My kitchen is clean enough for me. I am a pretty normal dude just living my life one frozen pizza and a few cookies at a time, so I never really thought too much about the floor of my kitchen too much.
I run the vacuum over it when I do the rest of my carpeted areas so I figured it was fine. Then one day I replaced the light bulbs in the kitchen with those daylight simulator LEDs, you know, the ones that blast every nook and cranny of a room with blinding light until every shadow has been erased. That’s when I finally saw my floors for real. My god, what have I done… What horrors had I allowed to fester in the far corners of my kitchen. It was like a layer of grime had just been living there for months just beyond the visible spectrum, and these accursed lights had shown me the world beyond my reckoning.
Needless to say I immediately used this as an excuse to buy yet another cool motorized gadget. I was off to my local big box store to find the weapon I would fight this newfound menace with and what I found was the Shark Steam & Scrub.
Rotating Wheels of Dirt Destruction
I initially thought about getting one of those Swiffer mops that just have a little mop pad you use and throw away, but they just seemed so inadequate compared to the dirt situation waiting for me back at home. Plus, they just weren’t very cool. They looked more flimsy than I remembered them being the last time I had one ages ago. In that same general category, though, was the Shark Steam & Scrub. It has removable scrubbing pads, but these are machine washable, not disposable, and these things spin real fast to actually scrub the dirt off the floors so you don’t have to hunch over and scrub manually.
Plus it uses a jet of hot steam to clean with, not a big bottle of chemicals, which was a big win for me since I have cats. Wait… the cats! That’s why my floors were so dirty!
The Solution to Pet Messes on Hard Floors
I have two cats. They are cute and lovely and flawless, I will not hear otherwise. I do, however, admit that they are pretty messy and that mess tends to be the biggest on the floors. I wrote a review a while back for a great carpet cleaner I use to deal with the awful things they like to do to my poor carpets, and now I have finally found the hard floor brother-in-arms to my carpet cleaner. Something that animals do pretty regularly is dirt tracking. With dogs it’s the outdoors brought into your home between their toes and on their fur. With cats, it’s litter. Over time they will cover your hard surfaces in a fine layer of litter dust that isn’t immediately visible, but which can, with a bit of moisture, turn into some of the most icky floor stains imaginable. It gathers in the corners and under the oven, it finds its way into the crevices between floor boards and if left unaddressed, like mine was, can lead to some pretty unsanitary conditions for your feet and those of your family and friends.
I have spotted the little stains before and tackled them with some all-purpose spray and a towel, but seeing them all over the floor under my new lights had me dreading hours on my hands and knees dealing with the mess. This mop absolutely obliterated them in minutes! Anyone who knows the mess I’m talking about can attest to their stubbornness so seeing them just wipe away in moments was such a relief. There are 4 pads in the box so you can swap them out if they get too messy so even if you have big floor spaces to tackle you won’t have to stop and wash the pads before your cleaning is done. That kitchen was like brand new and it just took the 4 pads from the box and a little steam!
Using the Shark Steam & Scrub
This device uses hot steam to tackle floor messes, but it’s not like you have to sit and wait for the water in the tank to boil, the system is ready to go in around 20 seconds. Here’s how a typical cleaning session works with the Steam & Scrub:
First, you remove the water tank and fill it up to the line. One tank is usually enough for multiple rooms unless you just really like shooting lots of steam like a little cleaning dragon. Then you plug it in (I recommend not having it plugged in while you fill the tank, it never hurts to be safe) and let it sit for 20-30 seconds so the heating element can get fired up. Then tap the “mode” button to set the strength of the steam and spin, one tap for light, two for normal and 3 taps for deep clean mode. Once you’ve done that, just tilt the handle back and the pad will start spinning on its own! If you want to sanitize the surfaces, you’ll want to use “deep clean” mode so the device will generate extra hot seam right through the pads.
Once it’s up and running, move the mop slowly and carefully across your floors, making sure to get the edges of those spinning pad into the edges along cabinets and walls, but be careful letting it run against painted surfaces when the steam is going, it could damage the paint.
If you’re dealing with the kinds of floor stains I was, the built in LED headlight will be a huge help. You’d be surprised at how much more grime you can spot just by shining light at the floor from a different angle! I was able to get every inch of my kitchen floor nearly spotless with this thing. If you find it leaving streaks on your floor, just clean the pads. That just means you were picking up a lot of mess, and since this isn’t a typical mop that is constantly being rinsed and wrung, you might be spreading the mess around. It’s often as simple as rinsing the pads thoroughly in the sink, wringing them dry and reattaching them.
Who The Steam & Scrub Works For
There are those of us who absolutely hate cleaning, who don’t want the back-breaking work of using standard mops and other manual tools, who just want something to make staying clean easy. That is who this mop is for. While some cleaning enthusiasts will love having a handy tool like this in their arsenal, I will say that it doesn’t quite measure up to the kind of clean you get with good old-fashioned elbow grease, a mop, bucket and some towels. It does make the experience much faster and much more fun, but if you’re a serious cleaner, this won’t quite fit the bill like a more expensive industrial model, or a mop.
The Steam & Scrub was just what I needed, though. I can confess that I would very likely have just learned to live with the awful mess on my floor if I knew I had to go through the miserable work of mop and bucket cleaning.
Some Basic Specs
Here is the TL;DR spec list for the Shark Steam & Scrub S8201
The Shark Steam & Scrub fit the bill for me, but it might not be enough for the extremely clean folks out there. It’s great for big households where the floors need constant attention, but if you’re living solo without animals it might be a bit much. So, if you feel like you need one in your cleaning arsenal, grab one and start steaming!
- Price: $169.99
- Type: Corded steam mop (hard floor only)
- Weight: 9 lbs
- Cleaning Width: 14.5 inches
- Modes: 3 levels (light, normal, deep)
- Power: Electric corded operation
- Scrubbing: Dual rotating pads
- Sanitization: Kills up to 99.9% of common household bacteria (with water only)
- Special Feature: Steam Blaster for targeted cleaning (it’s like you are a little steam dragon!)
- Headlights: Built-in LED headlights
- Surfaces: Sealed hard floors (tile, hardwood, laminate, vinyl)
About the Author:
Ever since a young George was disappointed with a toy that did match up to the advertising, he became a tireless advocate for consumers. He’ll review anything that folks have to spend their hard-earned dollars on. George is grateful that he gets to use his skills as a writer and an artist to help connect with consumers and help them make the best decisions possible. This article is for informational purposes only and reflects the author’s independent opinion. Readers should verify details directly with the manufacturer or retailer before making a purchase decision.
