If you've recently moved to a new home and you've noticed your recipes don't turn out the same, the problem might be hard water. Hard water affects your life and home in a number of ways, and you can see the effects in your cooking and kitchen in general.

Fortunately, the problem is easy to fix by having a water softener installed. Here are four ways hard water affects your life in the kitchen and how a water softener helps.

1. Hard Water Leaves Scale On Glasses

Water is considered hard when it has a high level of minerals. The problem with hard water is that the minerals deposit on the surfaces of everything the water touches. After a while, you may notice your glasses and glass dishes have a scaly film on them. You'll even notice scale build up in your glass coffee pot.

Mineral scale can be removed by soaking the coffee pot and your dishes in vinegar, but a better solution is to have a water softener installed. With minerals removed, there will be no water spots or scale on your dishes to embarrass you when you have guests for dinner.

2. Hard Water Affects Baking And Cooking

If you think the hard water tastes bad because of all of the minerals, that same taste transfers to your food and makes your meals taste different from what you're used to. Besides that, hard water has a different chemical composition than soft water, so there is a different reaction in your recipes, especially baked goods.

The mineral composition of water affects the fermentation rate of yeast and how tight or slack your bread dough gets. If you cook a lot and you're used to soft water, you may want a water softener so you get cooking and baking results you're familiar with.

3. Hard Water Clogs Appliances

The scale hard water leaves behind on your glasses also coats the internal parts of the coffee pot, dishwasher, and other appliances in your kitchen that use water. The scale even builds up in your kitchen plumbing and faucet.

The scale buildup shortens the life of your appliances and it can cause them to malfunction due to clogs. One of the main reasons to have a water softener installed is to protect your appliances and plumbing from scale buildup.

4. Hard Water Doesn't Make Suds Very Well

Another thing you may dislike about hard water is that it doesn't get very sudsy. If you like a lot of suds without having to use too much dish soap, then you'll appreciate having a water softener. Soft water is able to lather better and get your dishes clean easier without having to waste dish soap.

Remember, your kitchen is just one room in your house. The other rooms that use water will have problems of their own that can be solved easily by having a water softener installed that treats all the water in your home.