Cleaning expert shares ingenious trick to make your cutlery sparkle this Christmas

With hosting season upon us, it's time to ensure cutlery is looking its best and this nifty trick restores shine

picture of knife and fork on placesetting at christmas
(Image credit: Getty Images)

As Christmas prep reaches its peak often smaller jobs are easily forgotten. Keeping your cutlery looking its best is just one of them and while it might not be the top of your priorities, you'll be glad you stayed on top of it when you sit down to eat on the big day.

When it comes to essential Christmas hosting tips, ensuring your table looks suitably festive before your guests arrive is a must. Focusing on your Christmas centrepiece and even trying the new on-trend poinsettia folded flower napkins are all part of the prep, but preparing cutlery is also hugely important.

If you're not sure how to properly clean your silver then it's your lucky day as Queen of Clean, Lynsey Crombie has shared her ingenious trick for restoring the shine to your cutlery.

How to make cutlery shine this Christmas: expert cleaning hack

While you're busy choosing how to style your dining room for Christmas hosting, it can be a good idea to get the smaller less glamorous jobs done too, like your cutlery.

Sharing the helpful reel on her Instagram @lynsey_queenofclean, Lynsey says, "Shine up your cutlery before Christmas! Here’s a super easy hack to make your cutlery sparkle for the big day."

Firstly Lynsey explains that you'll need to line your kitchen sink with some foil, we'd recommend you carry out a quick kitchen sink clean before doing so. That way you won't have any unwanted food or grease dirtying your cutlery.

"Next, add hot water and a generous scoop of bicarbonate of soda and salt," advises Lynsey. She uses around half a cup of each or just over 100g, making sure the two are sprinkled evenly over the cutlery.

She recommends leaving the cutlery for around 30 minutes to soak and allow the two ingredients to work their magic. This allows you the perfect opportunity to organise your kitchen drawers and give your cutlery trays a good wipe too.

picture of woman drying off cutlery

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Once you've left the sink for around 30 minutes it's time to empty it and give all the cutlery a good rinse. We'd also suggest drying them completely with a tea towel or micro fibre cloth, after all, you don't want to be left with water marks after all that work.

It's safe to say Lynsey's followers were extremely thankful for sharing this inventive trick, with one user saying, "This is amazing! I tried it last year and my cutlery looked like new again 🙌"

Now the cutlery is taken care of, all there is to do is to ensure the best Christmas food is on the table for everyone to enjoy.

Shop cutlery shining tools


Aside from your table, there are other parts of your home you can get prepared for your festive guests, we'd recommend starting with styling your hallway for Christmas. That way the moment your guests walk through the door they'll know they're in for a holly jolly time.

Emily Smith
Digital lifestyle writer

Emily joined woman&home as a staff writer after finishing her MA in Magazine Journalism from City University in 2023. After writing various health and news content, she now specialises in lifestyle and home writing where she covers all things cleaning, interiors and homeowning.