10 Kitchen Cleaning Tips for Beginners

The kitchen is one of the most used rooms in homes, so it's no surprise that it can also be one of the places that accumulates the most dirt, bacteria, and germs. Knowing how to clean your kitchen is essential to keep your home looking good, but it goes beyond appearances, as a dirty kitchen can also affect your health and that of your family. Fortunately, you don't need to be a cleaning expert to keep your kitchen sparkling clean, as kiwilimón shares the best tips and advice for cleaning this important room perfectly, even if you're a novice when it comes to cleaning. You can also read: How to get rid of the smell of a wet rag?Kitchen cleaning tips everyone should know 1. Keep your rags clean If you want your kitchen to be sparkling clean, you must first ensure that your rags are clean. Trying to clean your kitchen with dirty rags simply makes no sense because by wiping different surfaces, you will only spread the dirt and bacteria that have accumulated on the rags. Keeping your rags clean is very simple. Just wash them with water and soap, either by hand or in the washing machine, and let them dry well. For a deeper clean, you can soak them in a bucket with a mixture of hot water, vinegar, and 1 tablespoon of baking soda for 15 minutes and wash them normally, as suggested by the site Spend with Pennies. Remember that regularly washing your kitchen rags will help keep them free of bacteria and germs that can also cause unpleasant odors that easily cling to various surfaces.2. Clean pots and pans thoroughly Cleaning pots and pans is one of the most hated tasks by many, as it can be uncomfortable due to their size and sometimes complicated depending on the ingredients we've used to cook. But don't worry, kiwilimón shares the easiest and most effective way to clean your pots and pans. To make it easier to clean your pots and pans, it's best to clean them as soon as you're done using them while they're still warm. The cleaning site Pro Housekeepers recommends using hot water to remove any food residue stuck to your utensils. Note: this should only be done with utensils that are still warm to avoid thermal shock. After that, just wash them with a sponge or scrubber and a bit of dish soap.3. Get rid of grease on the stove Grease is that sticky layer of fat and dirt that can form on the stove and various kitchen utensils when not cleaned properly. No one likes having grease in their kitchen, and even less having to struggle to remove it. If you want to get rid of that annoying grease once and for all, the following cleaning tip will help you. A simple method to get rid of grease is to create a mixture of vinegar and baking soda, two natural and extremely effective cleaners for getting rid of fat. Spread the paste that forms with a scrubber over the entire surface of your stove and let it sit for 15 minutes. Scrub with a scrubber and rinse off the dirt with hot water. Your stove will look as good as new!4. Disinfect surfaces Cleaning your kitchen is the first step to ensuring food safety and preventing any accumulation of bacteria and germs that could affect the health of your loved ones. However, you can take an extra step to ensure that your kitchen is perfectly clean: disinfecting the surfaces. If you want to disinfect your kitchen surfaces, you must first ensure that they are free of dust or food residue. An infallible method is to make a mixture of bleach and water, but you can also use various disinfectant cleaners as long as you adhere to the manufacturer's instructions to ensure that the solution maintains its disinfecting power. Moisten a rag with the mixture and wipe it over all the surfaces you wish to disinfect. It is very important to dry the surfaces completely because bacteria and germs proliferate in humid environments. You can also read: How to remove Mexican food stains from the tablecloth5. Eliminate bad odors from the sink Without a doubt, a smelly sink is a nightmare because no matter how clean the rest of your kitchen is, that unpleasant odor can ruin everything. The good news is that eliminating the bad smell from the sink is possible, and here are two simple methods to end this problem. The first method, recommended by the cleaning site Cleanipedia, involves covering the sink, filling it with hot water, and pouring in half a cup of bleach. Let the mixture sit until the water cools, then uncover the sink using gloves. The bleach will eliminate all bacteria, thus getting rid of the bad odor. The second method involves mixing equal parts of vinegar and baking soda, waiting for the mixture to foam, and pouring it into the sink. Then, turn on the hot water and let it run for a moment. Wait an hour and turn on the cold water to remove any trace of dirt. Goodbye, bad odors!6. Clean stainless steel Your stainless steel surfaces may be completely clean, but if you don't clean them properly, they may end up with annoying marks. If this is a problem you face when cleaning the kitchen, here are some recommendations to avoid it. Your best allies for cleaning stainless steel surfaces will be microfiber cloths. Consumer Reports suggests soaking your cloth in a mixture of warm water and a mild detergent like dish soap, wiping it over the surface in question, re-wiping with the cloth, and drying well with another cloth or towel to avoid water marks. If there are still any marks, you can get rid of them by wiping with another slightly damp microfiber cloth with glass cleaner.7. Keep your glassware clean and shiny Over time, and no matter how much care is taken, glass cups and glasses tend to become dull. Fortunately, there are ways to restore their shine and enjoy the glassware as if it were new. All you need to do is follow these recommendations. One way to make your glass cups and glasses shinier than ever is to moisten a clean, soft cloth with vinegar and clean the glassware with it, as suggested by the portal Homify. This method is extremely effective for getting rid of hard water spots, which is one of the most common reasons glassware becomes dull. If you want to give special care to your glassware, you can prepare a bath of hot water, soap, and vinegar in your sink and soak your glasses and cups in the mixture. It is very important not to scrub them with a sponge but to use a microfiber cloth or paper towel to gently rub them. Rinse your glassware and dry each item with a microfiber cloth or paper towel. Your glasses and cups will shine!8. Keep the inside of your refrigerator clean The refrigerator is an essential appliance that deserves special attention when it comes to cleaning. Remember that you should not only clean your refrigerator on the outside but also ensure that it is clean on the inside. It's very easy! First, get rid of any food leftovers that are not in good condition or that you can no longer use for cooking, as suggested by the guide from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Then, empty the refrigerator completely and remove the shelves and any other removable items, wash them with hot water and soap, and dry them well. Continue cleaning the inside of the refrigerator with a cloth soaked in a mixture of hot water and soap, rinse, and dry well. To disinfect the inside of your refrigerator, wipe it down with another cloth soaked in a mixture of 1 tablespoon of bleach dissolved in 4 liters of water. Finally, put back the shelves and other items you removed at the beginning. Enjoy your clean refrigerator!9. Clean and disinfect wooden cutting boards Wooden cutting boards are ideal for chopping and cutting foods we will use in our recipes; however, due to the porous nature of the material they are made from, they can accumulate bacteria and germs over time that are harmful to health. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to know how to clean them properly, and here’s everything you need to know. To keep your wooden cutting boards clean and ready to use, it is necessary to wash them with hot water and soap after each use, as noted by Healthline. The next step is to remove excess water with paper towels and then let them air dry vertically, ensuring that both sides of the board receive airflow. If you want to disinfect your cutting boards, you should rub them with a lemon or your choice of disinfectant, let the substance act for up to 5 minutes, rinse with cold water, and let the board dry completely. With these steps, your wooden cutting boards will be clean and free of germs and bacteria.10. Change the dish spongeWhile this last tip is not precisely about cleaning, it will help you keep the rest of your kitchen in optimal condition. Dish sponges are very useful items, but the materials they're made of and the moisture they are exposed to make them the ideal place for the proliferation of bacteria, algae, protozoa, and viruses, as noted by The Healthy.If you don't want to cause cross-contamination when using your dish sponge - let's be honest, we also use them to clean other surfaces in the kitchen - then the best option is not to clean or disinfect it, but to change it every one to two weeks, as recommended by multiple specialized sites in gastronomy and cleaning, as various studies have shown that the proliferation of bacteria and germs occurs within this period. If you also notice that your sponge has an unpleasant odor or is falling apart, you don't need more proof to convince you to change it as soon as possible.