I Thought These Drill Brushes Were a Joke. Then I Used Them.

May 13, 2023

By Wilder Davies

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Drill brushes are…well, they’re brushes you attach to a drill, to clean with the torque and speed only a power drill can provide. When I first tried them, I thought the whole concept seemed unnecessarily useful. This idea—that something can be simultaneously useful and useless— is best illustrated by the Japanese concept of impractical inventions known as chindogu; which is best explained by this book I looked at one time at an Urban Outfitters in 2008. How much better could a drill brush be? Considering how clunky and cumbersome a drill is, would it really be more beneficial than brushes you wield with your hands? Is there a good reason to attach a brush to the end of a drill and terrorize the surfaces of their own home for any reason other than to partake in the thrilling absurdity of being alive?

Drill attachments, as my editor assured me, are not actually all that wacky—a sanding disk perhaps or a professional ski waxing tool. And, yes, there are reputable companies that make power brushes for cleaning things like cars and boats. The only novel thing about this drill brush is that it's meant for wiping down counters and ovens. I started to doubt my skepticism; if I were to dismiss the drill brush, I’d be like some broom clutching luddite cowering before a vacuum, or that fifth dentist who refused to stand with the four others in support of the electric toothbrush.

Yes, I typically get along just fine with a bit of cleaning spray and a sponge, but it was worth at least giving the drill the opportunity to prove me wrong. The promise of more thorough cleaning in a fraction of the time of normal, arm-based scrubbing, is certainly appealing. So I committed to the (drill) bit, and with slight trepidation, cleaned my apartment with a power drill.

There's Drill Brush the brand and then there's lowercase drill brushes (the vast arsenal of similar products available online). I tried out both, to see if there was any difference in quality, although that wasn't my primary concern. From Drill Brush (capital D capital B), I purchased the kitchen cleaning kit, which contains three brushes in their medium bristle strength. There's a 4-inch flat circular brush, the ‘original’ brush, shaped like a toilet bowl scrubber, and a smaller, 2-inch circular flat detail brush.

Drill Brush offers four levels of bristle strength coded by color. The softest, for glass and upholstery, medium strength for most indoor surfaces, and "stiff" and "ultra" brushes for outdoor, grill, and industrial surfaces.

I bought a larger kit from another brand that included the whole run of brushes and also attachments like abrasive pads and sponges that adhered to a flat velcro attachment. With these, I had more than enough equipment to approximate every non-drill cleaning utensil I typically rely on.

To end the suspense, the drill brush was useful…ish! There are certain places where it cleaned faster and more efficiently, but there were other instances I found it to be more of a burden than an asset, bordering on chindogu status. But first, the strengths.

Ovens, grills and grates

The drill brush is most practical for heavy duty cleaning scenarios that require power rather than finesse. For example, cleaning the inside of my oven; it's difficult to clean every surface without inserting your body in the oven, and scrubbing at carbonized messes at full strength is exhausting. The drill provides extra reach and leverage in corners and areas where you might have a hard time exerting force with hands alone. The wide brush is also great for scrubbing around wire grates and racks with ease. If you’re using natural degunking methods, like making a mixture of baking soda and dish soap, the brush is excellent for working up a lather that you can use to cover everything you wish to clean.

Counter tops

I won't bust out the drill every time I wipe down the counter, but for a once in a while, comprehensive scrub down, the drill was made quick work of my butcher block island and countertops. In this instance, I preferred the sponge attachment over the bristles, although both worked well to dispatch turmeric stains and stubborn grease spots around the stove. The overall experience was a bit like running the kitchen through a car wash, and was highly satisfying.

Grout, nooks and crannies

The best use for the drill brush is for getting at tile backsplashes, grout lines, and other hard-to-reach areas. Equipped with a mild abrasive cleaner like the Pink Stuff, the drill provides enough power and leverage to target grimy areas with precision. The original brush did an excellent job removing crud from an unsealed tile seam at the back of my counter that thwarted all my previous cleaning efforts, and it was also the ideal shape for scrubbing the sink drain.

While I limited my focus primarily to the kitchen, the drill brush really won me over in the bathroom, and specifically the shower. I’ve never had an easier time scrubbing down my tub, clearing away mold and mildew from grout lines, and clearing the nooks and crannies around the fixtures. Of all the use cases, this was the one where I could see myself using the drill every time it's time to clean.

Really burnt on messes

In my dreams, the drill brush made cleaning burnt-on grease from glass cookware and pots and pans breeze. I quickly learned though that for these sorts of messes, a proper cleaning solution that can break down and dissolve grease is really what does most of the work, and additional abrasive power can only take you so far. It wasn't a big deal that none of the drill brush attachments succeeded at scrubbing away stubborn grease with water alone. But with a grease dissolving product, I found that the additional power and speed of the drill didn't really make the job any faster, and required only slightly less physical exertion on my end. Even with the drill in hand, I broke a sweat cleaning the oven window, and switched over to hand scrubbing in several instances.

Appliances, pots and pans

The Drill Brush website recommends using the brush for cleaning small appliances, but I can't imagine why you’d ever need to do that, unless you’re doing some sort of tongue-in-cheek performance art commenting on domestic labor. None of my appliances were dirty enough to require anything more than a paper towel and some cleaning spray, and trying to maneuver the drill around my gooseneck kettle felt cumbersome and foolish.

While some people might appreciate scrubbing stainless steel pans down with the drill, you might want to reconsider if you are concerned about scratching them up. Some people feel like scratches are unavoidable with stainless steel cookware, but it's actually possible to clean them without scrubbing them to death using a product like Bar Keeper's Friend. As with the oven window, abrasive power did less work than the cleaning products themselves, and every attachment except for the softest brush managed to leave scratch marks on my stainless steel. It was the same for my glass cooktop as well, which saw little benefit from a more aggressive scrub.

The drill brush offers enough utility to make it handy around the house, but as far as the kitchen is concerned, the brush is only really necessary for heavy duty, occasional cleaning tasks. For people with limited physical capabilities, the drill might give you the extra scrubbing power you need, but if you are accustomed to using your hands, you’ll find it excessive for everyday tidying up.

But like I said earlier, the drill was marvelous for grout lines, tile, and for reaching behind faucets and other difficult to access areas. Will I be reaching for the drill for every cleaning task I have? Probably not. It was more useful than expected though, and for a few bucks it might be just the thing to clean that ‘one spot’ you’ve never quite been able to get at.