Easy Ways To Keep Your Kitchen Clean

Which room in your house seems to get the messiest the fastest? The answer in my house – the kitchen. Do you wish you could keep your kitchen clean?

As a mom who struggles with a constant kitchen mess, here are some of the best kitchen cleaning tips I have learned. Obviously, this isn’t an exhaustive list but a few quick kitchen cleaning tips to get us started.

Never Ending Mess

It seems like my kitchen is a never-ending mess. Do you ever have this feeling? This is one of the cycles I get stuck in

• clean the kitchen to cook
• the kitchen is a mess from cooking
• clean the kitchen to cook again
• and over and over

Can you relate to this? Hopefully, it isn’t just me! Let me start by saying, I love my kids! My family is my main priority but if you have children, maybe you can also relate to this. In my house, every sip of water needs a new cup even if the last sip was 5 minutes ago. And yet, I want a clean kitchen. It always makes me less stressed to see that sparkling sink or the clutter free counter. As I challenge myself this year to have a cleaner, more organized home, this is one of my main areas to tackle.

Sparkling Sink

One of my goals is to have a clean sink every night before I go to bed. I find it much harder to start my day off right when I come down to a sink full of dishes. I have an immediate slouch of my shoulders as I try to get breakfast for the kids and make lunches, all while trying to avoid yesterday’s dishes. If you can do some continual cleaning throughout the day, it shouldn’t be a big cleaning task to have a sparkling sink. Most nights it will be a quick wipe down of the sink and should take a minute or less. Whether it’s a dishcloth or disposable wipes, find something that works for you and just start!

If your sink needs a little more than just a quick wipe, I love using Bar Keepers Friend. You can usually pick it up at your local grocery store or order it from Amazon. We have a white porcelain sink that is constantly getting marked up from pots and pans. Bar Keepers Friend is a lifesaver! A quick sprinkle and wipe and the sink is back to a clean, sparkling white. It looks so good, I struggle to put anything in the sink so I don’t mess it up!

Handy Kitchen Cleaning Products

I have already mentioned Bar Keepers Friend for cleaning the sink, but I also have great results with it for cleaning my stovetop. I have a glass stovetop and when something boils or spills over, it is a pain to clean. The food burns onto the stovetop and can be very difficult to clean. Someone recommended Bar Keepers Friend for this as well. Just wet the stovetop and sprinkle on some cleaner, let it sit for less than a minute and wipe off. Full disclosure – some stains will still need a lot of elbow grease, but most of the stains come off quickly.

I also use Mr. Clean Magic Erasers or other versions of that product. You can usually buy them at Walmart or Target or your local store or on Amazon. They work great for stains. Every time we have Chinese food, sweet and sour sauce somehow always makes it to the counter and leaves an orange mark. Wet the eraser, wring it out, wipe off and the sauce stain is gone! It also works great on the floor for scuff marks, however, it can take the sheen off so you may want to do a test area first. I have also used the Magic Eraser to remove baked-on grease from baking sheets.

(Side note for parents – this is not a kitchen tip, but it’s worth sharing. When my son was younger, he decided to draw one day with a permanent marker. Unfortunately, his canvas was a white door and some wood furniture. I used the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser to remove the marker stains on the furniture and door. Hopefully, your child has never been artistic like that and you have never had to deal with that. But, if you have had that issue, check out my results below. There are plenty of uses for the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser and  I’m sure you will come up with even more!)

Another product I love in my kitchen is my dish drying mats. You can get all different sizes and patterns to suit your needs and taste. Personally, I hand wash my knives, pots, pats, etc so I am constantly using these mats. I let my dishes air dry on these mats. The great part is that the dish drying mats are more absorbent and dry faster than a regular towel. They are very inexpensive and when they get dirty, I just throw them in the wash.

I also love my oven liner. It is made of non-stick material and you simply place it in the bottom of your oven (under the element). You may need to cut it to fit your oven perfectly. I love it because it is so easy to clean! When food spills over, instead of it burning on the bottom of your oven, the liner will catch everything. The best part is the ease of cleaning. Simply take it out of the oven and wash it off with warm water. Let it dry and put it back in the oven and you are done!

More Quick Kitchen Cleaning Tips

I personally use washable dishcloths and sponges for my hand wash dishes but at times I wonder about germs. It’s easy to throw the washable cloth in the wash but what about the sponge? A great way to sterilize your dishcloth or sponge is to wet it and while it’s wet, microwave for 2 minutes at full power.

A couple of things to know – be careful when removing the sponge from the microwave, it will be very hot. Also, don’t microwave any sponges or plastic scrubbers that contain steel or other metals. Obviously use common sense, if the sponge really stinks or is falling apart, it is probably time to just toss it and get a new one.

There is also a great side benefit of this cleaning trick. When you remove your sponge, you have already started cleaning your microwave. The steam will help soften and loosen any baked on grime so just grab a cloth and wipe. If you don’t need to zap your sponge but want to clean your microwave, try this quick microwave cleaning trick.

Mix equal parts of water and vinegar and place a wooden toothpick, popsicle stick, or something similar in with it. (The wooden object will help avoid the small chance of bubbles forming rapidly and causing an exploding liquid that is dangerously hot). Microwave for 5 minutes and then let it sit for a minute or two. It will be very hot, so handle with oven mitts. Grab a sponge or rag and wipe down. Voila! You should be done! In reality, it only takes a few minutes, since you can be doing something else while the microwave is doing its thing.

Natural Products

Although I personally don’t use these natural products, everywhere that I look Puracy products have great reviews. Their Natural All Purpose Cleaner is an Amazon’s Choice and it rates 4.5 out of 5 stars. They have different product lines including Household, Baby and Personal Care.

Not so hard…

I am hoping you read this and thought “that’s not so hard” and guess what? You’re right! These quick kitchen cleaning tips are just an easy start to get you going in the right direction. And again, you can’t finish if you don’t start.

If you want to follow a schedule to keep your entire house clean, check out my post How To Make Your Own House Cleaning Plan.

I would love to hear your thoughts or ideas below. If you have any questions, please leave them in the comment section and I will be happy to answer them.