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I’ve come to learn over the years that having a dishwasher is a luxury and definitely not a given when it comes to city apartments. Growing up in the suburbs, I was so used to every home having a dishwasher that when I moved to New York, I realized quickly that most kitchens were so severely lacking in space that there was just no place for it to go. It became so common during my apartment search that I (reluctantly) changed having a dishwasher from “deal breaker” to “not that important.”
Why was I so hesitant to take it off my must-have list? To put it simply: Hand-washing dishes is a total chore. It takes forever, and sometimes, it’s pretty difficult to get off tough remnants of food. Your dishes never feel quite as clean as they would if they could be tossed in a dishwasher — mostly because of the steam and sanitizing process that you just can’t get without it … Or can you?
Just a few months ago, the Clorox Electric Steam Sanitizer finally hit shelves, and if you’ve been stuck without a dishwasher — or if you just don’t want to run the dishwasher every time you need to give your utensils or sponges a more thorough clean — you need to get your hands on this ingenious gadget. Priced at just $50, the brand claims that this small space-friendly device can kill 99.999 percent of bacteria in minutes. Yep, I was amazed and immediately intrigued, too. Read on for the full rundown on the sanitizer and why it deserves a spot in your kitchen.
What is the Clorox 2-Tier Electric Steam Sanitizer?
It’s extremely simple! Once you fill up the water reservoir and press start, the device will heat up the water and use steam to get into the nooks and crannies of whatever you chose to sanitize — whether that be brushes, sponges, kitchen utensils, or even water bottles. First, though, you do want to clean off any food residue or debris on the items — it doesn’t wash food off. Rather, it kills all the germs and bacteria to give you a much deeper clean than you could ever achieve by hand.
The sanitizer even comes with an adjustable rack and pegs so that it keeps your items in place while it does the cleaning, but even with the extra parts, they nest into the device, making it super easy to store. It can live on your countertop by the sink or underneath in the cabinet — the sanitizer is especially suited for small spaces with its expandable design. You can adjust it from one tier to two depending on how many items you want to clean, and when it’s not in use, you can push it back down to a single tier.
What Amazon Reviewers are Saying
I wish I had this sanitizer when I had a dishwasher-less apartment — and even though I’m lucky enough to have one now, I know this device will come in handy when I don’t want to run a full load. And, with the clean it’ll give my sponges, I won’t have to buy new ones as often, so it reduces waste, too! I could rave longer, but I have to go buy one for myself ASAP (you should, too)!