• About
  • Contact
  • Courses
  • Binder Kits
  • Collaborate
  • Nav Social Icons

  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • About
  • Organize
  • Projects
  • Lifestyle
  • Crafts
  • Holidays
  • Courses
  • Binder Kits
  • Media and Press
  • Mobile Menu Widgets

    Connect

    Search

Organized-ish

Organized-ish

Progress > Perfection

  • Organize
  • Projects
  • Lifestyle
  • Crafts
  • Holidays

How To Restore Shine And Deep Clean Your Silverware

March 4, 2019 · In: Cleaning

We use our silverware every single day, and I’m assuming you probably do, too. But is it really as clean as you think it is? Sure, you pop them in the dishwasher after eating and you use the best dishwashing detergent money can buy. Good enough, right?

Nope.

Over time, silverware gets a little gunky. If you look hard, you’ll notice your flatware is kind of foggy. Or at least not as shiny as it was when you first bought it. That’s a buildup of hard water and tarnish. By deep cleaning your flatware once every few months, you’ll always be eating with the cleanest utensils possible and they’ll always look as good as new.

learn how to restore old silverware

Supplies

Baking Soda

Distilled Vinegar

Iodized Salt

Aluminum Foil

Extra Long Tongs (Silicone Lined Are Best)

You’ll also need a large pot, a sink drain stopper, and a bath towel to line your counter.

Deep Clean Your Silverware

Boil Water

First you’ll start by filling a big ol’ pot with water and pop it on the stove to heat to boiling.

Easy enough, right? See, I told you it was easy.

how to restore silverware

Line The Sink

While you’re waiting on the water to boil, plug the sink drain and line the basin with aluminum foil.

Yes, I realize this sounds crazy. But there is a method to my madness.

restore silverware and deep clean sink

Build Your Natural Cleaner

Sprinkle in quite a good amount of baking soda (to clean the flatware) and iodized salt (as a safe abrasive cleaner) directly onto the foil. Then pour in a little bit of distilled vinegar and stir it around with your hands. (Don’t use a spoon, it will rip the foil) You can pop on some dishwashing gloves if you’d like.

This will activate the baking soda and form a thick paste.

PS: You can use leftover vinegar for my DIY Streak-Free Glass Cleaner Recipe!

deep clean and restore silverware

Add All Of Your Silverware

Plop all your silverware right on top of your paste.

This is also a good time to take the divider tray out of the drawer and wash it, as well as wipe down the inside of the drawer. You’d be surprised how many crumbs end up in there. I still have no idea how this happens, but it’s very frustrating.

deep clean silverware

Carefully Pour In Boiling Water

Be very very careful when pouring in the water. Make sure you pour away from you, not towards you. There’s going to be an enormous amount of steam, so don’t worry if you need to take a break halfway through to keep from overheating your face. (Or fogging your glasses and not being able to see what you’re doing. That was my problem!)

Once you’ve emptied the pot of water into the sink, just let it hang out for a bit.

I let mine sit for 15 minutes, but you can do more or less depending on how dirty your flatware is. If you’ve owned them for twenty years and never done this before, you should probably let them hang out for thirty minutes.

restore old silverware

Remove Silverware From Water

Again, be super careful here. The water is still hot.

Use tongs (silicone lined tongs would have been better but mine weren’t long enough for this) and remove the silverware from the water to the other side of the sink.

If you only have a single basin sink, you can move the silverware into a large roasting pan or large pot.

how to make silverware shiny again

Rinse With Cold Water

Rinse the silverware with cold water to remove the cleaning mixture and lower the temperature so you can touch them.

After you rinse them, just let them hang out in the sink while you lay out a large bath towel onto the counter.

You’ll want half of the towel on the counter and half of it hanging off, like the photo below.

clean silverware tutorial

Lay Out The Silverware In A Single Layer

Move the clean silverware to the towel in a single layer. Then just flip the other end of the towel up and over the utensils and lightly rub them dry. This is way easier than drying each individual one.

Don’t skip this step! If you don’t dry them, you’ll end up with water spots and they won’t look as clean and shiny as they could.

remove tarnish from silverware

Empty Sink Water

After the sink water has cooled, you can pull out the foil and empty the water.

By lining the sink with foil, it acts as a transfer for the tarnish on the utensils. You can see by my foil sheet how the ickiness just moves right onto the foil. Gross, but pretty cool.

**You’ll be even more grossed out when you look at the other side of the foil and see how dirty your sink was…

how to make old silverware shiny again

Repeat Every 3-6 Months

To keep your flatware nice and clean, and to prolong the life and shine of them, you can repeat this process every three to six months.

It only takes about thirty minutes and it’s a cool science project for your kids to join in on.

Want More?

Like this post and want to clean more? Check out how to clean your dishwasher here.

Or learn how to clean your house after being sick.

On a major cleaning kick? You can see all of my cleaning tips and tutorials in this collection.

Want To Skip The Cleaning And Just Buy New Utensils?

Here’s Some Of My Favorite Budget-Friendly Sets

Updated March 2019. Original post from October 2017.

By: Lela Burris · In: Cleaning · Tagged: clean, cleaning, dirty, flatware, kitchen, silverware, tarnish, utensils, wash

you’ll also love

custom pantry designed and organized by Lela BurrisThe Exact Plans For Our Allergen-Safe Pantry Build
clean dishwasher fast and easyHow To Clean Your Dishwasher
white stone fireplace makeover3 Things To Clean Before Having Guests Over

Get Blog Posts In Your Inbox

Every Saturday morning I send out a weekly recap of all the new blog posts. Want in?

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Anonymous says

    September 13, 2021 at 9:49 am

    It’s more sanitary to transfer silverware to a baking sheet, pot, or roaster at that point. Don’t transfer silverware to a potentially dirty sink.

    Reply
    • Brad Gandy says

      September 13, 2021 at 11:48 am

      Thanks for sharing that!

      Reply
  2. kristy says

    December 26, 2020 at 6:26 pm

    Thank you for this! We had a California COVID Christmas outdoors yesterday. As I was setting my tables on the patio the sunshine on my 10 year old flatware showed just how sorry/worn/spotty it looked. I was mortified but it was too late to fix. This morning I was ready to invest in a whole new set. I saw your post and thought I would give it a shot before spending a few hundred dollars for a new service. Wow! What a difference. I need to remember to do this a couple of times a year to keep it looking nice and preventing buildup from our hard water. Thanks again!

    Reply
    • Brad Gandy says

      December 28, 2020 at 1:52 pm

      You’re so welcome, Kristy! We’ve had the exact moment you described too, and we’re glad you could keep the holidays on track without a last-minute silverware run to “make it nice!”

      Reply
  3. Beverly Petty says

    May 30, 2020 at 3:49 pm

    This worked so well! I’m so happy to have beautiful cutlery again. Thank you.

    Reply
    • Brad - Admin says

      June 1, 2020 at 9:22 am

      That’s great, Beverly! I’m glad we could help.

      Reply
  4. Jason R Henry says

    September 16, 2019 at 5:15 pm

    I was given my deceased Grandmother’s 60 yr old set that had a bunch of grime built up in the crevices of the decorations. This method, along with scrubbing each individual piece with a toothbrush, in the water mixture has made this set come out looking brand new! Thanks for the tip! One extra thing I did was add a squirt of Dawn to the mix because some of these were so bad.

    Reply
    • Lela Burris says

      September 16, 2019 at 10:30 pm

      I am SO happy you took the time to comment! I’m so glad it worked well for you, and what a special set to be given. I bet it looks great now!

      Reply
  5. DILMAR says

    April 18, 2019 at 12:48 pm

    Very good tip to help clean the cutlery, thank you for sharing

    Reply
    • Lela Burris says

      April 19, 2019 at 12:24 pm

      Hi Dilmar, thank you so much! I’m so glad you found the tips to be helpful. I actually just cleaned my flatware again this week and it worked out perfectly. 🙂

      Reply
  6. Joan Sommerfield says

    March 10, 2019 at 10:45 pm

    Is this for stainless as well as silver?
    You did a great job explaining the procedure.

    Reply
    • Lela Burris says

      March 11, 2019 at 3:48 pm

      Yes! It works great for stainless. I wouldn’t try it on black matte flatware, but stainless is a definite yes. 🙂

      Reply
  7. Leslie Fair says

    July 16, 2018 at 2:38 am

    I actually enjoyed this post. You describe this subject matter very well. I clearly enjoy analyzing your blog and I will sincerely bookmark it! Keep up the interesting posts!

    Reply
  8. Ben says

    June 22, 2018 at 8:49 am

    Great tips, aspecially for single men 😀

    Reply
    • Lela Burris says

      June 22, 2018 at 10:26 pm

      Thanks Ben! It’s such an easy method!

      Reply
  9. Jason says

    April 12, 2018 at 10:25 am

    Lela, thank you for the great tips!
    I’ll definitely try this 🙂

    Reply
    • Lela Burris says

      April 12, 2018 at 4:37 pm

      Thanks Jason! You’ll really be impressed!

      Reply
  10. Adriana Smith says

    December 2, 2017 at 5:59 am

    To have a healthy environment in the house, it’s essential to have a clean kitchen including the cutlery. These tips are really beneficial for good health and sanitation. Thanks!!!

    Reply
    • Lela Burris says

      December 2, 2017 at 10:44 am

      Thanks so much Adriana, you’re so right. Most people just assume the dishwasher takes care of keeping utensils sanitized, but every once in a while they need a good deep clean.

      Reply
  11. Gina says

    November 3, 2017 at 3:44 pm

    Thank you for this! My silverware has been looking frustratingly foggy lately.

    Reply
    • Lela Burris says

      November 4, 2017 at 11:36 am

      You are so welcome, Gina! Try it out and let me know how it goes for you!

      Reply

Leave A Comment Cancel reply

Next Post >

6 Must-Have Guest Bathroom Essentials

Primary Sidebar

Meet Lela Burris

Meet Lela Burris
hey-o!

My name is Lela, (say it like LEE-luh) and I'm so glad you stopped by my blog! Whether you're into organizing, home improvement, crafts, or you just think my pets are cute, you'll find all kinds of inspo here.

Tell Me More!

Connect

Get VIP Emails

Search

Shop My Planners

printable planners for home organization

Organize Your Craft Room

lela burris organiziedish

Hang With Me

  • Email
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • YouTube

Follow Along

@lelaburris

Sometimes we get busy, maintenance tidying gets pu Sometimes we get busy, maintenance tidying gets pushed aside, or another family member accidentally sabotages the entire area you organized last month.
Instead of stressing over it, take it as an opportunity to redo it better this time. Maybe the way you organized that space before was too complicated and hard to maintain. Or maybe it wasn’t categorized enough so things piled up.
When you find a space that lost its Organization Mojo,  empty it out, try something new, and see if that works better.
You’ll find your own signature organizing style through experimentation and get your home Organized-ish one drawer at a time. 😉
#bathroomorganization #homeorganization #organizingtips #organizationideas #cleaningmotivation
Were you here when we converted this non-working l Were you here when we converted this non-working laundry closet into a custom pantry?
Today on the blog, I’m sharing the exact plans and steps of how I designed this pantry and how my handyman helped me bring it to life.
And if you want a full tour of the pantry, head over to my YouTube channel to look inside all the drawers and cubbies. The pantry starts at timestamp 21:14. 🥰
#pantryorganization #pantrygoals #pantrymakeover #kitchenorganization
This tray and these canisters were “supposed” This tray and these canisters were “supposed” to be used in a kitchen. The packaging literally said “kitchen storage canister” and “kitchen turntable” and they were in the kitchen storage aisles of the store. But don’t let those labels feel like you’re stuck with only certain types of organizers for each room.
Next time you’re shopping for organizers, look in other aisles and you’ll be surprised at what you’ll find. Bathroom organizers are great in craft rooms, garage storage is perfect for a home gym, office storage is good for kid’s rooms, and kitchen organizers can be used in bathrooms.
If you’ve been struggling to find the right organizers for your home, it’s time to think outside the box. 😉
#organization #organizinghacks #organizationideas #bathroomorganization #organizingtips
Anybody else get 20 seconds in and immediately reg Anybody else get 20 seconds in and immediately regret your decision? 😂
#organization #organizinginspiration #cleaningmotivation #homeorganization

Footer

Browse By Category

  • Organize
  • Projects
  • Lifestyle
  • Crafts
  • Holidays

Get Organized-ish

  • Courses
  • Printable Planners
  • Shop My House
  • Amazon Faves

Blog Info

  • Contact
  • Media and Press
  • Disclosures
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms and Conditions

Organized-ish LLC © 2023 · Theme by 17th Avenue