They say the kitchen is the heart of the home; it should also be the heart of your spring cleaning. Because of the sheer amount of time spent in the kitchen, and the grease and dust from cooking and baking, you’d be surprised at the amount—and the places—that get dirty (really, really dirty). We’ll never forget the story of the couple that moved into a house and discovered a thick layer of grease covering the tops of the kitchen cabinets—even though the previous owner had only lived in the house for seven years. The result was days of cleaning to remove the sticky grease, and a couple of sore necks. Of course, cleaning the top of your kitchen cabinets shouldn’t be the only item on your spring cleaning kitchen checklist:
Give your appliances a good once-over, inside and out.
Your kitchen, coffee maker, refrigerator, microwave, toaster, stove, oven, pizza oven…clean every appliance in your kitchen. Unplug appliances such as the toaster and a pizza oven as you work for safety reasons. For larger appliances, wash down the inside and outside, under and around the sides and backs. If possible, wash the floors and walls around the appliances, and vacuum out any cobwebs or excess dust. Be careful not to damage any part of your appliance, such as wires, as you clean your appliances.
Look up at the light fixtures (and ceiling and top of appliances).
Don’t forget to do a thorough top-to-bottom cleaning. The rationale is this: if you start at the top and work down, dust can fall and get cleaned up as you work. Clean the top of your cabinets, fans, light fixtures, appliances, range hood, and anything else high up first. If you have décor items on top of your cabinets, dust or wash those items as well. For light fixtures, remove the covers and wash them down. Wipe down the outside of your range hood, and clean the grease filter(s).
Wash down the walls and back splash.
Your walls and back splash take the brunt of your cooking so make sure you take the same care when you clean it. Lightly wipe down your cabinets as well, to remove all the splatters and water spots.
Get all the snow and salt off the floor.
Whether you have wood, tile, or vinyl floors, give your floors a good clean. Weekly sweepings should take care of all the debris tracked in. A good, thorough spring cleaning can rid your floor of all the snow and salt that was tracked throughout the winter—though the exact deep clean for your floor depends on the kind of kitchen floor. Follow directions from your local flooring store for your wood floor, as sitting water can warp and damage your solid wood floor. If your tire floors have grout, don’t forget to scrub the grout and tiles.
Clean the windows.
Wash your windows, but try to avoid one of the most common mistakes of cleaning: washing your windows on a sunny day. It’s so tempting to wash those windows when the shining sun reveals the dog noses, fingerprints and streaks that you don’t normally see. Unfortunately, the sun is also the enemy as you wash windows, drying out your cleaner before you get the job done.
If you don’t have time to hit all the items—or any of the items—on your kitchen spring cleaning checklist, hire the experts to give your kitchen a thorough spring cleaning. A good cleaning service can get your kitchen clean—and give you more time to enjoy the spring weather.
