I like to keep a well stocked cleaning cupboard at home and often buy household cleaners when I spot them on special offer whilst doing my weekly grocery shop. I'm not particularly brand loyal to any of the big name cleaning companies as I find them all to be pretty much the same as each other when it comes to spray and wipe kitchen and bathroom cleaners so when I spotted something that was new (to me) in my local Range store, namely Bar Keepers Friend, I decided to make a change from the generic spray cleaners and instead try something new.

Bar Keepers Friend comes packaged as shown in the accompanying picture, it's an oddly shaped, relatively squat bottle and claims to be "the original and best stain remover & multi-surface cleaner'. On the front of the bottle lists the surfaces it is safe to be used on and I would say that barring a few exceptions (gold, silver, mirrored surfaces and enamel) that it's pretty much safe to use all round the home. The directions for use indicate that the product should be administered onto a damp cloth and then used to remove any stains, marks or blemishes that require shifting. It's a powdered formula, white in colour and has a rather distinctive smell to it which whilst not unpleasant is rather noticeable. A 200g bottle lasts me ages I find as I don't need much to shift any food stains that might be on my kitchen worktops and having used my bottle for the last month or so I would say you definitely get your monies worth and better still, it gives fantastic results.

It's a brilliant cleaner for all surfaces I find, my kitchen worktops come up a treat as does my stainless steel draining board and taps. My sink retains a shine that lasts longer than when it's cleaned with a liquid spray cleaner and I find it excellent at removing soap scum marks from my shower room tiles. I would say it's a very versatile product and use mine in both my kitchen and bathroom, my white ceramic bathroom sink looks brand new once it's had a going over with Bar Keepers Friend and it leaves behind a 'just cleaned' smell that gives added reassurance.

For more difficult to shift stains it is advised that you make a paste with the powder and add this directly to where you want to clean and I found this to be an ideal way of tackling a build up of limescale I happened to inherit on the kitchen taps I got lumbered with when I moved in to my new home. Nothing would shift the limescale until I tried this and I was amazed to see that all traces were removed without leaving behind any signs that it had ever been there, similarly scuff marks on my skirting boards were removed effortlessly by Bar Keepers Friend and overall I have nothing but praise for this fantastic product.

The only thing to keep in mind if you decide to try this out for yourselves would be that it is a powder and therefore can leave behind a chalky residue if not removed thoroughly enough. I don't find this to be particularly problematic other than on a couple of occasions where I've noticed it on my kitchen draining board, it is easily removed with a damp cloth though and definitely wouldn't be a reason not to try it out.

For a couple of pounds I would definitely recommend Bar Keepers Friend, the only negative point I could raise would be it's availability as until I spotted mine in my local Range store I hadn't seen it in any of my local Supermarkets or homeware stores before. I only bought my bottle because I remembered the reviews about it on here and decided to try something new but now that I've seen how great it is at what it does then I'll definitely be going back for more once my bottle has run out.

A faultless five star rating from me, thanks for reading my review.