29 Best Kitchen Cleaning Tips Everyone Should Know

1. Clean As You Cook

The best way to keep your kitchen clean throughout the week is to clean as you cook instead of letting dishes and trash pile up. It may seem easier to leave a dish in the sink or a wrapper on your counter while you are cooking, but cleaning up as you cook will actually make your life a lot easier. 

While you are cooking, keep a trash can nearby to throw wrappers and food waste away. Also, keep your dishwasher empty while cooking so that you always have room to put away dirty dishes. Although it may seem like an inconvenience at the time, you will thank yourself for cleaning up as you cook as opposed to leaving a huge mess for yourself after dinner!

2. Microwave Your Sponge

Did you know that you can microwave your sponge? In fact, you absolutely need to be doing this! Sponges collect an insane amount of bacteria that you do not want to be cleaning your dishes with. Microwaving your sponge is one of the best kitchen cleaning tips that requires no effort at all! 

Soak your sponge in water and microwave it for 60-120 seconds. Let it sit inside the microwave to cool off before taking it back out. This will kill 99% of the germs on your sponge so that you can reuse it again and again.

3. Remove Wall Splatters With A Magic Eraser

Throughout the frequent use of your kitchen, you are guaranteed to collect food splatters on your walls and cabinets. If you have food stains on your walls that you can’t quite seem to get rid of with soap and water, try a Magic Eraser. These melamine sponges remove almost everything from walls and cabinets with just a few scrubs. This is a kitchen cleaning tip that every apartment/homeowner needs to be using!

Dawn Dish Soap also makes this spray that works on any surface to remove stains that I am currently loving!

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4. Replace Your Sponges

While microwaving your sponge does allow you to kill lingering germs on your old sponges, it is always a good idea to replace super old sponges every once in a while. These are two of the best sponges on the market that every homeowner needs in their kitchen!

5. Wipe Down Cabinet Shelves

You would be surprised just how dirty kitchen cabinets get. While they may not look dirty from a distance, when you start wiping your cabinets down you will find all kinds of food and cooking splatters on the surface. 

Go through and wipe all your kitchen cabinets down with a multi-purpose cleaner or soap and water to really make your kitchen sparkle!

6. Microwave A Lemon Mixture

To deep clean and sanitize your microwave, all you need are lemons and a bowl of water. Combine the mixture into a bowl and microwave for about 4 to 5 minutes (or enough time to collect steam). After the time has finished let the bowl sit in the microwave for a couple of minutes to allow the steam to disinfect, then just take out the bowl and wipe down the inside with a clean cloth! 

7. Spray With Vinegar

Vinegar has become a holy grail cleaning product in most households so it is no wonder it can be used to clean microwaves too. Spray down your microwave with vinegar to clean food splatters out of the inside of the microwave. 

This vinegar spray from Amazon works wonders on dirty surfaces and is scented with eucalyptus so it doesn’t have that strong vinegar smell we all know and hate.

8. Remove The Glass Plate And Wash

It is really easy for food to build up under the glass plate in your microwave, so make sure you remove it while cleaning! Take out the glass plate and let it soak in a sink full of soapy water while wiping down the rest of your microwave. Wash and dry the plate and place it back in your microwave when you are finished!

9. Check For Expired Food

This may seem like a no-brainer but be sure you are going through each and every food item in your fridge and checking expiration dates. Expired food takes up space in your fridge that you most likely need for new groceries! Removing these items will allow you to easily tell what groceries you need to buy or replace so that you don’t go to find an ingredient halfway through cooking only to realize it is expired.

10. Wipe Down Your Fridge Shelves

For a squeaky clean fridge, remove all the food in your fridge and wipe down the shelves. You would be shocked at how many crumbs and spills are covering your fridge shelves. You will be sure to notice a huge difference in the cleanliness of your fridge after you do this! It is seriously the best feeling ever to open your fridge to clean and organized shelves.

11. Don't Forget To Clean The Outside Of Your Fridge Too

Now that the inside of your fridge is clean, you need to wipe down the outside too! Weiman makes the absolute best stainless steel cleaners and wipes that are perfect for wiping down the outside of your fridge and the door handles.

12. Organize By Food Groups With Plastic Bins

Recreate this fridge organization idea:

Organizing your fridge will make finding what you need insanely simple. I found these plastic bins on Amazon and labeled them by food groups to keep drinks, produce, and meat organized. 

While I love the look of my organized fridge, I will warn you to be practical in the number of bins you buy. I found that the bins were super helpful to organize smaller food items but tended to get in the way when I had a lot of food to put away when grocery shopping. If you shop weekly and only buy what you need for that week you will probably love this fridge organization idea. If you tend to stock up it may not work out as well. Just use your best judgment on how many bins to buy!

13. Wipe Down The Exterior And Interior Of Your Dishwasher

Just because your dishwasher is cleaning your dishes doesn’t mean the dishwasher itself is clean! After loads of dishes, food can remain inside your dishwasher that decreases the effectiveness of the wash as well as creating a smell. Unload all dishes from your dishwasher and wipe down both the inside and outside.

14. Remove And Clean The Dishwasher Filter

Did you know that your dishwasher has a filter to can be removed? This filter can build up chunks of food inside of your dishwasher so make sure you remove it and wash it out!

15. Clean The Drain Trap

The drain trap is another part of your dishwasher that can build up leftover food from your dishes. If clogged, your dishwasher may start smelling or become less efficient in cleaning your dishes. If you are having either problem you definitely need to check your dishwasher’s drain trap!

16. Clean The Inside Of Your Oven

Ah, the oven… A kitchen appliance that is bound to build up hard to remove food spills. While soap and water won’t cut it when it comes to removing oven grime, the good news is that there are products made specifically for cleaning your oven! Purchase oven cleaning products from Amazon or Target and spray them inside your oven. Let the product soak in and wipe down all surfaces with a cloth.

17. Make Sure To Wipe Down The Inside And Outside Of The Oven Door

Don’t forget to wipe down the oven door as well as the inside! 

18. Remove Stove Grates And Clean

Have a gas stove range in your apartment or home? You are going to want to clean the grates. This gas range stove cleaner by Weiman is a top-rated choice that is guaranteed to safely clean all the hard-to-remove food from your stove.

19. Wipe Down Stove Surfaces

Make sure to wipe down all other stove surfaces! This includes under the grates too. This cleaner works for glass stovetops as well!

20. Clean Your Oven Range Hood

Use Weiman’s stainless steel wipes to remove food splatters and dust from your range hood.

21. Clean Your Disposal With Ice

Have you seen this viral TikTok kitchen cleaning tip? Fill your disposal with ice, salt, and lemon peels (optional but makes it smell better) to thoroughly clean the disposal blades. This will not only freshen up the smell of your sink but sharpen the blades to make your disposal work better!

You can also use a disposal cleaning packet like this one from Amazon (I use this all the time and I am obsessed!)

22. Wipe Down Your Sink With Baking Soda

Baking soda works perfectly to disinfect and remove water stains from stainless steel sinks. Sprinkle baking soda all over your sink and wash it away with white vinegar to reveal your sparkling clean and shiny sink.

23. Clean Faucets And Handles With Vinegar

For a truly germ-free kitchen, you need to be sure you are wiping down your kitchen faucet and handles! Wipe down sink handles with stainless steel wipes to remove all water residue and germs. 

You may not see how dirty your faucet is from a distance but look underneath and you will most likely find built-up dirt and mildew in your faucet. To clean this, fill a plastic bag with distilled white vinegar and place the bag over your kitchen faucet. Secure the bag with a rubber band or hair elastic and let it sit for 20-30 minutes. Remove the bag and scrub away any remaining buildup with a cleaning brush.

24. Organize Cleaning Products Under The Sink

Recreate this sink organization idea:

If you are anything like me, a disorganized cabinet is one of the worst things ever. Kitchen sinks usually need cleaning products stored underneath so efficiently store and make your products easy to find, organize the cabinet under your sink. You can buy spinning plastic organizers off of Amazon or The Container Store to make organizing and accessing your supplies much easier. Over-the-door cabinet organizers are also great for adding extra space to store frequently used items like dish soap or sponges. 

I also used a command hook and binder clip to hang my cleaning gloves so that I could easily find them when I needed to clean or do dishes!

25. Organize Your Drawers

Recreate this drawer organization idea:

We all have that one drawer in our kitchen that we call the “junk drawer” to throw things in when we won’t know where else to put them. If you don’t have this drawer then you are pretty much the most organized person ever.

While we will allow the one junk drawer, it really is a good idea to organize the rest of the drawers in your kitchen! Use plastic pins and knife separators to clean out and organize all your kitchen drawers.

26. Buy A Kitchen Utensil Holder For Your Counter

Not only can kitchen cleaning tips be functional, but they can also be stylish! Buy a sleek kitchen utensil organizer to put all your frequently used kitchen supplies in.

27. Organize Spices

Have you ever seen an organized spice cabinet? It is pretty much the most satisfying thing ever. To achieve this same level of satisfaction in your kitchen, all you will need to buy are spice racks and glass containers. Transfer all your spices from the mismatched plastic containers into sleek glass containers with labels.

Not only does this make your spice cabinet look extremely organized, but this will also make it much easier to see what spices you are running low on!

28. Consolidate Pantry Items And Organize

Recreate this pantry organization idea:

When it comes to kitchen cleaning tips, pantry organization is at the top of the list! An unorganized pantry may be easy to overlook when the door is shut but having all your dry goods organized will make your kitchen feel so much more put together.

Go through your pantry and throw out old and expired food items. Organize the remaining food with labeled baskets and plastic containers.

29. Organize With A Lazy Susan

One of the best kitchen cleaning tips to ensure your kitchen stays organized is to use a lazy Susan wherever you can! These are seriously game changers when it comes to kitchen organization. Use these in your pantry, under the sink, and in kitchen cabinets, or organize and easily access items.

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