Keeping your kitchen clean can be a real bore, and difficult to stay on top of if you live in a multiple occupancy household, or are a messy cook! With these kitchen cleaning hacks however; you can make light work of your kitchen cleaning duties:
- Get some rest while your oven cleans itself!
The easiest way to get your oven sparkling clean again is to prepare a solution of baking soda and water, apply it and leave it overnight:
- Mix ½ cup of baking soda with a touch of water to form a paste
- Take out the oven racks
- Smear the paste over the interior of the oven, focusing on any particularly troublesome spots. Make sure not to cover the heating elements
- Go to bed!
- The next morning, wipe away the paste with a damp cloth
- Spray vinegar over the inside of the oven
- Use a soft, dry cloth to wipe it all down
- Always clean from top to bottom
While it can be tempting to start cleaning in a random fashion, you can soon lose track of what you’ve cleaned and what you haven’t, and it’s hard to stay organized. Instead, begin at the top of a room, work your way down and finish with the floors.
- Utilize your dishwasher
There are many kitchen items that would benefit from a cycle in the dishwasher, and you can even pop your range grates in for a deep cleanse.
- Freshen up your trash cans
Even if you always use a strong bag inside your trash can, it can be surprising how smelly and unhygienic the inside of the can gets, and the smell can quickly infiltrate your entire home. To clean out and freshen up your trash cans, fill them with hot water and soap or vinegar, and leave it to soak for up to an hour. Then, tip the mixture out and simply wipe it down with a cloth or paper towels. For additional, longer lasting freshness, you can pop a few cotton balls soaked in an essential oil of your choice into the bottom of the can before you put a new bag in.
- Give your chopping board a new lease of life
Your cutting board or butchers block may be harboring a whole host of nasty bacteria and could be looking pretty grubby, too. To clean it and freshen it up, try the following:
- Sprinkle coarse salt over the surface
- Take a lemon and squeeze it over the salt
- Then, rub the lemon over the board, flesh side down
- Leave it to dry before wiping away any excess salt
- Rub a thin layer of coconut oil into the board
- Leave it to absorb the oil for up to 15 minutes
- Rejuvenate your microwave
It can be all too easy to keep on putting food in the microwave and never take the time to clean it, but oftentimes, what’s lurking inside can be pretty gross and smelly! To help eliminate food spillages (or explosions!), try the following hack:
- Take a cut lemon and place both halves in a medium sized bowl of water
- Set the microwave going for 3 minutes on a high heat
- Leave it to stand for 5 minutes
- Wipe it down with a cloth or sponge
- Eliminate grease and dusty buildup
Over time, grease and oil can build up on any number of surfaces in the kitchen, and can become sticky and unsightly. As if this wasn’t bad enough, dust and other airborne debris then sticks to the grease and oil, and before you know it, you’ve got a big sticky, unsightly mess to clean. To get rid of this, try the following:
- Use a towel dampened with vegetable oil to wipe the affected area
- Do this as many times as needed before wiping off the excess oil
And our favorite hack has to be…hire a professional cleaner!
