Jan 02, 2019

Ultimate Kitchen Cleaning Guide

Owning a clean kitchen is almost every household’s dream, but cleaning the kitchen is not an easy task. In this post, we will give you our tips for keeping your kitchen clean for a happy and clean environment.

Kitchen Cleaning Topics We Will Cover in this Post

Our Recommended Cleaning Supplies
How to Clean Cookware
How to Clean Your Countertop and Stovetops
How to Clean Your Sink
How to Clean Your Refridgerator
How to Clean Your Cabinets and Pantry
How to Clean Your Kitchen Appliances
How to Clean Your Floor

Our Recommended Cleaning Supplies

Kitchen Cleaning Supplies

Before you start, here is a short checklist of items you need for basic kitchen cleaning

All-purpose cleaner spray
NonScents Fridge Deodorizer
NonScents Odor & Stain Remover Spray
NonScents Air Purifying Sachet
Broom/Mop
Microfiber cloth
Non-abrasive scouring pad
Hot water, lemon
Baking soda and vinegar
Cleaning gloves (optional)

How to Clean Cookware

Cookware/tableware – lightly rinse dishes before loading them into the dishwasher after use and run the dishwasher with full load to conserve water. If you prefer handwashing, you can wipe the dishes dry with dish towel or leave them on the drying rack until next use. Wear gloves for heavily greased dishes which might need hot water or dish detergent to clean by hand.

Pots and pans – regular pots and pans can be soaked in hot water and apply light dish detergent and scrub gently with non-scratch scouring pad. If you happen to be the lover of the cast-iron cookware, make sure they are clean and seasoned (To season your cast-iron, coat the skillet with cooking oil and bake at 350F for one hour) before you start cooking. Because detergent would strip off the seasoning on the cast iron cookware, you will need something special to clean your cast-iron skillet. The Lodge Polycarbonate Pan Scrapers can quickly scrap off grits without much effort. A rustproof Chainmail Rings pan cleaner called “The Ringer” is another great choice for the detergent free cleaning job.

How to Clean Countertops and Stovetops

Stovetop

For countertops - Move items that do belong to kitchen into a basket to reorganize after cleaning. Wipe surface with damp cloths or paper towel after spray the all-purpose cleaner.

For Stovetops – it is typically the most greasy and hardest spot to clean. Spray stovetop with degreaser and let it sit for a few hours. Meanwhile, remove the grates and knobs and spritz them with. Let them soak for a few minutes, then wipe with a wet sponge/cloth to make sure no residue is left. Wipe away crumbs with a damp paper towel. Soak cooked-on gunk with warm soapy water and let sit for five minutes before scrubbing with a non-scratch scouring pad. Put the grates and knobs back, making sure the “off” markings are correctly aligned.

For glass cooktop sprinkle baking soda over the top of the cooktop while it’s cool. Cut a medium sized lemon in half and squeeze the juice over the cooktop as well. Use the lemon half to scrub everything into an awesome paste that will remove every single stain. wipe up and spritz with a homemade non-toxic cleaner (water/white vinegar/drop of soap/tea tree oil). Repeat with other half of lemon if necessary.

How to Clean Your Kitchen Sink

Kitchen Sinks are often stained with soap deposits, food stains, and water spots. To make it spotless clean, we can first put 5 tablespoons of baking soda into a mixing ball and slowly add in 1 cup white vinegar. Be careful as it will bubble, soak the sink strainer drain and garbage disposal cap in the ball for about 15- 20 minutes. Meanwhile, spray the sink with vinegar, you can add small amount of dish soap if you like but not necessary. Let it sit for 20 minutes and scrub the sink with sponge and a tooth brush for hard to reach corners and sink/drain rims. Use ice cubes and citrus peel or wedges and run the garbage disposal will clean it and fresh the smell of the sink. Finally, rinse the sink with water then wipe down with paper towel or cloth.

How to Clean Your Refridgerator

Your Refridgerator is a key part of the kitchen as it hosted all kinds of food items, cooked and raw. Leftover dishes, soup spills, and rotten fruit can make the fridge not only smelly but also hard to clean. Follow these steps for a complete cleaning of the fridge. Let’s start with emptying the fridge and turn the temperature setting to “high” to save energy while keeping the door open. Wash or wipe down the removable shelves, drawers, and wipe the walls with a sponge dipped in 2 parts hot water/1 part vinegar solution. To deodorize, use our NonScents Fridge Deodorizer or wipe down the walls a second time with a paper towel dipped in a bowl of diluted vanilla extract. Wipe down the fridge door surface with a soft cloth with soapy water. Throw away expired, rotten or “not going to eat” food and reshelf the contents and turn the temperature setting back to normal.

Freezer- Cleaning the freezer might be just an add-on task while you clean your fridge with a few additional steps. After turning off the freezer, empty the ice tray and soak it into warm and soapy water. Put the ice in a large zip lock bag or directly into a cooler with all other frozen food. Take out all removable shelves and baskets. Let them warm to room temperature and wash with warm and soapy water. Rinse and set aside to dry. Make the cleaning solution using 1:1 hot water and vinegar and spray inside the freezer. Wipe with damp cloth. For stubborn food stains, soak the area with wet paper towel with cleaning solution for 10 minutes and use an old toothbrush to gently scrub the area. Wipe the freezer door and door seals. Wipe inside of the freezer with a dry cloth. Put back the shelves and baskets. Put the frozen food back in while going through expired food, or “not going to eat” items and turn the freezer back on!

How to Clean Your Cabinets and Pantry

Cabinets – Choose a cleaner from the following list: oil-soap wood cleaner, vinegar and water, detergent and water, or baking soda and test it first in a small, unnoticeable area and wait for a while to see if it does any damage to the finish or the color of the cabinet. If it does no harm, spray the exterior surface of the cabinets with the cleaner, wipe down with a damp cloth followed by a dry cloth. Do not wet the cabinet for prolonged period or soaking wet as it could cause damage to wood surface or rust on metal surface.

Pantry—Pantry could be an easy clean if you have only put nonperishable goods into it. Take out all the food items from the pantry, wipe down the shelves, shelf liner or baskets with all -purpose cleaner, sweep or vacuum the floor. Put everything back in with organized by group or order of preference to eat.

Tip - For small enclosed spaces, try our NonScents Air Purifying Sachet to fight and remove any musty, mildew, mold, stinky, or smelly odors.

How to Clean Your Kitchen Appliances

Oven – There are many ways to clean your oven.

· Self cleaning feature uses extremely high temperature to burn off the food debris inside the oven. It requires no chemicals and due to the extreme temperature, do not use commercial oven cleaner or oven coater on self-cleaning oven. Remove any oven racks, pots, pans, utensils and foil liner that are in the oven before cleaning. Read your manufacturer’s instructions before running a cleaning cycle and follow them exactly. Do not clean the oven door gasket as you may damage the oven’s seal. Do not touch the oven and keep children away from the oven during self-cleaning cycle.

· Commercial cleaner are some harsh chemicals will “do the job” with lots of scrubbing and cleaning. But it is less preferred due to the residual of those chemicals can lead to harmful smokes when heat up and create health concerns for the household.

· A more natural alternative, though a bit time consuming cleaning method. First let your oven cool completely. Then remove the shelves and the broiler pan. Scrub them with steel wool and wash them in dishwasher with “heavy” cycle. With a knife or metal spatula, scrap off any visible food remains inside oven. Sprinkle a layer of ¼” thick baking soda over the oven floor as well as the oven door (leave open). Now spray the baking soda with water until it is very damp, but not dripping. After 2-3 hours, spray again with water to keep the baking soda well wet. You may have to repeat this step depending on how much build up your oven has. Let it sit overnight. Using a damp washcloth, gently scoop the baking soda out of the oven. Wipe down the inside walls and back of the oven and you are done!

· You can also try to clean the oven with household ammonia, normally 5-10% solution. Turn your oven temperature as low as possible. If you have gas oven, shut off the gas and blow out the pilot flame if any (ammonia fume is flammable). Pour boiling water into a oven safe container and placed it on the lower rack, pour half a cup of ammonia solution into another oven safe container and placed it on the top rack. Leave it in the oven overnight. The next morning. Remove the water and ammonia container from the oven. Lightly scrub the oven walls and oven door with a cleaning sponge, add diluted ammonia solution to your sponge for tough brown spots. You should see the brown grease come off. Keep wipe the entire oven inside and do not scrub on the oven seal. Return the oven to original state (i.e. temperature, gas pilot flame).

Dishwasher - Use a multipurpose cleaner to thoroughly clean your dishwasher, including the door seals. Use a non-abrasive sponge to scrub all areas and wipe down with a damp cloth When your dishwasher finishes each load, leave the door open for 10-15 minutes to help reduce humidity and keep it clean inside

Microwave - Spray the all the inside walls of the microwave with all-purpose cleaner and let it sit for two minutes, wipe off with a dry cloth. Wash and dry the glass disc if you have one. The microwave touchpad is a common neglected but most likely cross contaminated area. Clean the touchpad with a cotton ball dipped in a diluted bleach solution with 1:9 ratio with water while keep the microwave door open. Then wipe dry with a towel or paper towel.

Toaster oven – Unplug the toaster oven and let it cool completely. Take out the rack and crumb tray and wipe it with cream of tartar and water paste and leave them in the sink. Use the same paste and a sponge to wipe the interior of the toaster oven, include all sides, the glass door and exterior. Them wipe again with a damp cloth with only water. Rinse and scrub the rack and crumb tray and let dry. Put everything back to place after they are completely dried and your toaster oven is clean and ready to be used again.

Toaster – First, unplug the toaster, take out the crumbs tray and brush the crumbs into the compost or the sink. And wipe the tray with damp cloth. Now put a piece of paper towel under the toaster and use slightly wet old toothbrush to clean the coil, all the scrubs will fall onto the paper towel. After the coil is dry, you can wipe the exterior of the toaster clean and put the crumb tray back.

Coffee maker - Use a glass cleaner or cleaning wipe to clean top to bottom. Soak the drop tray in hot, soapy water for a while, then rinse and dry. To clean the glass coffee pot, use a few scoop of baking soda and pour some vinegar inside and let the bubble form, then rub the inside of the coffee pot with a damp cloth with the baking soda/vinegar mixture, then put it into the dishwasher, this way it removes all the stains on the pot.

How to Clean Your Floor

Floor - use a broom or dry sweeper to sweep the floor right to the baseboard and under cabinets, inside the pantry and underneath appliance, move the appliance if needed. Then follow with a mop or steam cleaner with desired floor cleaner based on your kitchen floor type or just water.

Other TIPS: Now you’ve worked so hard and cleaned your kitchen, there are other tips to keep it clean longer.

Separate trash and food compost help your garbage disposal from clogged. The newer counter top composter provides enough ventilation and carbon fiber odor control pad keeps rotten smell at bay. And you do not have to take out the trash every day.

Making keep the kitchen clean every house member’s responsibility. Clean up table and lightly rinse off dishes after each meal and put them into the dishwasher

Regularly clean up pantry/fridge and remove expired/rotten items.

Mop the floor/clean the counter top when spill occurs.

User drawer liner underneath pots/pans, oil and spice bottles.