It doesn’t have to be that hard to detox your kitchen! If you want to create a healthier kitchen, check out these tips on how to replace toxic kitchen tools with healthy alternatives.

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Along the way to better health, there is a lot to consider. Most people realize that a good diet matters. After all, we eat multiple time each day; eating nourishing food makes sense.

What about the pans and utensils you use to prepare these wonderful foods?

It might not be the first thing we think of, but most of us get around to it sooner or later. The food and the preparation are related!

“Detox your kitchen” can sound scary. Or at least stressful. I mean, is the kitchen poisonous?

Well, yes and no. Your pots and pans and utensils aren’t going to kill you today. Or tomorrow. Or maybe ever.

But they could be doing damage. It depends on what you are using.

Here is where you should avoid panic. Fear doesn’t help anything, and it can hurt you at least as much as your cookware. But you could learn more, consider your situation, and maybe begin to take action. Calmly and rationally.

PIN for later!

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Why Detox Your Kitchen?

It depends! Plenty of it is perfectly fine. You may not have any real problem. However, chances are that you have some items that aren’t doing you any favors. I have some, too, even though I have replaced a lot of the worst ones.

I started to learn more about the safety of kitchen tools early on after I started having health problems. One night when I couldn’t sleep, I came across an article describing the hazards of nonstick pans.

(I don’t recommend this sort of activity if you can’t sleep! For multiple reasons… Practice better sleep habits than I did!)

I had several nonstick pans. Most people did back then. In fact, the two pans I used the most were nonstick. They had been wedding presents, were more than 10 years old, and the nonstick coatings were beginning to flake off. Not good.

It turns out, nonstick pans aren’t the only sticky area. I replaced my flaky ones with cast iron, which are still in daily use and only get better. Here are some things to consider:

Teflon dangers

You may have heard that Teflon is hazardous, and that DuPont was forced to reformulate after decades of hiding problems like cancer and birth defects linked to Teflon. The reformulations may not be better, though. Learn more here.

PFCs, or perfluorinated compounds, in nonstick coatings are associated with health hazards such as:

• hormone disruption (thyroid, reproductive, etc.)
• cancer
• liver damage
• kidney damage
• immune system suppression
• altered genetic expression (increases risk of diabetes, obesity, and more)
• other problems– read more here

Though convenient, Teflon and more recent nonstick coatings don’t seem ideal.

BPA in kitchen tools

You have doubtless seen “BPA free” labels on various products, and maybe you remember the push to eliminate BPA, or bisphenol A. Added to plastics for functionality, BPA is easier to avoid now. Why would you want to avoid BPA?

• hormone disruption
• metabolic disease (like diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and more)
• developmental effects
• asthma
• breast cancer
• many others

You can buy plastics that are BPA free. Shouldn’t that solve the problem?

In a perfect world… It turns out that BPA was in plastic for a reason. (The reason was not to make us sick, either. Probably.) If BPA is out, something else needs to be put in to make the plastic have the needed texture and consistency. The chemicals added may be pretty similar to BPA. Either not much better or possibly worse, depending on who you ask.

It’s hard to avoid plastic entirely, and your body can likely handle some exposure. Sticking with more rigid plastic, not using plastic in hot applications, and especially never microwaving plastic are ways to minimize risks.

Keep in mind that coatings, like on a microwave popcorn bag or a disposable coffee cup, fall into this category!

PFAS in cookware

PFAS, or per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, crop up in the nonstick category as well. Sometimes called “forever chemicals” because they can build up in the body, these are found even in newborn babies. PFAS/PFOAS may cause problems like:

• kidney disease
• liver damage
• thyroid and other hormone disorders
• cancers
• immune system problems
• metabolic changes
• and more

Also difficult to avoid entirely, PFOAS ( one of the PFAS– don’t you love all these acronyms?!) shows up in pans labelled “nontoxic” and other places. Here is more on that. There is much more to this topic, but you get the point.

Aluminum cookware risks

Many people are aware that aluminum poses health risks. Also not entirely avoidable, and probably not a huge risk for healthy people in minimal amounts, aluminum can contribute to neurological, gastrointestinal, and other problems.

Sadly, most people are not perfectly healthy and we are all bombarded with toxins, so maybe we are less able to detox aluminum than our grandparents?

Regular exposure through cooking, especially salty or acidic dishes, might not be the best idea. Aluminum pots and pans, aluminum foil, and aluminum utensils aren’t my preferred tools.

For small children, people with health problems, or anyone who has trouble detoxifying for any of many possible reasons, aluminum may be a bigger hazard. So, just because Grandma used it for 90 years and stayed pretty healthy doesn’t necessarily mean that everyone will do as well with it.

I could go on, but I am as tired of this as you are. It’s a little scary and depressing. Our cooking tools, especially the ones we use daily, shouldn’t harm us. Not even a little! It shouldn’t be this hard…

How to replace toxic kitchen tools with healthy alternatives

There is more the one way to go about cleaning up your kitchenware. How you do it will depend on your budget, your perceived need, your time, your energy, and maybe your personality.

Cold turkey

Purge the whole place, keep the good stuff, and shop for replacements. This is hard, expensive, and stressful! It also lets you get it taken care of quickly.

I met someone once who did this– she had a cancer related to toxicity and removed the sources immediately. She knew she had a particularly high need, and it may have been less stressful for her to move fast. She also had the budget to make it happen.

What if you urgently need to detox your kitchen fast, but can’t replace it all right away? You could purge the problems and make do with a minimal kitchen until you can replace things. You could replace just a couple of things you use often, like a skillet and soup pot, and get around to extras like cake pans later.

Replace things as they wear out

I like this approach best for personal care items that run out regularly, like toothpaste.

Kitchen stuff lasts longer, but the gradual replacement plan is more budget friendly and less stressful. You could keep a list of what you need and hit great sales, thrift shops, etc. to keep the cost down.

Replace your items in order of how often you use them

I replaced my flaking nonstick skillets that I used multiple times per day right away! They fit in the worn-out category, but the frequency of use was another reason to prioritize them. You could combine this approach with replacing things as they wear out.

You may decide to ditch some items you don’t really use forever, and slowly replace others. Shopping sales, thrift stores, etc., can yield quality items at low prices, but requires patience. I still have a nonstick cake pan I use only once every year or two!

Safer cookware alternatives

Happily, there are plenty of better options! The following are the types I use regularly. Research for yourself, and decide what you think would work. I don’t claim to be an expert, and every material is seemingly controversial somewhere…

Cast Iron

My first investment when I began cleaning up my kitchen was cast iron. While some consider cast iron to be toxic, I’m not as worried about cast iron as about most other options.

Used and cleaned properly, cast iron quickly becomes nonstick. The even heating and ease of use are also pluses. Cast iron produces a nice exterior to foods like chicken and steak. When people say food tastes better cooked in cast iron, they are right!

Using cast iron is different from using other nonstick pans. There is a learning curve, but some simple habits make it work well. I didn’t like them at first! For a friendly primer on using cast iron with skill and ease, check Kimberley’s tips over at This Purely Joyful Life.

Iron can leach into your food, which is good only if you need more iron. To avoid this, I keep my pans well seasoned (oiled, basically) and heat them and the cooking fat thoroughly before cooking to reduce any leaching. I also don’t cook highly acidic foods, like tomato, in cast iron. For those, I turn to my second favorite, stainless steel.

Stainless Steel

I had good quality stainless steel pans before I knew they are nontoxic. I still have them, and use them often. After my soup pot bit the dust, I got a stainless steel one for Christmas. It is in use almost daily through the cooler months, and more often than I imagined during the summer. I regularly use stainless steel:

• pots
• skillet
• mixing spoons
• very sturdy pancake turner
• mixing bowls
• sheet pans
• tea kettle
• instant pot with stainless steel insert
• French press

You want a good quality stainless steel, and that is not cheap! However, it lasts. Sometimes you can find them in thrift shops, but often the markings indicating the grade are no longer legible.

I look for pans made from 18/10 stainless steel, which contains 18% chromium and 10% nickel. (Research more if you are concerned about trace amounts of nickel.) If you want to do a deep dive into stainless steel, this would be one place to start learning.

Yes, this is the true state of my stainless steel sheet pans! They are well loved…

Glass

Yes, some glass may have lead in it. All things considered, good quality glass seems less hazardous than most materials, though. You can research lead in glass; I opt for Mason jars and Pyrex glass baking dishes, but don’t exhaustively vet them.

One nice thing about glass is that it is readily available for low prices. Even brand new (the most reliable way to get lead-free), glass items are fairly affordable, especially if you hit a sale. Secondhand glass is super cheap! Often, you can decipher the brand, making it easier to know what quality of glass you are getting. I use:

• quart, pint, and half pint jars for food storage, mixing salad dressing and mayo, etc.
• loaf pan– a wedding present still in use after over 25 years
• various sizes of rectangular and square baking dishes
• pitchers for measuring and mixing

Wood

While you won’t likely be cooking in wood, I use a few wooden items regularly. I look for wood that has not been treated and doesn’t smell funny. If it smells like wood, that is not “funny”! Here are things I use made of wood:

• cutting boards
• bowls for serving
• spoons
• pancake-turner-type spatulas

Maybe-non-toxic options I don’t love

There are some grey-ish areas. While I would not microwave plastic ever at all (and we quit using our microwave), I have some implements made from materials I’m not crazy about.

Ceramic

I have tried 3 ceramic-coated nonstick cast iron pans, and had trouble with all of them. They started out fine, but didn’t wear well even though I followed the care instructions. Each one looked pretty, but the coating got messed up quickly.

There are some high-end options that may be better, but many ceramics are if-y on the toxins. Many may contain metals we really don’t want, including (possibly) the pricey ones. I’m tired of trying to figure this one out.

I still employ a couple of ceramic baking dishes, and occasionally use my slow cooker. Slow cookers may have lead in the ceramic part, but I haven’t replaced it yet. I thought the instant pot would takes its place. It works for some things, but not others, including some slow cooking recipes I love. More about slow cookers.

Silicone

I know silicone is supposed to be inert and totally safe. I’m not convinced, and the topic is indeed controversial. I have some silicone spatulas, which strike me as maybe better than plastic. The functionality is helpful; wood and stainless steel don’t perform some tasks as well. Thoughts about silicone.

I also have silicone muffin pans. They smell odd when baking, lending credence to the idea that silicone might not be benign. They replaced old metal muffin pans of unknown composition and a scratched-up mini-muffin pan with a nonstick coating I know wasn’t harmless. I use them rarely and with paper liners. Someday I will upgrade…

Plastic

I still use a little plastic. We don’t have many plastic storage containers left– most of them are glass– but I have a few. I also use plastic freezer bags, like when I prepare beans to freeze.

Not only do we never microwave plastic (or anything at all, but we used to use our microwave and didn’t put plastic in there– baby steps!), but I don’t put anything hot or even warm in them. Heat isn’t good for the integrity of the plastic. In the freezer , I am less concerned.

Another plastic I don’t worry about is lids for all those jars I use so much. They are rigid and never heated, which helps. I have regular mouth lids, wide mouth lids, some pretty wood ones for pantry staples, and my tippy-top favorite, pourable-spout lids for salad dressings and other sauces.

Final thoughts on detoxing your kitchen

I don’t think you should lose sleep over the question of whether or how to detox your kitchen. You can see that I think we should use harmless materials for food prep and storage, and that it is worth some effort and expense.

At the same time, there are probably more urgent matters requiring your time, attention, energy, and money. Prioritize wisely. Each small improvement helps!

If you are inclined to worry about it, remember that our bodies are designed with detox mechanisms. Thank God for that, given that we are exposed to so much. Somewhere there is a balance between having confidence in the protective design of the human body and taking wise measures to protect your and your family’s health!

What do you think about kitchen items and the relative importance of using nontoxic cookware? What are some of your favorites?

Here is a recent birthday present! What does it say about me that getting a new skillet is thrilling?!