10 Kitchen Cleaning Hacks That Will Make Your Life Easier
So, it’s that time of the month when you’ve reluctantly refused all plans, just to spend some quality time with your kitchen. Unlike most quality time, however, this one might feel like more of a hassle.
If kitchen cleaning is a job you’d like to run away from, and not waste precious hours of your life doing, let us introduce you to some magical kitchen cleaning hacks that can speed up your cleaning so you can get back to binge-watching! The best part? You will have all the ingredients to create magic (for the most part), right in your kitchen!
1. Recipes for the Dishes:
Let’s be honest, we all have a common kitchen cleaning nightmare -- a filthy cookhouse with a pile of dirty dishes. It’s only fair to equip you with a technique that helps you get through the most difficult part faster, with much more ease and lesser grease!
Here are not one, but four hacks to help you get your dishes done faster:
Soak greasy, hollow utensils beforehand.
Use salt to get rid of burns on utensils.
Turn up the heat of the water to fight stubborn stains (while you’re at it, you may also turn up the heat of the kitchen as you groove to some awesome dance moves).
Use vinegar and say goodbye to water spots.
2. Wash the Washer:
For those of you who have a dishwasher doing the mundane job for you, it’s time to stash out and put on those gloves lying around unused! Dishwashing can be more stubborn than you think, so make sure you clean this hard-working machine once every month to avoid odours and choke-ups in the drainage due to the residues on the plates.
Here’s the 3-step tool-less hack to get a squeaky-clean dishwasher:
· Vinegar v/s Grease
Pour a cup of vinegar in the soap basked and run the washer once. The vinegar will fight off most of the grease for you, and the little that might remain will be softened enough to wipe off.
· Baking Soda v/s Dullness
To get back your dishwasher sparkle, sprinkle a layer of baking soda all over the racks and grills and run the machine once again through a wash cycle.
· Watch the Drain Hose Unclog
Here comes the fun part, a solution of vinegar and baking soda is generally used to clear your dishwasher’s drain hose. Since you would have already used them in the above steps, you simply have to make sure the drain is unclogged and free!
3. Sink the Stink (In the Sink):
Now that the dishes and dishwashers are done and dusted with, let’s move on to something we often overlook -- the sink that holds your dirty dishes for you and the faucet that helps you give a good rinse to them. You must have seen white scaly formations around your sink and faucets ruining the shine of your kitchenware.
· Know the Culprit in your Kitchen:
The water you use contains minerals like limescale and calcium that slowly get deposited on stainless steel over time. Try with all your might, but there are few solutions to completely ward of the salt build-up. We have one!
· Solution:
Lemon ice cubes! Make a simple mixture of lemon wedges, water, and add a couple of pinches of rock salt. Pour the mixture in an ice tray and set to freeze. Fill up your sink using a stopper and pop a lemon ice cube.
· Bonus:
While your rock salt will fight off the unwanted salt stains, your sink will be left smelling pleasantly fresh after drainage!
Thinking of renovating your bathroom? Read our article on Bathroom design ideas for a perfect bathroom makeover
4. Rock the Stove Top:
Not literally though. But we have a kitchen cleaning hack that can help you rock at the seemingly ‘impossible to clean by scrubbing’ stovetops. Being the dirtiest sections of the stove thanks to the layers and layers of gunk and grime, you might already be cringing before you get to the cleaning part.
No more! Here’s a kitchen cleaning hack to buy for! (You might want to buy some ammonia).
Use 1/4th cup ammonia to fill up a Ziploc bag and immerse the burner-top in it. It’s best if you let it sit overnight, however, an hour should be good enough as well. Gently wipe it off with a towel or a sponge, and that’s the end of the hack. As to the stove clean it with sponge and dish soap and voila! Your stove is as good as new.
5. Shoot up the Oven:
How can we forget the very machine that helps us make and bake our favourite sugary delights?
By now you may have figured the best stain fighters are available in your kitchen -- water, lemon, soap, and baking powder. However, the hack lies in the technique.
The Most Effective Oven Cleaning Technique:
Take a pot and fill it with a mixture of water and lemon and bring it to boil on a stove. Place it in the oven/ microwave and close the door to let it sit for 15-30 minutes. The vapours will do the job of loosening the grease and stains for you. To complete the cleaning, you will need a sponge and a pair of gloves to lightly scrub off the walls and the door.
As for the racks and grills, you need to first scrub them off using a solution of baking soda and water and then rinse them off in a bucket of water and soap.
6. Rinse the Refrigerator:
As daunting as they may seem, refrigerators need cleaning perhaps more than anything else in your kitchen. One straightforward reason is that you store your food in there and can allow absolutely no stains and spills to attract germs.
While there’s no escaping an elaborate cleaning process, here’s a kitchen cleaning hack that can help you save time: press and seal plastics. This one for those of us who spill while we clean and have to do it all over again. Seriously, we’ve all have enough of it, haven’t we?
Pro Tip: Always use a disinfectant and cleanser with neutral or no smell as your food will easily absorb the smell of a regular detergent or soap.
Our Best Pick: 2 tablespoons of baking soda mixed into lukewarm water.
You must remember to not use hot water on cold refrigerator surfaces. Baking soda is a great scrubber so you shouldn’t have any trouble getting rid of mulish stains on the surfaces.
7. Shelves & Cupboards TLC:
Like refrigerators, cupboards, and shelves in our kitchens are storage places for food. We just cannot afford to let them get dirty. Moreover, you need them smelling right, with the right moisture!
Follow our simple guide to get your cupboard cleaning right:
Clear out the shelves.
Use a damp cloth to clean the dust, make sure to get those cracks and nooks.
Use a multi-surface cleaner to get to the stains of spills.
Use a cloth to dry out the excess moisture of the surface.
Reorganize
Fragrance and Hygiene Hack:
Place little balls of camphor or squeeze a few drops of essential oils to have your cabinet smelling pleasant, fresh, and to ward off pests.
Looking for a re-decorating your living room? Here are our easy décor ideas to spruce up your living room.
8. Gunk Free Your Chimney:
Cleaning greasy chimney vents and filters, especially in all the places that you can’t see, can be a real pain. Let’s quickly wipe off your misconception with this easy chimney cleaning hack.
Get a pot, big enough to fit in at least more than half of the vents. Fill the pot with water and carry it to bubble. Add our favourite baking soda in amounts enough to make the water fizzy.
Next, you need to immerse the vents in the pot and let them sit there for 3-4 mins. In case your pot is not big enough to fit in the vent entirely, you can take turns dipping from both sides. Once you’re satisfied that the boiling baking soda has worked its way through the gunk, remove the vents from the water and use a sponge or a cloth to wipe off.
Do not forget to set a timer, you’d be surprised how much time you saved!
9. Finally, the Floors:
Easiest for the last, most of us (generally) don’t have tough stains to ward off on floors. These simple hacks should do it for you.
Porcelain Tile Flooring:
To get a squeaky-clean stain-free tiled-floor, try mopping it with a solution of 1/4th cup of vinegar, liquid soap, and warm water. Vinegar helps to keep water stains away.
Hardwood or Bamboo Flooring:
Get your hands on a pH neutral handwash and a microfibre cloth to make sure you don’t ruin the charm of your floor in the pretext of cleaning.
10. Multipurpose Kitchen Cleaning Hacks:
We’ve covered every component of your kitchen, but we have your back with a couple more DIY hacks that you might find interesting.
The shock of Coke:
When in doubt, turn to this coke shock. It’s perfect for tough burns on utensils and greater shine on surfaces. Warm-up any carbonated drink and watch it work its magic.
Cleaning Catch Up with Ketchup:
If you’re losing your sleep, over oil, or burn stains, here’s another alternative. Layer the surface with ketchup and let it work overnight while you catch up with your beauty sleep.
Who doesn't love photographing their self-made dishes in the kitchen after cleaning it? Read these tips for food photography that will give professional results.
As scary and time-consuming it may sound, there’s no better feeling than a thorough cleaning done right. And we help you in the process. Make your home feel more like home, and spend time, energy, and money doing what you love by following our simple guides and hacks that make cleaning faster, easier, and even fun for you!
Now, When you have gone through the list of 10 Kitchen Cleaning Hacks, When are you planning to use any of them? Also, tell us about any other Kitchen Cleaning hack or your most favourite one in the comment section below.
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