Yesterday, I shared my tips for shopping for and identifying quality copper pieces as well as some details of how I built my collection over almost 20 years.  (You can read that blog post HERE.)  Collecting is always a slow and patient process, but it is a rewarding one.  Collecting, for me, isn’t just about the things.  It’s about the process, the hunt, the scores, and the memories that are made along the way.  Most of the pieces I’ve collected have a story that goes with them, which makes using them in the home about aesthetics as well as surrounding myself with pieces that are a small part of our history.  But, as is often brought up when I share my collections, there is some amount of upkeep involved!  Yes, there is dusting and polishing, but I’d rather have things I love that need some care now and then than live in a home that feels sparse to me.  So, today, I’m sharing my process for cleaning copper cookware along with the other metals I have in my kitchen.

Most of the time, when I buy a piece of copper secondhand, it needs a good cleaning and a polish. I also polish the pieces in my kitchen a couple of times each year to keep them looking nice and shiny.  In some cases, I polish the pieces while I’m washing them after each use.

Here is an example of a piece I picked up at an antique store that had a dull, tarnished finish…

I use Barkeeper’s Friend (the soft cream cleanser) for cleaning and polishing copper cookware, unlacquered brass, and stainless steel.  There are all sorts of home remedies for polishing brass and copper, like ketchup, but I just prefer to use a cleaner made for cleaning and polishing cookware and appliances.

I have used Barkeeper’s Friend for about 20 years and find it to be gentle and very effective.  I just squirt it onto a scrubbing sponge (THESE are my favorite) and then scrub the piece I want to clean and polish.  You can see, with just a few scrubs of the sponge, that the shine is coming back on this sweet copper mold.

When I cook with copper and stainless steel, I will scrub out any stuck-on food or oils from cooking, and give them a quick cleaning with Barkeeper’s Friend, and finish off with dish soap.  It’s just a small extra step that keeps my stainless steel and copper cookware looking shiny.  To me, it’s easier to do that than to have to scrub off weeks or months of tarnish or baked-on grease.  I do still have a big polish day a couple of times each year, mostly to hit the pieces I don’t use regularly.  This keeps the airborne grease and dust under control.

In addition to using Barkeeper’s Friend for cleaning my copper and stainless cookware, I also use it for cleaning faucets, the kitchen sink (I’ve used it on enameled cast iron, ceramic, and stainless steel) cabinet hardware, and appliances.  It really is a catch-all cleaner, so I buy it in bulk and use it regularly.

You can read more posts about the cleaning and care of antiques HERE.  If you have some silver that needs to be polishing, you can read about my favorite silver polishing products HERE.