A long life for kitchen plastic

Good polypropylene does not really wear out; it gets retired early for cosmetic crimes. Cloudy walls, a curry stain, a lid that smells faintly of last month. All three are avoidable, and none of them takes more than a habit to prevent.

What scratches, stains and smells

Scouring pads are the main villain. They leave a fog of fine scratches, and the scratches then hold pigment and odor that a smooth wall would shrug off. A soft sponge and warm water clean anything a kitchen throws at plastic, if you get to it the same day. Tomato and curry stain through oil, so a first rinse in cool water, before the hot soapy one, keeps the orange from setting.

Smells live in closed containers, not in the plastic itself. Store keepers with lids off or cracked open, and the smell walks away on its own overnight.

Heat, sun and the dishwasher

Most of our kitchen pieces ride the top rack of a dishwasher without complaint; the bottom rack sits too close to the heating element for any household plastic. Boiling water straight from the kettle warps thin walls, so let it lose its bubble first. And the windowsill is for herbs: months of direct sun will yellow any plastic, ours included.

Treat it this way and the piece you bought this year will still be closing with the same click when the decade turns.