulling the otherwise polished exterior of your marble countertop. 

If you find yourself low on or even out of detergent, do not try to substitute dish soap. We appreciate the understandable attempt to try to cut a corner to save a buck, but dishwashers are explicitly designed to support dishwasher detergent as opposed to dish soap. 

This is largely because dish soap can end up creating tons of suds and/or bubbles. In a worst-case nightmarish scenario these suds and bubbles can end up coming together to create a haunting mess, even causing permanent damage to your dishwasher and/or flooring. 

Related: Even Dishwashers Needs Cleaning: Redditors Share Their Top Tips To Revamp Your Dishwasher

Much like is true with floors, dish soap can end up leaving unwanted, dirty-looking streaks as well as residue whenever it’s applied to mirrors. This rings painfully true if you don’t end up giving it a full rinse as well. Instead of trying to use dish soap, opt for diluted vinegar or glass cleaner. 

That said, keep in mind that there are some things you shouldn't clean with vinegar.

Over enough time dish soap can end up breaking down the crucial layer of seasoning that’s intentionally “baked” into a cast iron pan. Instead of using dish soap you should simply use hot water and then a brush. You can also find cast iron cleaners that’ll be able to give your cast iron cookware a thorough and time-efficient clean as well. 

Of all the items you could cause the most regrettable and costly damage to when using dish soap, gold-plated items have to be right there at the top. This is especially true when it comes to jewelry pieces as well as any surfaces you might have that are gold-plated (and if so, good for you). Instead, always, always use a designated cleaner. 

Related: 13 Cleaning Hacks Using Essential Oils