Kitchen Maintenance

[charla]

So I recently deep cleaned my kitchen and I want to know how to keep it reasonably that way. What are your tips and tricks to maintaining your kitchen?

[ECingMama]

It's work. No other way around it. My best tip is to have your hubby do it. Lol

[charla]

Originally Posted by ECingMama

It's work. No other way around it. My best tip is to have your hubby do it. Lol

So not going to happen. I so appreciate dh for all he does, but kitchen chores are not going to be one of them.

[Singingmom]

Same here, it's on me. The kids all used to help after dinner, but now the older ones go in different directions on different schedules. My dd helps and I should have her help more. I get into such a rhythm that I don't really need her, but she needs to help.

Daily upkeep for me includes sink, counters, stove top, and floor. I don't do things like cleaning drawers and fridge shelves until I notice they need attention. Scheduled attention to my fridge shelves would probably be a good idea.

[RiverRock]

One thing I like to do is to quickly clean out the fridge before going grocery shopping. This way there is room for the groceries, and the fridge doesn't become overwhelmingly cluttered with rotting food. Also, it helps me finalize my shopping list when I can see what I have.

I try to wipe counters and the stovetop daily. I'll wash dishes daily (it doesn't always happen after dinner, but that's the goal) and delegate the dishwasher unloading.

[2sunshines]

We have a dishwasher (thankfully!) so all dirty dishes get loaded in there immediately after meals or snacks. I wipe down the counters, sink and table after every meal. Floors get vacuumed daily (but that's a child assigned chore).

For me, I'm a morning person and am always up before everyone else so I always start the day with a clean kitchen. It's the first thing I do in the morning while my coffee is brewing.

Some people do this same method every night before bed. Make sure their kitchen is clean then. Whatever fits with your schedule better.

[BestLaidPlans]

If you’re meaning deep cleaning like washing cabinet faces, washing down fridge shelves, organizing cabinets, etc, then I have a set day of the week each week that I tackle those sorts of things as I see they need them. I either do it myself or give the job to one of the kids. I can’t fit in that type of cleaning any other way.

[charla]

In an ideal world I'd love to keep cabinet faces, fridge shelves, cabinet shelves,etc. spotlessly clean. I know I don't have the energy for that kind of cleaning very often though. I'm looking for tips on how to relatively maintain the deep clean once I've gotten it there.



So for those of you who mentioned stove, floor, sink, are you scrubbing, wiping, disinfecting, mopping, sweeping daily?

[RiverRock]

Originally Posted by charla

So for those of you who mentioned stove, floor, sink, are you scrubbing, wiping, disinfecting, mopping, sweeping daily?

We have well water and I cook a lot from scratch. Because my water doesn't have any chlorine in it I keep a spray bottle of Method all-purpose cleaner handy to use on counters as needed. I might hand wash dishes one-two times a day so I use that soapy water to wipe the stove top and counters. The fridge handles are wiped daily.

A full cabinet wipe, and the fronts of the appliances are done with soapy water weekly. It isn't a scheduled day, but I know it happens this often. My sinks are sanitized with Comet at least weekly. If I've made chicken or seafood they might get sanitized right after the food prep (or the next day ) before using the sink for food prep again. Again, not scheduled but as needed and regularly needed.

My floors are vacuumed and washed weekly. I pay someone to help me with this. About once a year I scrub the grout between the tiles, and maybe once a month or two I pass the steam cleaner over the "clean" floors if I start to notice a build-up of soapy grime. Some spot sweeping happens in between washings. I have a Roomba that I will also occasionally turn on to vacuum the kitchen floors.

[Singingmom]

So for those of you who mentioned stove, floor, sink, are you scrubbing, wiping, disinfecting, mopping, sweeping daily?

I either use my soapy dish sponge or spray and wipe counters and stove at the end of the day or after baking or a mid-day mess. (I put that sponge on the top rack of the dishwasher every few days). I only move things like the toaster, utensil crock, coffee pot maybe once a week to clean the entire counter. I use my dish sponge to scrub the sink most evenings, but sometimes I just rinse with the sprayer as I finish the dishes. I sweep most days (or have my dd sweep) but only mop once every few weeks, honestly. I spot clean the floor any time I notice a splat. My kitchen is tiny, and the benefit is that I have very little to keep clean! (None of that is meant as the way anything should be done, it's just a peek into my kitchen for better or worse )

[knitlove]

Kitchen clean up happens in the morning at my house. Every morning we wipe down the cabnets, counters ( well except for the section that allways ends up under piles of stuff ), stove top, stove inside, sink, dishwasher front and refigerator. Once a week I try to move the toaster oven and bread machine and wipe under them.

I am trying to add wiping down the fridge inside on morning before groshries shopping.

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[mummy2boys]

I think I've got to get into the habit of doing it daily as it seems to work better for me then (when I've done it in the past)

[sweetpeas]

I do dishes & counters daily. Lexie unloads the dishwasher (and puts away hand-washed dishes at the same time (I handwash bulky stuff, and leave it to drain on the counter above the dishwasher so it's all together). Stove top if something gets spilled on it, which works out to about once a week. Fridge doors if they bug me. I'm trying to get in the habit of wiping down the fridge doors & cleaning out the fridge weekly before grocery shopping. I have a kid sweep/mop once a week (we have 3 main areas on the main floor, all hard floors, so each kid sweeps/mops one of those spaces weekly and we rotate who does which) If I need to I sweep (or run the stick vac) more often, but with the kids being older, that's less of an issue, when kids were little the kitchen had to be swept daily).

Deeper cleaning, I have a monthly rotation. First week of the month is Kitchen. I have a list of kitchen deep cleaning chores, and how often I want to do them (monthly, every other month, quarterly, yearly) so based on what we're doing that week and what needs to be done, I'll choose one kitchen chore per kid, and one or two for me each month. Sometimes that means steam mopping the floors, sometimes it means wiping down cabinet doors, dusting the ceiling fan, cleaning the microwave, etc. . .

My house doesn't win any Martha Stewart awards, but it mostly keeps things to a level I can live with

[Soliloquy]

Minimize what you keep out.

I know many people would hate this but I love it. I have nothing decorative in my kitchen except for a few plants. It makes it so much easier to wipe the entire counter every single day.

I make sure the kitchen is completely clean before I go to bed. I don't like waking up to face yesterday's mess. Each night I wipe down all the counters and sweep. Then I run the dishwasher.

The inside of the fridge is my problem. Food for 7 people in one fridge means it's like Tetris in there.

[charla]

I have been able to maintain my kitchen pretty well over the last couple weeks. I appreciate all of your tips. Two things I can't seem to keep up with are the microwave and the floor. The rest is coming along fairly easily. And it is making such a difference in the way I feel to have a mostly clean kitchen. I don't think I realized how much it was weighing me down.