The kitchen is the busiest room in most homes. Breakfasts, packed lunches, cups of tea, dinner and the shopping all pass through it, so worktops get marked, the sink fills, cupboard doors collect fingerprints and crumbs end up on the floor within hours of a clean.
The answer is little and often. These kitchen cleaning tips for Woking homes are grouped by how often each job needs doing, so a few minutes a day keeps the room in good order until the next proper clean.
Every day
Wipe worktops after cooking. Use a cloth wrung out in hot soapy water while splashes and crumbs are fresh. Five seconds now saves scraping dried-on food later, and clear worktops make the whole room look tidier at once.
Rinse the sink and clear the plughole. Even if the washing-up waits until later, rinsing out the bowl and lifting food scraps from the plughole stops smells and marks around the taps. Drying the sink and taps with a tea towel at the end of the day keeps water spots away.
Sweep up crumbs. A quick sweep or a run with a handheld vacuum around the table and the cooker stops crumbs being walked into the rest of the house.
Empty the bin before it is full. A bin that is overflowing makes a clean kitchen feel messy, and it smells sooner. Take it out once it is about three-quarters full.
Every week
Handles and buttons. Fridge, oven and cupboard handles, the microwave keypad and the kettle are touched dozens of times a day. Give them a wipe with a damp cloth and dry them off.
Cupboard doors. Run a cloth over the fronts, paying attention to the edges around the handles where fingerprints and splashes collect.
The microwave. Heat a bowl of water with a slice of lemon for a couple of minutes, leave the door shut for a few more, then wipe out the softened splashes.
The hob and splashback. Grease near the cooker is far easier to shift while it is thin. Wipe the hob and the tiles behind it with warm soapy water, rinse the cloth and wipe again, then dry with a clean cloth to avoid smears.
The floor. Vacuum or sweep properly, including under the edges of the units, then mop.
Every month
The extractor filter. Check the hood’s instructions first. Many metal grease filters lift out and can be soaked in hot soapy water or put through the dishwasher, but some hoods use disposable filters that need replacing instead.
Inside the fridge. Take everything out a shelf at a time, throw away anything past its date, wipe the shelves and drawers and dry them before putting food back.
Small appliances. Empty the toaster crumb tray, descale the kettle if your water leaves white deposits, and wipe down the outside of the coffee machine and blender.
The bin itself. Wash it out with hot soapy water and let it dry fully before putting in a new bag.
Food hygiene basics
A few habits matter more than any cleaning product. Keep one cloth for the kitchen only, and wash cloths and tea towels often rather than using them for days. Wipe the worktop after raw meat has been on it, and keep a separate chopping board for raw meat. Wash your hands before preparing food and after handling anything raw.
Jobs for a deeper clean
Some kitchen jobs take longer than any daily routine allows: behind and under the appliances, the tops of wall cupboards, built-up grease on unit doors, the inside of the oven and the fridge. Booking regular domestic cleaning keeps the everyday surfaces in hand, while cleaning inside the fridge is an extra and oven cleaning is a separate service. For a kitchen that needs a full reset, a one-off deep clean gets it back to a point where these habits can take over.
The bathroom is the other room that benefits most from little and often, and our bathroom cleaning tips follow the same idea.
For help with the deeper kitchen jobs, call 01483 773531 to arrange a clean, or use the contact page to ask a question.