How to Clean Your Kitchen

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Categories: Home & Garden | How Tos

  • How to Clean Your Kitchen offers tips, tricks and advice on how to clean your kitchen's appliances, cabinets, countertops and floors.

  • Introduction

    • If there's any room in your house that needs to be kept clean for health as well as aesthetic reasons, it's your kitchen. You don't want to invite bacteria or any unwanted visitors into the place where you store and prepare your food. Kitchens can be tough to clean because there are dozens of cracks and crevices for grime to hide in and heavy appliances to move, but keeping your kitchen spotless is essential.

  • Step 1: Gather Your Supplies

    • You'll need a complete arsenal of cleaning products to get the job done, and don't think one bottle of 409 will cover it. Different surfaces require different cleaning products. The following is a checklist of the essentials:

  • Cleaners

    1. All-Purpose Cleaner like 409
      • You can make things even easier on yourself by purchasing pre-soaked disposable cleaning wipes or Mr. Clean's Magic Erasers. They're convenient, but more wasteful than using a bottled cleaner and washable rag.
    2. Oven Cleaner
    3. Dish Soap
    4. Dishwashing Detergent (if you have a dishwasher)

  • Cleaning Tools

    1. Feather Duster or Dusting Cloth/Mitts
    2. Broom and Dustpan
    3. Mop and Bucket
    4. Sponges and Rags
    5. Paper Towels
    6. Rubber Gloves
    7. Trash Bags

  • Step 2: Clean Your Kitchen

    • Bust out the rubber gloves, and put on some kitchen-cleaning music. It's time to scrub that floor 'til you can eat off it. Well, you don't actually have to eat off it, but staying motivated with some decent tunes isn't a bad idea.

    1. Remove any large pieces of trash from the countertops and the floor. Gather anything that doesn't belong in the kitchen and put it back where it belongs.
    2. Scrape any food off of dirty dishes into the disposal or trash. Let dishes with caked-on food soak in hot soapy water.
    3. While the dishes are soaking, go through the cupboard and chuck anything that is expired or has gone unused for a year or more.
    4. Return to the dishes. Finish hand-washing them or load them in the dishwasher.
    5. Wash the walls and ceiling. Check vents, switch plates and the wall behind your stove.
    6. Clean any artwork on the walls. Don't use water or liquid cleaners. Wipe with a dry, clean cloth.
    7. Clean any draperies or ceiling fans. Take a sponge and soapy water to any windowsills or frames.
    8. Apply oven cleaner to the oven. You may have a self-cleaning oven. You may need to use an oven cleaner. Either way, follow the directions carefully.
    9. While the oven cleaner is working, clean our your fridge. Start by dumping any food that is old, will go uneaten or has been sitting on the shelf for more than 3 months. After you've dumped the excess, wipe down the fridge's surfaces. Take out the crisper drawers and rinse them in the sink.
    10. Finish cleaning your oven. Wipe the inside, stove top and knobs. Depending on the type of stove you have, you may be able to remove the spill catchers underneath the burners for cleaning.
    11. Wipe down your smaller appliances—the blender, toaster, microwave, etc.
    12. Clean out the kitchen cabinets. Take everything out. Toss whatever you don't use on a regular basis. Reline the cabinets with contact paper if you need to. Otherwise, wipe them down. Put what's staying back in the cabinets.
    13. Repeat this process for your drawers. Remove their contents. Dump anything you don't use. Wipe them down. Put what's staying back in the drawers.
    14. Wash down the sink and countertops.
    15. Sweep and mop the floors. If possible, pull the fridge and stove away from the wall slightly to get dust and debris trapped underneath and behind the appliances.

  • Step 3: Keep It That Way

    • Now that you've got your kitchen in tip-top shape, you'll want to keep it that way. Take a couple of minutes everyday to do the following quick clean-ups, and you'll never confront a sink full of dirty dishes again:
    1. Take a minute to wipe down the stove top, counters and sink.
    2. Give the floor a quick sweep.
    3. Wash your dishes as you finish your meal.

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