How to Keep Your Kitchen Clean Effortlessly

It's the busiest room in your home—from your morning coffee to speedy dinner prep and that midnight snack, the kitchen is a bustling center of daily life. With lots of foot traffic and the effects of all that cooking (think smoke, grease, spills, and sticky fingerprints), keeping a spotless kitchen can be a challenge. Not a problem! Here are 10 easy tips for maintaining a sparkling clean kitchen.

1. Start with the Right Tools

Make your life easier by investing in a few clean kitchen essential products.

●     Sponges are a necessity, and microfiber cloths are the key to streak-free cleaning.

●     Buy a grease-attacking dish soap, as well as an all-purpose spray cleaner. Depending on the content of your kitchen, purchase cleaners geared specially to stainless steel, granite, quartz, tile or wood surfaces.

●     A broom, vacuum, or dry mop keeps your floors tidy. Use a wet mop for deep cleaning.

2. Consistently Wipe Down Your Countertops

Dish soap, water, and a sponge are your best friends for countertop cleaning, whether granite, quartz, or laminate. Avoid abrasive cleaners, which could result in unsightly scratches.

3. Soap and Water to the Rescue

Make a weekly wipe-down a part of your cleaning routine. Use an all-purpose spray cleaner or dish soap and water and a sponge on the cabinets, backsplash, microwave and stovetop. Pay attention to the handles, door edges, and crevices.

4. Sparkling Stainless Steel

Keep those trendy stainless-steel appliances sparkling with a specially dedicated stainless steel cleaner and polish. Use a microfiber cloth for a streak-free finish. Get after fingerprints daily with stainless steel wipes. Easy!

5. Attack the Refrigerator

Routinely wipe down the shelves with an all-purpose spray cleaner and a paper towel or sponge. Every so often, do a deep clean. Pull out all those jars and bottles and toss items past their expiration date (aging ranch dressing, we mean you!) Weed out produce past its prime and give the fruit and veggie drawers a thorough cleaning.

6. Keep It Sweet-Smelling

Kitchen odors are unavoidable. Stinky sink? Scrub with a paste of baking powder and water, then toss any smelly sponges or dishrags. Surprisingly, despite the constant washing cycles, your dishwasher needs a cleaning every now and then. Once a month, place a glass measuring cup filled with a cup of vinegar on the top rack and run one cycle with an empty dishwasher.

7. Don't Neglect the Oven

Attack baked-on spills ASAP. For a deep cleaning, your oven's self-cleaning feature makes it easy. First, wipe out any excess spillage with a wet sponge and be sure to remove any racks and trays and clean these in your sink with dish soap and water.

8. Shine Up the Small Appliances

Wipe down the toaster, coffee maker, stand mixer and any other countertop appliances with a spray cleaner. Remember to carefully empty the toaster's crumb tray.

9. Maintain the Microwave

For most of us, the microwave is the kitchen workhorse. Keep after all the splatters, spills and stains by wiping immediately. Remove the glass turntable and plastic ring and rinse in the sink. Loosen built-on gunk with a steam cleaning: simply microwave one cup of water for 3 to 5 minutes, wait a few minutes and then wipe clean.

10. Keep After the Floor

A daily sweep using a broom or dry duster will keep your kitchen floor free of dust and debris. For a once-weekly deep clean, mop with a product geared for your hardwood, tile, or vinyl flooring type.

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