Natural Lemon Kitchen Cleaner ~ DIY Recipe

This natural lemon kitchen cleaner is easy to make and very effective at cutting grease and grime in your kitchen. It works beautifully on surfaces like counters, stove tops, refrigerators, and even table tops – anywhere you would use a cleaning spray.

This recipe does contain vinegar, but it still smells fantastic thanks to the lemon juice and essential oil. You won’t notice the vinegar at all!

Ingredients

You only need a few simple, easy-to-find natural ingredients to make this natural lemon kitchen cleaner. Most of them can be purchased at your local grocery store. Essential oils, grapefruit seed extract, and liquid castile soap can be ordered online if you can’t find them locally.

• 12 Ounces (350 ml) Water – Tap water is perfectly fine for this recipe. I recommend using warm water to help the borax dissolve.
• 1/4 Cup (60 ml) Lemon Juice – You can use fresh or bottled lemon juice. I typically use bottled because it’s easy to measure and store.
• 1/8 Cup (30 ml) White Vinegar – I buy large jugs of white vinegar to use for natural cleaning. It’s very inexpensive at the grocery store.
• 1/2 Tablespoon (7 ml) Liquid Castile Soap – I use unscented Dr. Bronner’s castile soap, but you can also use citrus-scented castile soap and leave out the citrus essential oil if you like.
• 5 Drops Grapefruit Seed Extract – A powerful antimicrobial. Purchase at health food stores or order online. I use the Solaray brand sold at Swanson vitamins.
• 4 Drops Lemon Essential Oil – I often use a lemon–eucalyptus essential oil blend for this recipe, but lemon essential oil alone works fine too.
• 1 Teaspoon (6 grams) Borax – Purchase a box of borax in the laundry aisle in your local supermarket. It’s considered a laundry booster, but it’s also used in homemade cleaning products to boost their cleaning power.

Equipment

You really only need a spray bottle to make this recipe, but a funnel can help with adding ingredients.

• Spray Bottle – I use a plastic spray bottle with measurement notches on the side for this recipe, but you can also use glass. You’ll just need a bottle that can hold around 15 ounces of liquid.
• Funnel (optional) – A funnel will help when adding your ingredients to the spray bottle, but it’s not necessary.

Instructions

The instructions are simple. Just combine all ingredients in a spray bottle and shake to combine. I recommend adding the warm water first. This prevents the mixture from fizzing up too much.

1. Add 12 ounces (350 ml) warm water to a spray bottle. Then add 1/4 cup (60 ml) fresh or bottled lemon juice, 1/8 cup (30 ml) vinegar, 1/2 tablespoon (7 ml) liquid castile soap, 5 drops grapefruit seed extract, 4 drops lemon essential oil, and 1 teaspoon (6 grams) borax.
2. Place lid securely on the bottle, and shake well to combine.
3. Use as you would any other kitchen cleaning spray. For best results, shake well before each use.

This recipe yields about 15 ounces (440 ml) of natural lemon kitchen cleaner. It should last you quite a while – even when used for daily cleaning. It’s inexpensive, effective, eco-friendly, and best of all it’s fun to make!

Printable Instructions

If you want to print out these instructions in a recipe format for later use, here you go! Just click the “Print” button below.

Safety Precautions

The ingredients used to make this lemon kitchen cleaner are natural and organic in origin, but that doesn’t mean they’re without consequences if used improperly. Do not ingest this formula or leave it where children or pets could ingest it.

Essential oils are highly concentrated and should never be used internally. Just a few drops of essential oil equals 30 – 40 cups of herbal tea. Essential oils may also be toxic to pets. Do not spray this cleaner near your pets or in areas they frequent.

Essential oils and other ingredients may be irritating to the skin – so always do a spot test before using. Please use the same caution with natural homemade cleaners that you would with any commercial cleaners. Keep them away from pets and children.

Additional Resources

If you’re interested in making your natural homemade cleaning supplies, I can recommend the following resources:

• The Naturally Clean Home – This book contains 150 super-easy recipes for green cleaning. This is my favorite book on the topic, and it’s been recently updated and revised.
• Mountain Rose Herbs – My favorite place to purchase dried herbs, essential oils, and empty containers (spray bottles, etc.) for my herbal cleaning products.
• Rosemary’s Garden – Another great place to purchase dried herbs, essential oils, and equipment like empty containers, funnels, etc. for your herbal cleaning products.