The Good: Inexpensive, Durable, Easy to use and clean
The Bad: Scrubbing pad separates from the main sponge surprisingly easily.
The Basics: A generally durable and easy-to-use kitchen sponge, the Brillo Estracell Heavy Duty Scrub Sponge still has similar issues to the cheap kitchen sponges!
When sitting down to review the Domestix Supreme Clean Kitchen Scrubber Sponge (reviewed here!), I had the benefit of five or six packs of the sponges before I penned my review. With the Brillo Estracell Heavy Duty Scrub Sponges, which I picked up when I ran out of my stockpile of the other brand, I am on the second of the two-pack I bought and it is a toss-up as to whether or not I will get more. To be sure, the Brillo Estracell Heavy Duty Scrub Sponge are a marginally pricier kitchen sponge (one gets two for the price of three discount-brand kitchen sponges), but they hold together (in one respect) better than the cheap kitchen sponges.
However, the scrubbing pad on both of the Estracell sponges I purchased detached from the sponge within a week and that was just irksome.
The Brillo Estracell Heavy Duty Scrub Sponge is a 4 3/4” long by 2 3/4” wide by 7/8" thick kitchen scrubbing sponge! This is a yellow sponge with a green scrubbing pad (reminiscent of steel wool, but made of vinyl and therefore not as abrasive as its steel counterpart) fused to the top. The scrubbing pad accounts for 3/16” of the sponge’s thickness. Like most kitchen sponges, the Brillo Estracell Heavy Duty Scrub Sponge arrive out of the package flexible but firm and ready to clean.
As far as basic kitchen cleaning goes, the Brillo Estracell Heavy Duty Scrub Sponges are exceptional. The sponge side soaks up spills efficiently and the scrubbing side actually is ideal both for abrasiveness and the way it does not scratch non-stick surfaces. This sponge is a great staple item.
What separates it, on the positive side, from other kitchen sponges, is how easy it is to clean. In the normal course of serving as a kitchen sponge, the scrubbing side and the sponge may encounter quite a bit of grease, dirty water, and fluids that might make a kitchen sponge smell moldy and unhygienic. That has never once been the case with the Brillo Estracell Heavy Duty Scrub Sponges I have used, though. Why? This sponge may easily go through the dishwasher to get cleaned and completely revitalized! Put it through a normal dishwashing cycle – the sponge will not break apart at all! – squeeze it out after the cycle is done and give it about an hour or two to dry some and it is fresh, as if it just came from the package!
Unfortunately, the incredible cleaning power and ability to clean the Brillo Estracell Heavy Duty Scrub Sponge is matched by the undoing of its key selling point. The scrubbing pad separates surprisingly easily from the main sponge. Unlike the discount brands, where the scrubbing pad breaks apart and tears easily once it becomes separated from the sides of the sponge, the Brillo Estracell Heavy Duty Scrub Sponge’s scrubbing pad seems to separate from the sponge more or less intact. This becomes problematic as one uses the Brillo Estracell sponge longer, especially as one washes the sponge in the dishwasher repeatedly, because the scrubbing portion separates more and more from the main sponge. It does not “pill” like the cheap sponges, but it does separate from the sponge in an irksome way that makes it virtually impossible to use the scrubbing pad side.
The Brillo Estracell Heavy Duty Scrub Sponge is still well worth picking up, as one of the most durable kitchen sponges on the market.
For other kitchen product reviews, please visit my takes on:
Sterlite 0627 White Large Sink Set
GE GSD2100NOOWW Dishwasher
J.A. Henckels International Stainless Steel 8-Piece Steak Knife Set
7.5/10
For other home and garden product reviews, please visit my Home And Garden Review Index Page for a concise listing!
© 2013 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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