Many of us soak our cookware in water for several hours or overnight to loosen baked-on food and make cleanup easier. While this practice works, it also can have the unintended consequence of warping the pan over time, making it defective and difficult to use. To protect your cookware investment, allow your pans to cool to room temperature, then immerse in water for several minutes. That should be enough soaking time to make cleanup easier without risking any damage to your pans.

ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION

You know the saying: One man's trash is another man's treasure. And nothing could be more true when it comes to marble and granite remnants at your local countertop fabricator. The reality is when someone does a kitchen renovation, slabs of pricey granite and marble are cut to fit spaces or make room for a sink. But what happens to those slabs that are too small to use for a countertop but too big to toss away? They are sold for next to nothing. Your countertop fabricator can turn small remnants into cutting boards, backsplashes, desktops and surfaces for small tables in your house.

ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION

Can you recycle old printed photographs with your scrap paper recycling? Yes and no. It all depends on how the photo was printed. If it was done in the old chemical processing fashion, then no. If it was printed using modern digital technology, then yes. How do you find out? Simply tear it: If the photograph rips with a very clean tear, it can be recycled; but if it's hard to tear and it rips in layers and not so cleanly, you likely have a nonrecyclable photo that needs to be thrown in the trash rather than the recycling bin.

ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION