PSA: I was scrubbing my grout with a toothbrush for years before a neighbor pointed at my kettle.
She saw me doing it on my porch in Phoenix and asked if I'd ever tried cleaning grout lines with a paste of baking soda and leftover vinegar from pickle jars. I mixed some up, let it sit for ten minutes, and it lifted stains my scrubbing never touched. What other basic kitchen items have you guys used for deep cleaning?
Boiling water and a lemon sounds nice in theory, but in my experience it only works if the clog is super minor like a little soap scum. Your mileage may vary, but I've seen people try that and end up with a worse backup because the lemon pulp just gets stuck deeper in the pipe. Take this with a grain of salt, but I'd rather use a good old plunger or a cheap snake before I start pouring fruit down the drain. It might smell fresh, but that lemon won't dissolve hair or grease if that's the real problem.