Cleaning day. Do you dread it or are you a cleaning pro?
When I first began housekeeping over a decade ago, I don’t mind admitting, I was as green as they come.
I’d assume I was getting my house sparkling clean when in fact, I was overlooking areas in plain view. That is how it works sometimes.
We clean the big things but forget about the little things staring us right in the face. It happens in almost any kitchen.
Whether you’re planning on having a small get together or a significant family event, don’t miss critical areas when cleaning your kitchen.
I’m going to share with you some of the trouble spots easily overlooked when cleaning the kitchen, and the clean kitchen tips to help you deal with these problem spots.
Here are the 11 clean kitchen tips to remember the next time you clean your kitchen:
1. The Outline
Baseboards. They’re a necessary evil, but they aren’t your friend. Let’s call it like it is. I lived in a home for approximately three years without baseboards.
We were remodeling a home debt free and had to wait until we had the funds. Now that we do have baseboards, all the dust swirling around when you walk and rush in and out, seem to stick to the baseboards.
They can become gross rather quickly. Yet, because they’re at our feet we don’t typically notice how gross they are until they’ve grown hair and are a flat embarrassment.
When cleaning your kitchen, don’t forget about the baseboards. You can clean them easily by sucking the dirt from them with the wand of your vacuum cleaner.
If you mop your floors by hand, give the baseboards a quick swipe with the cloth you’re mopping with to ensure all the dirt is removed.
You can also use a dryer sheet to swipe over the baseboards to attract any dirt and dust which may be clinging to them.
If you have children who like to help, this is a great job for them. Give them a damp or dry cloth and let them wipe down the baseboards.
In reality, unless you live in a huge house, cleaning baseboards doesn’t take long. It’s merely an area which easily gets overlooked.
2. Blinded by the Light
It’s amazing how much dirt can gather in the lights in our kitchen. They collect dust which flies around in the air and sometimes catches kitchen cooking fiascos.
They are easily overlooked because we don’t tend to pay them much attention unless we go to flip the switch and nothing happens.
When cleaning your kitchen, don’t forget to run a dry cloth over the light bulbs, light fixtures, and vacuum the cobwebs from them.
If you have a globe over your kitchen light, be sure to take it down on a monthly basis and either run it through the dishwasher or wash it by hand in warm soap and water.
Dry it thoroughly before putting it back in its place. It will give you better light in the kitchen and help your home to feel tidier too.
3. Curtain Call
Curtains are one of those items in a home which can make it feel most welcome and cozy. Yet, they hide the most dirt, and we don’t pay any attention until we move a curtain and it hits, “Oh my goodness! I haven’t cleaned these things in forever!”
Put a reminder on your phone for cleaning day, one time per month, remember to pull down the curtains over your kitchen window and run them through the washing machine.
Or if you’d prefer only to wash items on your specified wash day, make a reminder for yourself to remember to wash them once a month.
When they’ve been washed, dried, and the wrinkles have been removed, hang them back up and admire how gorgeous they still look after all the time they’ve spent hanging in your window.
4. Cabinets… Inside and Out
Cabinets can make or break your kitchen. Having enough cabinets means you have the necessary storage space.
Having old or worn out cabinets can make your home feel the same. Which is why it’s important to look after your cabinets every chance you get.
Don’t be afraid to go for open-shelving to have a fresh and inexpensive look. If you have nice cabinets which are beginning to look a little worn, add a fresh coat of paint for a new look.
But remember to clean your cabinets inside and out at least one time per month when cleaning your kitchen.
Cabinets catch many kitchen cooking fiascos too, and it’s easy to overlook. Be sure to wipe down the outside of your cabinets, organize the inside of your cabinets, and wipe down the inside and undercarriage of your cupboards too.
If you have open shelving, remove items from your shelving approximately one time per month to remove any unwanted dust and dirt which may be hiding.
When we had open cabinets at our previous home, they looked amazing, but I wasn’t prepared for the dust they’d catch. Be on the lookout for this.
5. Move the Big Stuff
One task I’ve hated for years when deep cleaning my kitchen is moving the appliances. Let’s all be honest for a moment.
We all drop things behind, under, or beside our stove, and don’t instantly pick them up. The same goes for our refrigerator.
Let’s go one step further and have a moment of silence for our neglected dishwasher which does a ton of work for us without getting much love in return.
Well, every six months, it’s a good idea to pull out your appliances and clean what’s underneath them, behind them, and on the sides of them.
I have kids who make messes and as hard as they try, don’t necessarily do a spit-shine job of cleaning said messes up. I know how nasty a job cleaning these appliances on the outside can be, but it must be done.
If your dishwasher is a built-in, don’t worry about pulling it out of place. But do give the outside of the dishwasher a solid scrub down.
In the long run, you’re helping to prolong the look and lifespan of these appliances and also helping to keep bugs and rodents away too. Put on some cleaning gloves and show those appliances the love they deserve a couple of times in a year.
6. Inside the Big Stuff
Scrubbing your appliances down from the outside is an important job to do, but cleaning them on the inside should be anywhere from a weekly to a monthly task.
How frequently they need to be cleaned on the inside will depend upon their use and the size of your family.
The more people you have getting into the refrigerator, the more messes will most likely occur.
Also, the more frequently you use your refrigerator, the more you will want to go through and make sure foods aren’t being forgotten about.
In my household, my refrigerator must be cleaned out and scrubbed down inside on a weekly basis. The same goes for my microwave.
However, cleaning my dishwasher and the inside of my stove happens on a monthly basis.
Again, how frequently these items will be cleaned will depend upon your situation but be sure not to forget about them. It’s easy to do, and the next thing you know, you open your stove or fridge and wonder why it resembles a science experiment.
7. Oscar, the Grouch
Your trash can is probably one of the most neglected items in your kitchen. We only give it attention when the trash bag is overflowing, or it looks too gross even to touch.
Which is why you should make a note to be sure it gets cleaned on a monthly or bi-monthly basis. Food gets dropped in the bottom of the can, the outside gets nasty, and it becomes an area which can instantly draw roaches and other bugs to your kitchen.
Don’t let this happen to you. Instead, take the time every four to eight weeks and take the trash can outside.
Place dish liquid in the can, spray it out with a water hose and allow it to dry. When it’s fully dry, bring it back into your home, add a fresh bag, and it’s ready to go for another few months.
8. The Dark and Forgotten Spaces
Last night, my husband and I finally were able to sit down after a long, hard day. I got up to head into the kitchen only to find our dishwasher had malfunctioned, and we had sprung a leak.
Water was running all over the floor. My husband went to work on trying to find the leak, and he said, “It seems like there’s always one more thing.”
I grinned in agreement, but what he was referencing was the leak. What I was seeing was the amount of dirt which had made its way into the deep dark crevices of our kitchen.
They usually go unnoticed, but when you begin pulling the dishwasher away from the wall, they can’t go unnoticed any longer.
While he worked on the dishwasher, I began mopping up the water, and a small victory for me was that I took a moment to clean some of those deep dark forgotten corners in my kitchen.
Try to take a moment one time per month and look for the hidden and forgotten corners and crevices in your kitchen.
It’ll amaze you at how much crud they can collect and still stay in stealth mode.
9. Dusting Isn’t Only for the Living Room
A great deal of the dust which fills our homes is our old shedded skin cells floating around our house. If this doesn’t encourage you to dust, I’m not sure what will.
Think about how much time you spend in your kitchen. In our home, it’s a gathering spot. Therefore, there’s a great deal of dust.
Though I wipe down the counters, sink, and sweep the floors every day, I don’t usually take much time to dust my kitchen truly.
I’m changing this because I’ve begun to notice areas in the kitchen which seem to be dust magnets. If you have canisters, coffee pots, the top of your cabinets, shelving, décor on the walls, or any other small items which sit around, take a look.
You’ll be amazed at how much dust they collect by merely hanging out in your kitchen.
10. Climbing the Walls
Walls are easily forgotten. Before I had children, I rarely paid my walls any attention.
Now, when I walk by, it’s not uncommon to see dirty little footprints because my youngest put his feet on the wall after playing outside and collapsed on the floor to play with toy cars.
The kitchen is no exception to this rule. People rub up against the walls in your kitchen when carrying something through.
Grease pops up on the walls when cooking or on your backsplash. For all of these reasons, take the time once per month to find any dirty spots on your walls or backsplashes.
This will help your home maintain a fresh look much longer because it’ll help preserve the paint from being tainted by dirt and grease.
11. Walking into Spider Webs
The final forgotten task when cleaning your kitchen is checking for spider webs. We all have them. If you don’t use your broom or vacuum to knock spider webs out of your ceiling, from around your lights, from under your cabinets, or behind doors, they’re there.
I get in a hurry sometimes when cleaning and will totally forget this step. A few weeks go by, and I’ll look up and see the invasion of webs on my ceiling.
Take the few extra minutes to knock these webs loose. It’ll make you feel better knowing one of the webs won’t randomly break loose while you’re cooking and end up in tonight’s supper.
These are 11 different places to look at in your kitchen when cleaning to make sure your kitchen is a little cleaner.
It’s easy to forget these basic places when you’re in a hurry. Hopefully, these clean kitchen tips will help you to add them to your regular cleaning routine.