How To Care For Your Cutlery
Date Posted:14 March 2024
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How To Care For Your Cutlery
To expand the life of your cutlery and keep it looking brand-new, you will need to know how to care for your utensils properly.
To maintain its appearance and get the most out of your cutlery, there are a few habits you will need to adopt when cleaning, drying and storing them. Though with the proper care, you can enjoy your cutlery for many more years.
Do not worry, looking after your cutlery could not be easier and will not take much time at all. In this guide, we have covered everything you need to know about caring for your utensils.
Why Is Cutlery Care Important?
At this point, you might be wondering why it is important to care for your cutlery in the first place. We have listed a few reasons below that may convince you to start looking after your utensils.
Maintain Its Appearance. One of the most important reasons to look after your cutlery is to maintain its appearance and keep it looking new.
Materials like stainless steel and titanium are highly resistant to stains, rust, and wear. However, no material is completely stain-resistant to destructive agents. After all, many high acidic foods can degrade or mark the surface when it is left in contact with cutlery for longer periods. This includes salt, vinegar, mustard, lemon juice, tomatoes, and mayonnaise.
Longer-Lasting. Not only does maintaining your cutlery boost its appearance, but it will also make it last much longer too.
By properly cleaning, drying, and storing your utensils, you can reduce the chances of your cutlery tarnishing or scratching - overall improving its lifespan.
More Value. Long-lasting utensils also mean you can get more value from your cutlery - after all, high-quality cutlery is an investment.
To extend the life of your cutlery, you will need to properly care for it - specifically by storing and cleaning it to prevent any scratches or tarnishing.
These simple daily habits will go a long way toward extending the lifespan of your cutlery.
How To Care For Your Cutlery
Now that we have covered the importance of caring for your cutlery, let's dive in. Learn how to care for your stainless steel cutlery with these 4 simple tips below!
1. A Gentle Cleanse
When it comes to making your cutlery last longer, one of the most meaningful things you can do is clean it properly.
Before you begin cleaning, remember to check the care leaflet included in your cutlery set.
Firstly, it is important to rinse any food as soon as possible. Do not use steel wool or other abrasive materials - this will potentially scratch your cutlery, making it more prone to rust. Instead, use a much softer washcloth to leave your utensils mark-free and looking great.
If you’re washing your cutlery in the dishwasher, avoid overfilling your cutlery basket - this may scratch and mark your utensils. Also, allow an easy flow of water through the cutlery basket to ensure a thorough cleanse.
Dishwashers should only be used for stainless steel cutlery - handwash gold and onyx cutlery sets.
2. Hand-Dry Your Cutlery
Once your cutlery has been cleaned, take the time to properly dry it right away.
Do not let your utensils soak in the dishwasher or on a drying rack as this can cause them to tarnish.
As soon as you have finished cleaning your utensils, use a gentle, non-abrasive washcloth to effectively dry them.
3. Proper Storage
With your cutlery clean and dry, it is now time to properly store it between your meals.
Rather than tossing your utensils in a drawer, try to neatly stack them - this will stop them from bumping together and leaving marks. This might take a little longer to do, but it will keep your cutlery un-marked and looking brand new.
For anyone storing cutlery in their original plastic bags for the future, do so with caution. Storing cutlery for long periods does not prevent deterioration of the polishing as it is exposed to humidity. If you’d like to store your utensils over time, we’d suggest storing them in a cotton wrap or bag to let the cutlery breathe.
4. Touch-Ups
No matter how well you look after your cutlery, your knives and forks are bound to need a touch-up from time to time.
If your cutlery has become tarnished or scratched over the years, you will need to provide it some love and care to get it back to its former glory.
Use a quality stainless steel polish to maintain the finish, remove rust, or fight off any stubborn watermarks. To keep your cutlery looking good, you will only need to use a polish about three to six times a year.
Cutlery Cleaning Hack
Over time, you might notice your cutlery losing its shine and appearing dull. Normally, you might reach for a polish to restore its former glory - though before you spend the time doing this, consider trying the cutlery cleaning hack we’ve detailed below.
If your cutlery is starting to look a little lacklustre, try tearing off a small sheet of tinfoil and scrunching it into a ball. Place this into the cutlery tray of your dishwasher next time you clean your cutlery. You’ll be amazed how this simple hack leaves your cutlery sparkling.
How does this cutlery cleaning hack work? It surrounds a chemical reaction between two metals with differences in ionization energy/ ionization potential. Metal becomes dull because it combines with sulfur to form metal sulfide which is black and tarnish.
Aluminum has lower ionization energy than cutlery (stainless steel or silver). This means aluminum will be oxidized, while the cutlery is reduced (tarnish removed) during the chemical reaction. The dishwasher provides the medium for the reaction to take place.
This is one of the easiest ways to restore your cutlery with very little effort.
Head to the online store to browse our cutlery range.
