Cleaning Black Utensils

When I am cooking it is like a happy scene in a romantic movie.  I gracefully move around the kitchen with music in the background and a glass of wine in my hand.  Grinning ear-to-ear I am measuring, chopping, mixing, and doing it all with my nice utensils, cutlery, and cookware.   Then I reach for my spatula and the music stops.  Ugh... these utensils ruin my vibe with their ugly grey stains.

I used to hand wash them but as time went on they found themselves in my dishwasher.  That's how they ended up looking like this. Eventually enough was enough and I had to find a way to clean these things.

First I tried a mix of baking soda and water to clean them.  It did absolutely nothing and was a huge let down.  Then while I was cleaning my dishwasher with a cycle with vinegar I thought... why not try this on the utensils?  Well, it worked!  All I did was soak them in white vinegar for about 30 minutes and then rinsed clean.

I now present to you black plastic utensils free of water stains...

(Don't worry... the white vinegar didn't make the utensil change shape, I just forgot which two I took the before photos of.)

White vinegar has become my newest best friend and I've used it to clean several surfaces now.  It will definitely be on my bulk shopping list the next time I go to Costco.