Your stovetop kettle sees a lot of action: if it’s anything like ours, not only does it sit directly in the splash zone for hot oil splatter and flying droplets of sauce, but it’s probably also being exposed to limescale and other hard water minerals that build up over time.
This means that even a stainless steel kettle—our favorite option for its durability, ease of maintenance, and ability to rapidly bring water to a boil—needs a deep clean once in a while. Using this step-by-step guide, you’ll learn to restore your kettle’s gleaming, stain-free finish, prevent hard water buildup, and keep the freshly-brewed coffee and tea flowing freely.
How to Clean a Kettle
Here are a few quick tips—and suggested cleaning products—for keeping your kettle clean and ready to use.
Dish Soap and Water
For quick cleaning, dish soap and water are the best option. Make sure to use a gentle dish soap, and try to avoid using the dishwasher.
Vinegar and Water Solution
We’ll touch on this later on in our step-by-step guide, but a mixture of vinegar and water makes a relatively quick, non-toxic, and extremely effective solution for removing hard water deposits and other tricky stains.
Baking Soda Paste
To remove stubborn stains from the outside of your stainless steel kettle, make a paste out of water and baking soda and spread it evenly over the exterior of your kettle. Allow to sit for a few minutes, then scour with the scrubby side of a sponge. You’ll want to do this in the sink to avoid a messy countertop.
Avoid Harsh Chemicals
While baking soda, vinegar, and dish soap are all perfectly safe for stainless steel when used correctly, anything highly basic—like bleach or other chlorine-based products—can ruin your kettle’s shine permanently, causing corrosion and other irreversible damage. Avoid using these as cleaning agents for your kettle.
Polishing the Exterior
One of the most frustrating parts of maintaining stainless steel cookware is seeing smudges or streaks in the freshly washed, buffed surface. If you’re out of Stainless Steel Cleaner, there’s a quick—and budget-friendly—hack for this: simply rub your clean stainless steel kettle (or pot or pan) with a dish cloth and a tiny amount (we’re talking a drop or less) of olive oil. Not enough to make it oily, per se, but just enough to protect it from getting smudged.
Preventing and Removing Limescale Buildup in Your Kettle
Limescale—also called calcium deposits, mineral deposits, or hard water stains—looks like a white, chalky residue on the surface of stainless steel and other metals. This is the result of using water with high quantities of dissolved minerals like gypsum or limestone.
While not necessarily harmful (and completely removable), limescale buildup can start to harbor bacteria over time if it’s not removed. To help prevent buildup and save yourself time on frequent deep cleanings, we recommend regularly cleaning your kettle with soap and water. Of course, it’s hard to completely prevent buildup from forming—especially if you live in an area with hard water. Here’s a quick removal method using just water and vinegar.
- Fill kettle with a 1:1 mixture of water to white vinegar—enough to cover the stains.
- Bring kettle to a boil, then turn off the burner and allow the mixture to sit, scraping the sides and bottom of kettle with a non-abrasive spoon or other utensil to help release the buildup.
- Allow to sit until the mixture is cooled to room temperature, then pour out. Wash with dish soap and water, then rinse and dry thoroughly.
How to Maintain Your Stainless Steel Kettle
To keep your kettle in ready-to-pour condition, here’s some other care and maintenance advice to keep in mind.
- Just like your stainless steel pots and pans, make sure to always dry your stainless steel kettle thoroughly after cleaning it to prevent water spots.
- Regularly check for buildup inside your kettle, making sure to clean promptly if you spot some.
- Store your kettle in a cupboard or other spot away from excess moisture when not on the stove.
- Buff with olive oil to prevent smudges and streaks.
Ready to Cook?
Your kettle shows you a lot of love: it’s only fair that you give it a little TLC now and again. And since you already know how easy it is to care for stainless steel cookware, there’s no reason to be intimidated by caring for our new Stainless Steel Kettle. Getting the right grind size and water temp on your first pour over, however? That’s a different story.
