Author: Lou

Your dishwasher blasts everything with hot water, strong detergent and a lot of banging around. Most dishes shrug it off. But some kitchen essentials can lose their finish, develop rust, warp or simply wear out faster in the...

Fish sauce sits in a strange spot in most kitchens. It smells strong enough that people assume it needs the fridge, yet it’s traditionally made and stored in barrels at room temperature for months at a time. The bottle in your...

You run a hot cycle, add detergent, and pull out towels that smell like a damp basement. If that sounds familiar, there may be mold in your washing machine, or at least some other microbial buildup, quietly growing in the warm,...

It’s the first cold night of the season. You switch the thermostat to heat, and within a few minutes the whole house smells like something is scorching. A burning smell when you turn on the heat can be alarming, but a temporary...

Once you hand your suitcase over at the check-in counter, you won’t see it again until the baggage carousel, if everything goes well. It can be delayed, lost or tossed around, and a few items aren’t allowed in it at all, which...