Tips for Cleaning, Restoring and Avoiding Streaks on Glass

Five Mistakes to Avoid When Cleaning and Polishing Your Glass Splashback

If you have a glazier put a glass splashback into your kitchen, you immediately get another kitchen cleaning challenge. Luckily, it's relatively easy to keep oil splatters off your glass splashback and keep the streaks away. Avoid these five mistakes:

1. Don't just buy one type of cleaning product.

You can certainly clean a glass splashback with glass cleaner, but that isn't the only cleaning product you should have on hand. To remove caked on grease, you need a cleaner that can cut grease. For simple, everyday cleaning, dish soap works fine, but for caked on grease or food splatters, try using an oven cleaner.

Before applying oven cleaner, however, make sure that your glass splashback doesn't have any painted surfaces -- otherwise, the oven cleaner will just dissolve the paint. Finally, have glass cleaner, vinegar or ammonia on hand to shine the glass.

2. Don't scrub the glass with steel wool.

Even if your glass splashback is sturdy enough to handle the application of oven cleaner, it is not strong enough to handle steel wool. When trying to remove stubborn spots, don't use steel wool -- it will scratch the glass. Instead, use a vinyl sponge for hard-to-remove elements.

3.  Don't use paper towels to shine.

After you have removed grease and stuck-on food, you can shine your glass splashback with glass cleaner or an alternative such as vinegar or ammonia. However, you should not use a paper towel to wipe off these cleaners.

Paper towels break down and leave lint all over the glass. Instead, you want to use something that is extremely absorbent but doesn't break down easily. Options to consider include newspapers, microfiber cloths or even prefold cloth nappies.

4. Don't forget to explore alternatives to cloths.

Of course, lint-free cloths aren't the only option when it comes to shining the glass of a glass splashback. You should also consider turning to professional glass cleaning tools including squeegees.

If you opt to use a squeegee, take a cue from professional glass cleaners and wipe off the glass cleaner by making an s-motion with the squeegee from the top corner of the glass splashback to the bottom corner.

5. Don't forget to buff.

Once your glass splashback is clean and shiny, it's time to buff it. To buff it, simply wipe it again with a lint-free cloth or invest in a special glass polishing cloth. That final step wipes off lint as well as minimises streaks.


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