The people at Howard's were kind enough to send me a sampling of their new line of natural cleaning products to review for BellaOnline readers.

Howard's is well known for their traditional products--which is what I originally contacted them for; but I foresee them becoming better known for their new line of natural products. For one, any cleaning product that will list all of the ingredients on the label gets a thumbs-up in my book. Today there are so many allergies and respiratory illness that knowing what you're using in your environment is more critical than ever. I loved being able to look at the ingredient label and recognize all of the words (although I had to look up surfactant--but one word out of a dozen or more isn't bad for a cleaning product!)

Howard's sent me a bottle of each of their Naturals line: granite & marble cleaner, kitchen cabinet cleaner and polish, stainless steel cleaner, wood cleaner and polish, wood preserver and upholstery cleaner. The only one I did not test was the wood preserver for sheer lack of time.

I was most impressed with the kitchen cabinet cleaner. My kitchen cabinets are a painted and baked finish with a glazing in the corners and edges to make them look antiqued (our house is 140 years old so we wanted it to look authentic!). Generally, I clean them with water because no other cleaner has managed to truly get them clean. Howard's kitchen cabinet cleaner got them SO clean that I saw where I had been scrubbing away some of the finish in my prior 4 years of trying to keep my cabinets clean. I was thrilled to find something that didn't require the harsh side of a sponge to remove the dirt and juices that had dried on and at the same time, annoyed that I had been scratching my cabinets! But this product even took on my garbage cabinet (a roll-out, under-the-counter unit) and really did a nice job. I used it and waited to see if the product soaked in and no longer gave off a healthy glow. It never did. In fact, I went back and used it on every cabinet and I truly don't think they looked this good when they were installed.

Second in line to this was the wood cleaner and polish. Between our 5yo son and the handful of older foster children who have a hard time adapting to our food (and therefore "hide" it), our dining room set sees a good portion of grime. I started with the 5yo's chair. Usually I use lemon oil on our good wood furniture; but the Howard's cleaner and polish made extremely fast work of the task and didn't require any strong handling to take off the buildup. I was again in the position of polishing every chair for being so pleased with the results.

The granite and marble cleaner initially made me skeptical: when I first used it, the finish was a little blurred instead of being a crisp "mirror" image. Then I realized that I haven't sealed the granite in 4 years and always clean it with water and the harsh side of a sponge. I decided to give this product more use before rendering a decision. I'm glad I did because cleaning my countertops has seriously never been easier. If I let the product sit for a minute, even the food my husband forgot to wipe down early in the morning comes off with barely an effort. And that blurred finish doesn't happen anymore--it's as crisp as when I used water. Now I'm wondering exactly what I've been doing to my countertops.

I wasn't completely thrilled with the upholstery cleaner. It absolutely lightened the dog's paw prints on my cotton couch slipcover, but it only really removed about half of them. To be fair, I have yet to find something that will remove these stains without having to throw the slipcover in the wash--so that's saying something. And the stainless steel cleaner was good, but nothing extraordinary other than the fact that it was a natural product producing the same effect as it's chemical competitors.

The products do have a scent to them, although by no means overwhelming. Oddly, the scents for the kitchen products don't coordinate, but they are very complimentary. You do need to read the directions for the products to get the best results from them with the least amount of effort.

Overall, I can honestly say I will be buying more of these products--without question. I think Howard's has really done a great job on their natural line. If you can't find them at a store near you, they can be purchased online.