The dishwasher in her home in Pleasanton, Calif., works just fine, but Kimberly Wendt no longer uses it. For months, she has been rapturously washing her dishes by hand, enveloped by the rich scent of lavender, lemon verbena or geranium wafting from her sudsy sink. She spritzes her countertops and windows with fragranced products, while her laundry is perfumed with lavender.
Remember when ammonia and pine-sol were the telltale scents of cleanliness? Times have changed. A growing number of consumers are following their noses to a new and pricey category of housekeeping products that combine cleaning power with aromatherapy. Wendt, for...