Bar Keepers Friend Review
I’ve heard for years about the amazing power of Bar Keepers Friend so I finally gave it a shot. It’s a cleaning product with oxalic acid as its primary ingredient. Bark Keepers Friend or BKF for short is a versatile product that can clean many things but especially excels at stainless steel. The best thing is that it’s perfectly safe to use on things that touch food when washed well. A bonus fact is that it was invented and continues to be manufactured in my home state of Indiana.
My small batch brew kettle started getting an annoying stain that just wouldn’t come off no matter how much I scrubbed. At first, I tried a lot of elbow grease with a sponge but nothing happened. I also tried boiling water but still had no luck. Finally, I tried a Star San soak as well as Oxiclean Free but the stain just wouldn’t budge. A quick search of Google yielded my answer, Bar Keepers Friend.
Cheap, easy and effective describes how well Bar Keepers Friend works. A tube of it cost me a whole $2 plus tax. The directions are about as easy as it gets. Simply wet the surface of whatever you’re cleaning and sprinkle on a bit of powder. Use a soft rag or sponge to rub over the stained area and wash away. It literally only took 1 wipe to remove the stain that I had tried to remove for at least 2 hours.
Bar Keepers Friend works well on many other materials as well. Ceramic, porcelain, glass and a few other things can be returned to spotless with a few scrubs. My glass cooktop had a few spots with burnt on wort from doing BIAB batches. It took a few minutes of scrubbing with a paste but had no smell like my usual cleaner. My secondary small batch pot and my daily cook pots have a white ceramic interior that loves to stain. They were quickly restored with just a wipe of Bar Keepers Friend. My personal favorite is by far cleaning the oven as I’m notorious for making a giant mess but refuse to touch noxious oven cleaner.
As a final note of caution, I want to remind you that Bar Keepers Friend is acid based so make sure to use a good set of gloves anytime you’ll have prolonged contact with it. Feel free to check out my post on cleaning & maintaining stainless steel for more detailed cleaning instructions.
PROS:
- Cheap
- Works on many common materials; stainless steel, aluminum, chrome, fiberglass, brass, copper, ceramic, porcelain, and Corian
- Can save things that would otherwise need to be tossed
- A tube of it will last forever
- Washes off easily
CONS:
- The container is easily damaged by water
- No resealable lid
- Can burn your skin with prolonged exposure
Wow that stuff works like magic. My stove top has always been a little touchy. Might need to try it out.
I love Bars Keeper!!! I have saved many Pyrex pieces with this stuff! Plus its great for removing silverware marks from China.
I love this product! I use it all the time! Definitely worth getting!
Oh my gosh, I seriously need this in my home! I neeeeeed to clean it baddd
I like how the packaging is metal because that makes it an enviornmentally friendly productive. Can’t say the same for it’s ingredients specially that youve metioned it burn the skin. Could be harmful.
I love this product. Definitely worth getting. Thanks for your information. Great post.
I might have to give this product a try, it does its purpose well. thank you for sharing
I have heard great things about bar keepers friend. I didn’t know you could use it on stainless steel. My favorite stainless steel cleaner is furniture polish.
This stuff is the real deal! My husband had me pick some up for him not too long ago. It has brightened up dull, dingy, and stained surfaces like a charm!
Wow looks like a great cleaner, do you know know if it is non toxic.
This looks like an amazing cleaning product. I definitely have some stubborn items that this could work wonders on.
Thats one amazing cleaning product, hope its available in amazon, it work wonders for me in my kitchen. Thanks will check it out.
wow this looks like it works really ! i have a glass cleaner for my stove that works wonders but this here looks amazing. Im a crazy cleaner at home and never seem to find satisfaction with m y cleaning products.
I will be honest I have hard time cleaning the inside of stoves. I need to look into this product so I can finally clean it better.
Thanks for sharing this very helpful review. I need this at home!
The results are amazing! I like how effective it is, we will surely try this product!
OMG, I need this for my oven! I hope I can buy the product online!