Guides

Whirlpool, GE, Bosch, KitchenAid and Samsung disagree on vinegar, bleach and the filter. Here are their own cleaning instructions side by side, plus three dishwasher cleaners and what their labels say.

We read the ingredient lists, EPA's Safer Choice list and the pod-film debate, then picked five dishwasher detergents: pods, tablets, gel and powder, plus a hard-water booster.

Baking soda, a fume-free spray, a lye cleaner or the self-clean cycle: what the labels and oven makers say about each, step by step, plus the cleaners we would buy.

Bare, hard-anodized, clad or nonstick: what touches your food, what acidic sauces do to bare aluminum, the FDA lead warning on imported pots, and the pans we would buy.

Yes, if it is heat-resistant kitchen glass made for the microwave. What Pyrex, Corelle and the USDA say, which glass to keep out, and why glass cracks in the microwave.

How to clean burn marks, white haze and melted plastic off a glass or induction stove top without scratching it, with what the stove makers allow and the cleaners worth buying.

How to clean burnt-on food, rainbow stains, white spots and sticky oil film off stainless steel pans, in the gentlest order that works, with what the pan makers allow.

How to clean a dryer vent yourself, how often fire-safety groups and dryer makers say to do it, and how to pick a brush kit long enough for your duct.

Dryer sheets coat laundry with a quat softener and usually fragrance. What the research shows, whether wool dryer balls work, and the picks worth buying.

Two air fryer makers allow foil and three say keep it out of the basket. The four rules, foil pans, acidic foods, what aluminum studies found, and what to use instead.

Which parchment papers name their coating, what the PFAS tests did and did not cover, how hot each brand can go, and the three unbleached papers we'd buy.

The four woks we would buy for a home stove, which bottom fits gas, electric or induction, and how to tell a bare carbon steel wok from a coated one.