Chometz crockery may be kept over Pesach. They must be washed well to eliminate any noticeable chometz and stored away in a place where you usually do not go. It is best to lock them in a room and put away the key. They may be used after Pesach. (ShA1)
When you buy crockery from the gentile market, just toivel them. There is no concern that the gentile used them. But if buying from a private individual and you are not sure they are new, kasher them first. If earthenware, break them. (MB3)
Your chometz crockery can be kashered unless earthenware. The only way to make earthenware kasher l’Pesach is to return them to a firing kiln. (ShA1)
If a chometz utensil used only in k’li shaini heat was used mistakenly in hot Pesach food, you can be maykil to eat the food when it will otherwise cause a heavy loss or spoil your Simchas Yom Tov — provided the utensil was aino ben yomo. (MB11)
Any completely clean utensil that has not yet been kashered may not be used on Pesach even for cold food. (Rama1 — MB15)
Hagola in a kli rishon is when water is boiling on the fire. Even if you remove the kli from the fire, as long as the water is still bubbling, it counts as a kli rishon. (ShA3 — MB20)
The best practice when it comes to knives is to buy new ones for Pesach. (MB19)
The minhag is to refrain from doing hagola on knives from meaty to dairy. However, if your intention is to do hagola on chometz knives to use them for Pesach, you can meanwhile swap them from meaty to dairy as well. (MB19)
Hagola can only work to expel a taste of chometz absorbed in the kli but not on actual chometz. Therefore the knife must be completely clean of rust because under the rust could be a bit of chometz. (ShA3 — MB22)
If mere rust stains or other stains remain there is no worry and you can go ahead with the hagola. (MB22)
Chometz could gather at the seam between the knife blade and the handle. Furthermore hagola could ruin the glued handles or ones made of horn. Hagola is permitted only in these cases: (1) the blade and handle are made of one piece of metal; (2) the blade is knocked into a one-piece handle of wood; (3) the blade is removable. (MB23 — ShaH26)
Hagola will not work on a vessel with a hinged lid or on a vessel with a narrow opening. These cannot be cleaned well. (MB26,44)
Utensils used with chometz over a direct fire (e.g. a spit, roasting rack) need libun. If the spit was used only for meat with salt, hagola is all that is necessary. (ShA4 — MB27)
Some poskim say for chometz you only need libun kal. Others pasken libun tov — to heat the metal until sparks shoot or until a layer peels off the utensil. We are machmir lechatchila. (ShA4 — MB29,31,32)
If a knife blade has holes or indentations, it requires libun kal in those places before hagola. (ShA3 — MB24,25)
A stove rack or oven rack used all year round needs libun kal for Pesach, lechatchila. Bedieved do not forbid the pot of Pesach food cooked on it without libun. (Rama4 — MB34)
The way chometz taste was absorbed into the utensil is the same way it will be expelled: (1) Over direct fire — do libun; (2) In a kli rishon — do hagola inside a kli rishon; (3) Poured from a kli rishon — pour boiling water over from a kli rishon; (4) Used in a kli shaini — dip in hot water poured into a kli shaini; (5) Used only cold — scrub clean, then rinse in water. (ShA5,6 — Rama6 — MB35,45,47,49)
If you are concerned that a utensil may have been used for chometz occasionally over direct fire, do libun kal on it. (MB48)
In category number 3 above, make sure that the stream of boiling water is uninterrupted. (MB41)
For a large vessel from categories 3, 4, and 5 that does not fit into a hagola vat: make sure it is not a ben yomo, then pour boiling water on all the surfaces using a white-hot stone near the water so the water will not cool off. (Rama6 — MB51,53)
The following materials must be kashered: wood, stone, metal, bone, and mother of pearl. The surfaces must be smooth to clean first. Vessels made of horn cannot be kashered. (ShA7,8 — MB55,56)
Salting baskets that are used all year around might have chometz flavor absorbed in them. The minhag is to do irui kli rishon if the basket does not have holes. Otherwise buy new ones. (ShA10 — MB59,62)
A frying pan needs libun kal lechatchila. Bedieved, hagaala is enough as long as there are no holes. (Rama11 — BeH)
Pot and pan handles need to be kashered directly. Irui is sufficient unless you know that the handle was used directly with hot chometz — in which case the handle needs hagaala. (Rama12 — MB71)
Knife handles need hagaala. (MB69)
If part of the kli has an indented or raised trademark, use libun to burn any chometz that may have collected there. (MB79 — BeH)
Baking trays and lids need libun gamur. (MB80,85)
A metal pot lid needs hagaala. (ShA14 — MB82)
A spice grinder that is not used with chometz should have hagaala done and then pre-grind all spices needed before Pesach. Bedieved, if you did not kasher it and ground spices which are now in the Pesach food — the food is kasher. (MB90)
If you cut a sharp vegetable (e.g. ginger) with a meaty knife and then ground it in a spice grinder, other spices ground in that grinder afterwards may not be eaten with milk. It is best to cut ginger with a new knife. (MB90)
The minhag is not to rely upon hagaala for vessels used for sifting flour, for kneading dough, or for baking matzos. The Mishna Berura extends this minhag to other vessels that are hard to clean. (ShA17,18,19 — MB94) You cannot kasher glazed pottery even when glazed with glass. (ShA23)Vessels like jugs and cups, used mainly for cold drinks, need only to be scrubbed clean and rinsed with water. However the minhag is to require hagola or pouring out water for 3 days. (ShA25 — MB150)Procedure for 3 days of pouring: Fill vessel with cold water to the top. Let stand for at least 24 uninterrupted hours. Pour out and refill for another 24 hours. Fill a third time and pour out after another 24 hours. These 3 days do not have to be consecutive. (MB118)Minhag Ashkenaz is to consider glassware just like earthenware — hagola does not help. (Rama26)The minhag is to clean the taps of wine barrels for Pesach. Even better is to buy new taps. (Rama27 — MB161,162)Porcelain has the din of earthenware. (MB163)
Counters and cabinets used for chometz storage normally have hot water poured on them to remove absorbed chometz flavor. Unless the surfaces are smooth with no cracks or seams, it is proper to cover them as well. (ShA20 — MB115)
