cleaning the kitchen sink

Hello
Not the most exciting of questions ... but how do Japanese keep their sinks clean especially the plug area?
I have been cleaning the kitchen today and was revolted at the gunge and stuff when I lifted the plastic plug and the metal device where the net goes. Yuck!
I dislike using strong household chemicals , but are there any products out there which would work?
Japanese houses always look so clean..

It just comes down to making a point of cleaning it everyday.

There's no magic product people use.

Every once in a while we may use "Kabi Killer" but really if you dump the raw waste everyday and rinse the strainer, it doesn't have time to decompose so you don't get any nasty buildup or smells.

Not the most exciting of questions ... but how do Japanese keep their sinks clean especially the plug area?

By cleaning it frequently. Or you can let it go and do a big cleanup every so often.

I have been cleaning the kitchen today and was revolted at the gunge and stuff when I lifted the plastic plug and the metal device where the net goes. Yuck!

At that point you just have to put on some gloves and get in there. You don't need strong chemicals, a stiff brush will do, but they will help give you a little more time before the grunge begins building up again.

I dislike using strong household chemicals , but are there any products out there which would work?

Kabi Killer (essentially bleach) is pretty common. Use it while cleaning the sink and as a preventative. You can just spray that around the drain every so often and it will help prevent the gunk. There're also drain cleaners (essentially gelled bleach) that I use every so often during big cleanups. I forget the name, but it should be obvious by the pics on the bottle.

Japanese houses always look so clean..

You haven't been to my inlaws' house ;)

bagpuss,

Do you mean "drain"? I only use natural products to clean the house, and this is what I do.

Try to throw away the rubbish as frequently as possible.

Pour boiling water down the drain. (While at it, I drain the boiling water on my washed dishes, too)

If I fail to do these enough and end up with a yucky drain, I wipe the area with old newspaper. Then wash it with dish-washing soap and a sponge I've been using a while to wash dishes. I then throw away the sponge.

A much easier version is to pour 酸素系漂白剤 (non-chlorinated bleach?) or soda powder around the drain and let it naturally drain with hot or warm water.

Basically, and universally, vinigar and soda powder are the magic stuff to clean your house the natural way.

Needless to say, there are lots of magical chemicals available at drug stores if you don't mind doing it the artificial way.

Hi everyone,
Thanks for the input. Yes, Uco I mean the drain . It is rather large, diameter about 15cm. As I say, everyday I clean the sink, I also pour boiling water down there every other day, but as I say, when I lifted the cover, took out the filter and peeked underneath ! yuck.
I have a dishwaher by the way, so I only wash up pans in the sink.
I donned the rubber gloves and had a good scrub at it, but "it" was pretty stubborn .
Time to pay a trip to the drugstore.
I was just wondering about your sinks ! thanks for the info
and good to know not everyone's sink is sparkling!

Expanding on what Uco said, you buy baking soda/soda powder and then put it down the drain. Next follow it up with vinegar (white or apple cider). It'll bubble (like a school volcano experiment) for a while. After it stops, immediately pour boiling hot water down the drain.

That should get rid of the smell and gunk without the use of bleach or harsh chemicals.

thanks! I'll try it .

Hi again.

It was "stubborn"? It may be "thick" but not really stubborn in my case. What I mean is that the layers of the yucky stuff makes it difficult to have it washed away in a second, but it's not that it's hard to scrub off as it is with old stains.

But if you hadn't cleaned it for months, yes, perhaps some drug store goodies will help you get on your way.

The other thing is that, since you say you only wash pans, I wonder how much you are washing down the drain.

For example, if you grill a steak in your pan, you can boil an egg later so that the grease will lift off the surface of the pan. And then, rather than to drain the grease, you can wipe off the grease as much as possible before you start washing it over your drain. Same thing with sauces or any kind of oily or protein substances. If you make pasta sauce in your pan, you can pour the water you used to boil your pasta on that sauce pan.

And for wiping off, I use food rubbish such as peels of vegetables or used tea leaves. Tea leaves are really great. Just pour the damp used leaves on your greasy pans or plates, leave it while you do your laundry, come back and sort of spread it with hard peels, and then wipe the whole thing off thoroughly with that peel over your rubbish bin. You almost think you don't need to wash it any more. Even traditionally, the Japanese used to have a habit of sprinkling used green tea leaves on tatami before brooming.

This doesn't mean you can stop cleaning your drain, but it does help.