OT - need help, ant problem in my kitchen!

I can vouch for the vinegar as being somewhat effective. It does not work as well as poison, of course. However, I have kitties too so I refuse to use poison. I usually spray the ants and the ant trail with vinegar. It doesn't always kill them but it definitely ****** them off and confuses them.. (and you can wipe them and the vinegar up with a paper towel).

My ants were coming for the cat food. A lot of times ants will come inside homes for water moreso than food, so try not to leave water in the sink and dry up any splashes.

The vinegar wears off pretty quickly so you may have to spray it daily until they get the hint and move on.

Good luck!

 You can't do better than Terro.  The ants carry it back to the nest and all are dead after a few hours.

I third the Terro liquid too! Plus it's kind of cool ( in a morbid, perverse way) to watch the ants surround the liquid bait and eat the hell out of it...then of course, go off to die, die, die!

I have also heard Vinegar and water. Put in spray bottle, it is supposed to keep them away. I hate ants. Good luck.

 I had to ant spray around my window and use a sealant on the outside around the pane. It worked for the remainder of the year. I also got an all bug contract with my local guardian pest services to spray quarterly in and out side. It wasn't nearly as expensive as I thought it would be. 

Terro liquid is like crack for ants. It's sugary and has boron in it so they eat
it and it dessicates them from the inside. The stuff in the little bottle that
you squeeze out in drops is amazing. The Terro traps with supposedly the
same stuff....haven't had a single ant go in them yet. You have to put the
drops on a piece of paper or something and just ignore it overnight
because it will reallllly draw the ants...a few turns into 100. But they love
the stuff. In the morning, the drops will have dried like hard candy. Scrub
them off and put more drops. In a few days....no ants. Repeat every couple
of months.

Ants also HATE, HATE, HATE cloves, cinnamon and mint. For kitchen counters,
I put clove or cinnamon oil drops in some water in a spray bottle and after I clean
up, I spray them with the water. Ants will avoid it like the plague and it's not toxic
on my counters. Vinegar works to a lesser degree because it dissolves their chemical
trail rather than really repelling them. They will just make another chemical trail nearby.
I also sprinkled cloves under my kitchen sink....not a single ant since.

By the way, I have a small dog and cats and have not had them try to lick the Terro
drops. They would have to eat an awful lot to do any damage because they're much
bigger than ants so they would have to eat the bottle to dessicate to any degree.
Anyway, good luck. You'll never be rid of ants entirely because where there are some,
there are millions you don't see. But I seldome see any in the house anymore because
when I see a scout ant or any around, out comes the Terro.

By far Terro ant traps are the best. I agree with everyone on that. And if you get from an ACE hardware they should take it back if it does not work due to a thing called "policy A" but double check first with your local ACE. Good luck taking those bad boys out!

 Love Terro, best stuff ever!

http://www.homelife.com.au/home+ideas/home+help/natural+ant+ repellent,4771

There are many commercial products for keeping ants at bay, but in line with the growing thirst for natural domestic solutions, we found another way.

To repel ants around the home, drizzle peppermint oil, available at health food stores, on windowsills and benchtops. Not only will the oil deter the pesky little critters, it’ll lend a fresh, clean aroma to the kitchen, laundry and bathroom.

Honeypots, jam jars and other sticky vessels are a magnet for ants. Even just a trace on the outside of a bottle or jar will act like a siren. Placing the jar on a saucer of water will act like a moat around a castle and keep invaders away.

     

My friend sprinkled sweet & low around the area where the ants were & they were gone on no time! Got to love chemical sweeteners! LOL