As the heart of the home, your kitchen deserves tender loving care when cleaning. Give your kitchen a daily once-over and then a deep clean at least once per week. Plenty of commercial cleaning products are available as well as common household items you can use to keep your kitchen spotless and ready for the next family dinner.
Floors
The type of floor you have in your kitchen will dictate how you clean it. Use a vacuum without a beater bar for weekly cleanup and a good broom or dust mop for daily use. Any type of wet mop and commercial cleaning product is fine for tile and linoleum floors, but the World Floor Covering Association recommends a terrycloth mop and a professional wood floor-cleaning product for “finish-in-place” hardwood floors, but suggests that you check with your manufacturer for specific products to use on pre-finished hardwood floors.
Cabinets
Use a damp cloth or sponge to wipe out the interior of your kitchen’s cabinets, and add a touch of baking soda to help get up tough spills, like honey or syrup. For the cabinets’ exterior, all you need is a damp cloth or sponge, all-purpose cleaner and a dry lint-free cloth for vinyl, metal, laminate and painted cabinets. Mix water with lemon juice or vinegar to rid your cabinets of any greasy buildup. Furniture polish and a dry cloth works well on wood cabinets. Check with your manufacturer to see what type of wax you should use for an annual wood cabinet perk-up. Don’t forget the cabinet hardware. A commercial cleaning product or water mixed with vinegar and a dry cloth should do the trick.
Sink
Whether you have a porcelain or stainless steel sink, gather up a sponge and a cloth and one of several common household items to keep it clean. The “Reader’s Digest” magazine’s website recommends using baking soda to clean stainless steel sinks and flour to buff it to a perfect shine. Bleach works better on white porcelain sinks and full-strength white vinegar will make it like new. Borax works on both types of sinks to get rid of tough stains like rust. Use toothpaste and a dry cloth to clean chrome fixtures. If you have a garbage disposal, cut up a lemon and run it through to keep the disposal smelling like new.
Stove and Oven
If your oven is self-cleaning, have a soft brush on hand to brush out any ash residue after cleaning. Use a commercial oven cleaner, rubber gloves and a damp sponge for ovens without the self-cleaning feature. A commercial cleaning product and a dry cloth will keep the exterior clean, although a mixture of vinegar and water will help with any greasy buildup. If your stove has a ceramic top, use a razor blade or ceramic stove top cleaner to get rid of any burnt-on buildup.
