Astonish Multi-Surface Cream Cleaner 500ml
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Verdict
Astonish Cream Cleaner is the British charity-shop classic, cheap, effective, and far better at deep cleaning than its price suggests.
Pros
- Remarkably cheap per 100ml
- Shifts deep stains other sprays can't
- Vegan, cruelty-free, made in the UK
- Almost no smell
Cons
- Cream is messier than a spray
- Not suited for glass
- Leaves a small abrasive residue if not rinsed
Full review
Astonish Multi-Surface Cream is the British cleaning aisle’s best-kept secret. £2.50 for a 500ml tub that lasts most households 6+ months, and it consistently outperforms £10+ specialist cream cleaners on the kinds of UK kitchen and bathroom problems that defeat sprays.
The chemistry is straightforward: a mild abrasive (calcium carbonate) suspended in a cleaning cream. You apply it on a damp cloth or sponge, work it in, rinse off. Slower than a spray, but the abrasive action shifts what no spray can: burnt sugar on a glass hob, scuff marks on a porcelain Belfast sink, soap-ring tide lines on a bath, scorched residue inside an oven door.
Where Astonish is genuinely surprising is on stainless steel. Used with light pressure, it restores stainless sinks and hobs to near-new condition, comparable to Bar Keepers Friend but with less elbow grease.
It’s not a daily-use product. The abrasive content means you don’t want to use it on counter tops or painted surfaces every day; over weeks of use it’d dull the finish. Keep it for the once-a-week deep clean rather than the daily wipe.
The almost-no-smell formula is a real benefit over Cif Cream’s lemon scent, and over the heavily-fragranced sprays. If anyone in the household is sensitive to cleaning-product fragrances, Astonish is the only option here that doesn’t cause issues.
Made in the UK (Bradford), vegan, cruelty-free, credentials that matter to some buyers without affecting performance.
The 500ml tub doesn’t go through Amazon’s standard Subscribe & Save program. Buy as needed, you won’t go through one quickly.
Buy this if: you want the cheapest UK option that genuinely fixes problems sprays can’t, or you’re fragrance-sensitive.
Skip this if: you need a daily-use spray (this isn’t that).
For the full ranking of how this product compares with the alternatives, see our guide to the best cream cleaner.
