How To Do A Kitchen Cleaning For Best Results

This post is all about kitchen cleaning.

Do you ever feel that the kitchen is never clean no matter how hard you try? You’re not alone! Hopefully, this post will help you feel like you can tackle the kitchen because this is all about kitchen cleaning. 

The kitchen is by far the most used room in my house. Whenever we have friends and family over, we tend to congregate at the kitchen island. It’s also one of my favorite rooms in the house. Since it’s a high-traffic area AND a place where we make our best memories, keeping it as clean as possible is important. 

The post will discuss the different areas of kitchen cleaning so you can take on the task with ease.

Kitchen Cleaning Daily

Let’s be honest, as a working mom, keeping the house clean can be overwhelming, but we love our families and know that a clean space benefits everyone.

Since the kitchen is  the most used room in virtually any home, it’s important to focus on keeping the space clean daily.  Moreover, it’s a haven for bacteria growth.

Countertop Cleaning

The countertop alone is considered a place where more bacteria grows than a toilet seat (I apologize for that gross fact, but it appears to be true). From food to dirty dishes, we set everything down on the countertop. While it can look clean, it still harbors many invisible bacteria.

To maintain good hygiene for your family, disinfect it daily. 

Doors and Switches

Don’t stop there. Being the high-traffic area that it is, the whole family is coming through. Take time to disinfect all handles and switches, including refrigerator doors, sink knobs, microwave handles, and light switches. 

Essentially, if it’s touched frequently, it should be wiped down.

To be honest, I don’t wipe handles daily, but I do it often.

Clean Kitchen Floors

Another daily task should be removing dirt from the floors. Before having children, I mopped almost daily because that’s what my mom always did. 

However, I stopped for two reasons: mopping daily is bad for hardwood floors, and I don’t have the time or energy after a full day of work and parenting.

But I do vacuum. I love my Shark vacuum stick! It makes cleaning the floors so easy! Honestly, on the weekends, I use it a few times a day because the kids and all of their friends come through the house, but it’s so easy that I don’t mind.

If you are someone who loves a clean house like I do, but you don’t want to vacuum at that insane rate, there are so many robot vacuums that can do the work for you!

Keep Your Sink Clean

The last thing to do daily is dishes. Whether it’s putting them from the sink to the dishwasher, washing them by hand, or emptying the dishwasher, leaving the sink clean (and disinfected) at the end of each day is a great goal to have.

To summarize, our daily kitchen cleaning tasks should include disinfecting countertops, cleaning the floors, and leaving your sink clean and dish-free.

It may sound like a lot, but it isn’t. It takes about ten minutes, and, trust me, you will love walking into a clean kitchen in the morning. 

*Side note- if you have trash that needs to go out, this should be an obvious addition to your list.

Weekly Kitchen Cleaning

Keeping the house tidy during the week makes it easier to focus on a deeper cleaning once a week. You won’t feel overwhelmed by what needs to get done!

Countertop Appliances

Start from top to bottom, grab your microfiber cloth and disinfectant, and wipe down all your small countertop appliances. 

Don’t forget to clean your microwave! 

If you have a microwave drawer, you cannot see the top of it. You need to get down on your knees and clean the top of the inside! It can get dirty with splatters, and, since we can’t see it, we often forget about it. 

Backsplash

Take the time to wipe down your backsplash. Pay close attention to the area near the stovetop.

Sanitize the Sink

Give your sink a good scrub and don’t forget your faucet and handles.

Replace sponges and dish brushes or run them through the dishwasher. Also, please consider a sponge designated only for plates. If you use a sponge to wipe down your countertop, don’t use the same sponge for plates that you use on countertops. 

Clean Large Appliances

Wipe down your refrigerator both inside and out. Also, if you didn’t wipe down your oven, dishwasher, and any other large appliance throughout the week, take the time to do so now.

Clean Floors

Lastly, mop your floors and give them time to dry without any kids or dogs running over them.

Semi-Monthly Kitchen Cleaning

Depending on how chaotic your life is, this may or may not happen monthly. With that said, don’t let too much time go by before doing all that will be discussed in this section. I promise it’s worth it to maintain this space.

Clean the Cabinets

Clean all cabinet doors and drawers. Wipe down the fronts, and, take the time to remove everything in the cabinets and wipe down the inside. This is the perfect time to also go through your food and discard anything that is expired.

Spend time cleaning any glass cabinets, windows, or glass doors. 

Sanitize the Trash Bins

Your trash and recycling bins need to be cleaned and sanitized as well frequently. This is especially true if you have kids. I don’t know why, but they never seem to make it into the trash bin without making a mess!

Don't Neglect the Accessories

Do you have any throw rugs in your kitchen? Throw them in the laundry so they can be sparkling.

Clean your lighting fixtures! Your lighting fixtures can get greasy and dusting in the kitchen, so take the time to clean them. 

Things that Need to Be Cleaned Twice a Year (at least)

If you have an exhaust over your range, give that a good cleaning. I clean the filter in my exhaust every few months. It lets ME know when it’s time because it can’t hold any more grease.

Your oven needs to be cleaned. There are tons of videos of people taking apart their ovens or using cleaners to make them sparkle. 

Be sure that your oven is supposed to have this done. If you have a self-cleaning oven, you can damage it by adding these chemicals, so make sure to look at your manual.

Clean your dishwasher. When my dishwasher doesn’t clean the dishes the way it should, I know it’s time to clean its filter and disinfect the inside of the dishwasher. There are videos of how to clean a dishwasher on YouTube, like this one here.

Clean your refrigerator. Recently, this task took half the time because my daughter helped me. We both took everything out of the fridge and then started removing all of the shelves. 

While I was at the sink cleaning them with soap and water, she went through everything to check expirations and wipe down any sticky bottles. 

Then, we put beach towels down and let the cleaned shelves and drawers dry while we wiped down the inside of the refrigerator.

 We wiped dry the shelves and drawers as we put them in. Then we reorganized the fridge. I kept opening it, so I could stare at how lovely it looked.

Kitchen Cleaning Hacks

• The first is to never let it get out of hand. By spending ten minutes at the end of the day tidying up, you will always be ahead of the game.
• Don’t allow too much clutter to fill up your countertops. The visual chaos will give the appearance that your kitchen isn’t clean. 
• If you have tons of cabinets, do a section of deep cleaning at a time. For example, when taking all of the stuff out of my cabinets, I only do one area a week. This makes it much less overwhelming.
• Get the family involved! My sister gives her kids a few dollars a cabinet or drawer. To her, it’s worth it to have the kids do the cleaning. Plus, the kids love it because they earn money. My kids love to help, too. That makes the task less onerous for one person.
• Use the proper products for the surface. You may need a specific spray if you have stone countertops. 

Cleaning the most used room in the house should be a priority! That way you can keep making memories with your family.

If you have any DIY cleaning tips, I’d love to hear about them!

This post was all about kitchen cleaning.