The kitchen a very important and often used part of every home and as such it requires a lot of regular cleaning. However it is rather easy to get caught up in the task and miss certain parts of it. Not to mention that different parts of the kitchen require specific care. To make it easier I find it best to compile a list of tasks and follow it as I go through the cleaning process. While this does slightly change, based on the way your personal home is set up, it shouldn't be very difficult to adapt my list to everyones' needs. When dealing with kitchen cleaning tasks, I tend to adopt a top-to-bottom approach. I start off with the cabinets and countertops and finish with the flooring. Below you can have a look at my kitchen cleaning to do list and after that I'll go into detail about each part.
Clean Cabinets & Wipe Countertops
Take care of the Stoves and oven
Wipe the Sink
Empty out and clean the fridge
Finish up with the floor
Kitchen Cabinets. Photo courtesy of Ontrus.com
Cabinets and Countertops
I like to start here as it feels like it is the most obvious place to start your cleaning session from and it isn't too annoying to deal with. You should begin by completely emptying out all of your cabinets and making sure that you will need and want to keep everything that you put back after you are done cleaning. Then, depending on the surfaces you are dealing with, you need to clean the bottoms and insides of the cabinets themselves (usually a wet cloth does the job fairly well, but again - it mostly depends on the type of surface that you are working with). Continue with wiping the outsides and doors, paying special attention to the knob areas as they tend to gather a lot of dirt. As for the counters, it is fairly simple, especially if you have the habit of cleaning after each time you have used them. Nine out of ten times a few simple wipes with the proper cleaning products (or even just clean water and some soap if you are lucky) and a nice clean cloth will do the trick.
Stoves and the Oven
Here it takes a bit more effort and time to properly deal with the task and this is why I prefer to deal with it right after the cabinets. The stoves usually gather a lot of dirt and all kinds of grease and spills (mostly depending on what and how you cook but at some point in time we all end up with the same problems) and it's rather hard to get away without using any specialized cleaning products although it is possible. To start off, you should give your burners a good wiping. Depending on what types and models you are working it, with might be possible to disassemble them and wash them directly but it isn't recommended unless you are familiar with what you are doing and have read specialized materials about it. Usually just using a damp sponge will do the job.
Stovens and Oven. Photo courtesy of Mountainhomesofdenver.com
After taking care of the burners, you should turn your attention to the stove surface itself and give it a good wiping. Here consistency also pays off - the longer you wait to clean your stoves, the more difficult it will be to remove the spills. After that, you can deal with the oven. This ends up being rather similar as you are again dealing with spills and grease but you will need to remove and clean the grates separately.
The Sink
This is usually the exact middle of my cleaning session and I find it quite effort-intensive. Cleaning the kitchen sink takes way more time and effort than what one would assume originally. I tend to begin by wiping the basin with soap, warm water and a sponge. This takes care of most stains easily.Next comes the faucet - the least time consuming part of the task. While it might be a bit tricky to clean the crannies and difficult to reach parts of the faucet, there are plenty of everyday items that you can use to your advantage (e.g. - a toothbrush that you no longer plan on using). Depending on where you live and what type of kitchen you are working with, this part of the kitchen cleaning ends with taking care of mineral deposits (if your water has a high mineral content) and cleaning the garbage disposal. A simple trick to clean the garbage disposal is to dump ice cubes made of vinegar down with some hot water.
The Fridge
Kitchen Floor. Photo courtesy of Karndean.com
I find this part rather time consuming but not very tiresome and as such I've left it for the very end. It is best to begin by wiping out the doors and outsides of the fridge before you get to the insides. After that, you should empty out the fridge completely and be ready to begin cleaning ASAP to make sure that nothing will spoil. Then proceed to wipe out the insides of your fridge with either a sponge or a mop and a cleaning solution (I prefer a sponge, personally), paying extra attention to any stains and/or sticky spots. If your fridge has specific removable parts, such as drawers and extra shelves you should remove them completely and clean them separately. Finally, wipe everything with a cloth and dry it with a clean towel.
The Kitchen Floor
While this task can be a bit tedious, it is best left for last as you can easily end up spilling things or dropping things on the floor while you are moving about and cleaning the entire room. You can easily deal with the floor by using your vacuum cleaner if it is fitting for the flooring type. Some vacs can even be used to clean other parts of the kitchen as well. However, not all models are equally good at everything and just as with all other cleaning tasks that we've covered so far, you should make sure that your device can handle it. Don't be scared though - you don't need some super expensive monster vac to speed your kitchen cleaning up! Specialized models are cheap and you can grab a very good vacuum cleaner even for under 100 dollars. In the end of the day, cleaning is all about consistency. If you clean up a bit after every time you use the kitchen, your complete cleaning sessions will be much shorter. The more there is to deal with, the more time you have to spend cleaning. An average kitchen cleaning session can be anywhere between 30 minutes and a couple of hours and it all comes down to how much time and effort you put in making sure that your kitchen is clean on a day to day basis. Byline: Fehu Othala is one of the main writers for the VacuumConsult team. She focuses on researching and reviewing the latest and best vacuum cleaners on the market. Lately she's been trying to pinpoint the best vacuum cleaner under 100 dollars.
How To Clean Your Kitchen Effectively
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