Here’s Every Winner from Our 2023 Clean House Awards

Cleaning products have one job: make messes disappear without making you wonder whether moving to a new house would be easier. The 2023 Clean House Awards celebrated the formulas, tools, gadgets, and laundry helpers that made everyday cleaning feel less like punishment and more like a mildly satisfying before-and-after montage.

This guide breaks down every winner from the 2023 Clean House Awards in a fresh, reader-friendly way. Instead of simply tossing product names into a bucket and calling it a day, we’ll look at why each winner mattered, what kind of household problem it solves, and how to build a smarter cleaning routine around the best cleaning products of 2023. From dish soap and disinfectant spray to robot vacuums, pet stain removers, laundry pods, and bathroom cleaners, these award-winning picks cover the glorious chaos of real homes: greasy pans, toothpaste blobs, pet hair tumbleweeds, mysterious carpet spots, and laundry that smells like it just ran a marathon.

The biggest takeaway? A clean house is not about owning every spray bottle in America. It is about choosing the right tool for the right job, using it correctly, and not pretending that one sad paper towel can defeat an entire lasagna pan.

What Made the 2023 Clean House Awards Stand Out?

The 2023 Clean House Awards focused on real-life performance. The strongest winners were not just pretty bottles with optimistic labels. They had to work on actual household messes: dried food, soap scum, pet accidents, dirty floors, laundry odors, sticky counters, and the kind of glitter spill that makes you question every craft decision you have ever made.

The award list also reflected a clear shift in how Americans clean. Shoppers wanted products that were effective, easier to use, more sustainable, refillable, compact, pet-aware, and less wasteful. Concentrates, reusable tools, plastic-free packaging, plant-based fibers, and multipurpose formulas all showed up in a big way. The best house cleaning products were no longer just about “stronger.” They were about smarter.

Every 2023 Clean House Awards Winner at a Glance

Best Dish Cleaners: Winners That Make Sink Duty Less Dramatic

The dish-cleaning winners showed that cleanup can be powerful without being wasteful. The Bare Home Solid Dish Soap earned attention as a plastic-free dish soap option, ideal for people trying to reduce packaging while still cutting through everyday plate grime. Therapy Clean Dish Soap stood out as the classic liquid dish soap pick, the kind of sudsy helper that makes greasy pans less intimidating.

For dishwasher users, Seventh Generation Power+ Dishwasher Detergent Packs and Booster represented the eco-conscious side of automatic dishwashing, while Cascade Platinum Plus took the heavy-duty crown for households that believe “pre-rinsing” is a personal insult. Scrub Daddy Dish Daddy made the case for better dish tools, combining a soap-dispensing design with a scrubber that can handle stubborn spots. Scotch-Brite’s Greener Clean line rounded out the category with plant-based and recycled-material sponges that prove greener cleaning does not have to feel like scrubbing with a wet napkin.

Best Surface Cleaners: Everyday Messes, Meet Your Match

Surface cleaners are the daily drivers of a clean home. They handle counters, tables, light switches, appliance fronts, and the sticky spots nobody admits causing. Method All-Purpose Cleaner Concentrate Kit won for cleaning concentrate, a smart format for anyone who wants to cut down on single-use bottles. Concentrates are especially practical because they save storage space and reduce packaging while still giving you a full-size cleaning solution.

FamilyGuard Brand Disinfectant Spray took the disinfectant spot, which is important when cleaning moves from “tidy” to “germ-conscious.” Still, good cleaning habits matter: in most home situations, cleaning with soap or detergent removes many germs, while disinfecting is most useful when someone is sick or when high-touch surfaces need extra attention. Lift Multi-Surface Cleaner by V-Wholesalers won best all-purpose cleaner thanks to its ability to tackle tough everyday messes, while Lysol Wipes Made From 100% Plant-Based Fibers gave disposable wipes a more eco-minded upgrade.

Best Kitchen Cleaners: Because the Kitchen Works Overtime

The kitchen is part cooking studio, part science lab, part snack crime scene. The 2023 winners tackled odor, counters, and airborne smells. Simplehuman Odorsorb Pod Starter Pack won best garbage deodorizer by targeting trash-can smells before they stage a coup. Morton Pro Salt-Based Cleaner for Kitchen and Counter won best kitchen counter cleaner, standing out as a food-contact-surface-friendly option for counters and refrigerator interiors.

Febreze Air Kitchen took the air freshener award for fighting lingering cooking smells. This is especially useful in open-concept homes, where last night’s salmon can somehow become this morning’s living room scent. The smartest kitchen-cleaning routine pairs the right products with small daily habits: wipe counters after meal prep, clean handles and appliance fronts, empty trash before odors settle in, and keep dish tools dry between uses.

Best Bathroom Cleaners: Less Scrubbing, More Strategy

Bathrooms demand products that can deal with soap scum, hard-water marks, mildew-prone corners, toilet bowls, and mirrors that mysteriously attract toothpaste confetti. Mrs. Meyer’s Probiotic Daily Shower Spray won for bathroom maintenance, designed for regular spritzing after showers. That kind of maintenance product can prevent buildup from turning into a weekend arm workout.

Clorox Bathroom Foamer Refillable Cleaner Starter Kit earned the all-over bathroom cleaner title with a refillable foaming format, while EC30 Toilet Cleaner won the eco-friendly toilet cleaner category with a plastic-free pod approach. Together, these winners show one of the biggest cleaning lessons: the bathroom is easier to keep clean than to rescue. A quick daily spray, a weekly toilet clean, and regular ventilation can prevent the kind of grime that makes you stare at the shower wall and whisper, “How did we get here?”

Best Cleaners for Pet Messes: For Fur, Stains, and Mystery Smells

Pet owners deserve a medal, a lint roller subscription, and possibly a second vacuum. The pet-mess winners focused on stains, odors, hard floors, carpets, and fur. Rocco & Roxie Extreme Stain and Odor Eliminator won best spray cleaner for pet stains, while Hoover ONEPWR CleanSlate won best powered cleaner for pet stains, giving pet owners a cordless option for deeper spot cleaning.

Bona Pet System Multi-Surface Floor Cleaner won for hard-floor pet messes, with formulas designed for dog and cat households. Saint Olio Aromatic Dog Refresher won best spray for pet smells, Aunt Fannie’s Carpet Refresher for Homes with Cats won best carpet cleaner for pet owners, and BLACK+DECKER Pet Hair Remover took the pet hair remover award. The common theme is simple: pet cleaning works best when you match the mess. Odor sprays are not stain removers, carpet powders are not deep extractors, and a reusable hair remover can save you from using half a lint roller on one pair of pants.

Best Floor Cleaners: Vacuums, Mops, Robots, and the Battle Against Crumbs

Floors collect everything: dust, crumbs, hair, outdoor grit, cereal, glitter, and whatever small crunchy object the dog found but refuses to identify. The floor-cleaning winners covered a wide range of homes and budgets. Dyson V12 Detect Slim won best splurge-worthy stick vacuum, while BLACK+DECKER Powerseries Extreme MAX won the budget-friendly stick vacuum category. Samsung Bespoke Jet and Shark Wandvac Self-Empty System represented the growing appeal of self-emptying stick vacuums, which reduce the “I cleaned but now must clean the cleaner” problem.

For carpets, Tineco Carpet One won best carpet shampooer. Libman Tornado Spin Mop System took the traditional mop category, while Swiffer PowerMop won best pad mop. Robot fans also had two winners: iRobot Roomba Combo j7+ for splurge-worthy robot vacuum/mop and BISSELL SpinWave R5 Robotic Mop and Vacuum for budget-friendly robot vacuum/mop. The best choice depends on your home. A robot vacuum is great for maintenance, a stick vacuum is great for quick pickups, and a carpet cleaner is useful when a spill has gone from “oops” to “archaeological site.”

Best Laundry Products: Odors, Stains, Pills, and Leather Care

Laundry is where optimism goes to be tested. One minute you have a normal hamper; the next, you are negotiating with grass stains, gym odors, pet blankets, and a sweater that has grown more pills than a pharmacy shelf. AspenClean Unscented Laundry Pods won best eco-friendly laundry pod, proving that greener laundry can still work hard. Downy Rinse & Refresh won best laundry smell enhancer, helping remove stubborn odors from fabrics.

365 by Whole Foods Market Laundry Stain Remover won best laundry stain remover, while Gain + Odor Defense Super Fresh Blast Flings won best scented laundry pod. Pilo 2 Fabric Shaver earned the fabric shaver award by refreshing sweaters and upholstery, and Leather Honey Leather Care Wipes won best for leather care. This category is a reminder that laundry is not just washing. It is stain treatment, odor management, fabric maintenance, and knowing when to stop pretending that “chair laundry” is a storage system.

How to Choose the Right Award-Winning Cleaning Product

Match the Product to the Mess

The most common cleaning mistake is expecting one product to do everything. A disinfectant is not always a degreaser. A deodorizer does not remove a stain. A daily shower spray will not perform miracles on years of hard-water buildup. Before buying, ask: Am I removing dirt, killing germs, lifting stains, controlling odor, polishing a surface, or maintaining a clean area?

Read the Label Before You Spray

Cleaning labels matter. They tell you where the product can be used, how long it should sit, whether rinsing is needed, and what surfaces to avoid. This is especially important for stone counters, wood floors, stainless steel, leather, baby items, and pet areas. The label is not decorative; it is the instruction manual that keeps your “quick clean” from becoming a “why is the counter cloudy?” situation.

Think About Storage and Habits

The best cleaning product is the one you actually use. Refillable bottles, compact pods, cordless stain cleaners, self-emptying vacuums, and easy-grip mops all reduce friction. If a tool is heavy, awkward, or buried behind six expired candles, you will not use it often. Convenience is not laziness. It is design doing its job.

Real-Life Experience: What the 2023 Clean House Awards Teach About Cleaning Smarter

After looking through the 2023 Clean House Awards winners, the most practical lesson is that cleaning gets easier when you stop treating the whole house as one giant emergency. A clean home is built from small systems. Keep dish soap and a sturdy dish wand near the sink, and the pan gets cleaned before it becomes a fossil. Keep a daily shower spray in the bathroom, and soap scum does not get a full week to train for battle. Keep a pet stain spray where accidents actually happen, and you do not have to sprint through the house holding paper towels like a firefighter with a very disappointing hose.

One useful experience-based approach is to create “cleaning zones.” The kitchen zone should include dish soap, dishwasher detergent, counter cleaner, odor control, and reusable cloths. The bathroom zone needs a toilet cleaner, bathroom spray, microfiber cloths, and a brush that is not older than your streaming password. The pet zone should include stain remover, odor control, a hair remover, and a small vacuum or spot cleaner if your pet sheds with professional commitment. Laundry should have detergent, stain remover, odor treatment, and fabric care tools in one place.

Another lesson is that maintenance beats heroic scrubbing. People often wait until a room looks terrible, then spend hours trying to reverse time. A better plan is five to ten minutes of daily cleaning: wipe the kitchen counter, run or load the dishwasher, reset the bathroom sink, toss one laundry load in, and vacuum visible crumbs. It is not glamorous, but neither is discovering a sticky patch on the floor with your sock.

The floor-care winners also point to a realistic truth: no single vacuum is perfect for every home. A stick vacuum is excellent for quick messes and stairs. A robot vacuum helps maintain open floor areas between deeper cleans. A carpet shampooer is useful for homes with pets, kids, or frequent spills. A spin mop or pad mop keeps hard floors presentable without dragging out a bucket the size of a backyard pool. The right setup depends on flooring, pets, storage space, and how much time you actually want to spend cleaning.

Finally, the 2023 Clean House Awards remind us that eco-friendly cleaning is no longer a tiny corner of the aisle. Plastic-free soaps, plant-based wipes, refillable concentrates, biodegradable laundry pods, and reusable hair removers all show that sustainability and performance can work together. The trick is not buying every green product at once. Start with one swap you will use consistently: a refillable all-purpose cleaner, a reusable sponge cloth, a concentrated bathroom cleaner, or a laundry pod that performs in cold water. Small changes stick better than dramatic shopping-cart makeovers.

Conclusion

The 2023 Clean House Awards winners offered a smart snapshot of where home cleaning was headed: stronger formulas, easier tools, greener packaging, better pet solutions, and appliances designed to save time instead of creating another chore. Whether you are upgrading your dish routine, fighting bathroom buildup, refreshing carpets, managing pet hair, or finally dealing with laundry odors, these award-winning cleaning products can help build a more efficient system.

The real secret is not owning the fanciest cleaner. It is choosing products that fit your home, reading the directions, storing supplies where you use them, and cleaning small messes before they become dramatic plot twists. A cleaner house does not require perfection. It requires useful tools, realistic routines, and maybe a sense of humor when the glitter wins round one.