Photography: Chris Warnes | Styling: Natalie Walton
If you’ve ever taken that all-important first sip of tea and been hit with an unpleasant metallic taste, chances are your kettle is well overdue for a clean.
Much like the dust behind your fridge, the limescale that can build up inside your kettle is often an out-of-sight, out-of-mind situation (unless you have a glass kettle, in which case there’s no hiding from the limescale). For this reason, it’s not uncommon to go months or sometimes years without giving your kettle a proper clean, inside and out.
Fortunately, cleaning your kettle is a quick five-minute job that can be tackled with just your basic household items. Here’s what you need to know.
How do you descale and clean the inside of a kettle?
There are a number of ways you can effectively clean the inside of your kettle, using just the cleaning cupboard essentials. But before you start, it’s worth noting that you should always unplug an electric kettle before cleaning it and be careful not to get any of the heating elements wet.
Here are the most popular and simple cleaning hacks that people swear by:
1. Using white vinegar
Vinegar is great at removing stains and limescale build-up. All you have to do is mix one part white vinegar and two parts water in your kettle; a 1/4 cup of vinegar and 3/4 cups of water for a 1-litre kettle should do the trick.
Then simply boil your kettle, allow it to cool, tip out the contents and rinse away the remaining limescale. If you’re dealing with heavy build-up, you may want to go in with a scrubbing brush before boiling once again to remove any remaining vinegar.
2. Using baking soda
Another household cleaning staple that can tackle limescale and burn marks is baking soda. For this method, you’ll want to mix a teaspoon of baking soda with two cups of water before pouring it into your kettle, boiling and leaving it to cool, then tipping it out and rinsing away any remaining solution.
For stubborn build-up, you may want to apply some elbow grease by scrubbing problem areas in your unplugged kettle with a paste of water and baking soda. Then boil, cool and rinse.
3. Using lemon juice
One of the best natural cleaning options for removing limescale is using the acidic power of lemon juice. You’ll need a whole lemon, cut in half, so you can squeeze some of the juice into your kettle, then cut into slices and place inside before filling halfway with water. You’ll want to boil the water, allow your kettle to cool, and rinse and repeat if necessary.
Why should you clean your kettle?
Over time, our kettles can accrue a build-up of chalky mineral deposits known as limescale. This happens even more frequently in areas with high levels of minerals in the water, known as hard water. The thing with limescale is that it not only looks bad, appearing in white chalky clumps, but it tastes bad, lending a strange metallic taste to beverages.
But bad cups of tea aside, taking the time to give the inside of your kettle a deep clean can also help extend the lifespan of your appliance, removing mineral build-up that can damage the components.
And lastly, if you’ve been partaking in the TikTok trend of boiling eggs and cooking pasta in your kettles, you’ll definitely want to clean the inside of your kettle, lest you end up sipping a cup of tea with notes of egg.
How often should you clean your kettle?
It’s best to give your kettle a clean once every one to three months, depending on how often you use it and whether or not you live somewhere with hard water (such as Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth). If you’re a daily tea drinker or you’re putting hard water in your kettle, you may want to clean your kettle every month.
To avoid damaging your kettle by causing components to rust, it’s also best to empty your kettle after every use.
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