The Fast and Easy Way to Clean Your Kitchen

The kitchen, the “heart” of the home, can be a tricky room to declutter because there is just so much stuff. It’s week two of our spring cleaning series, and we’re hitting the kitchen this week. A clean, well-organized kitchen can be a catalyst for healthy lifestyle changes — a healthy diet, quality time spent with family around the dining table, even stronger relationships as we cook together. The less cluttered and more organized your kitchen is, the easier and more pleasurable it will be to cook dinner every day (trust me, it’s true!)

In most homes, the kitchen has more stuff in it than any other room of the house. It’s crazy how much a kitchen contains: cookware, plates, cups, silverware, gadgets, appliances, kitchen tools, towels, cleaning supplies, holiday supplies…not to mention the canisters, boxes, bags, and bottles of foodstuffs. It’s amazing how much we can fit into one space. But how much of that do we really use? Have you ever looked around your kitchen and thought about what you really need?

Cabinets, drawers, and storage spaces

To start your kitchen clean-out, you’ll need to go through every storage spot in the space. Stay with me, it’s not as bad as it sounds. Go through each cabinet and drawer individually, pulling out all the items you don’t use regularly. Clear out tools, dishes, and gadgets you don’t use. With the exception of some seasonal items, seldom-used items contribute to clutter. Get rid of the excess appliances you don’t really need. Be honest with yourself about how often you really use that yogurt maker/popcorn popper/electric griddle.

Next, get rid of duplicates. Yes, it’s perfectly normal to have more than one cup, plate, bowl, etc. But you don’t need 20 coffee cups or four sets of dishes. Think about how many of each item you really need, then pick your favorites and donate the rest.

Also, be on the look-out for double-duty items. There’s no need to keep a specialty chip-and-dip tray when a tray and bowl will do. Always look for tools that can be used for more than one purpose. Before buying or keeping a specialty gadget, ask yourself, “can I accomplish the same thing with another tool I already have?”

Pull seasonal items out and store them in high cabinets or in another room. Think carefully about which items you really use during the holidays. In my house, the large roaster gets regular “special occasion” use, but the adorable reindeer plates and coffee mugs I had were boxed for years. They’re gone.

Once you’ve decluttered the excess, it’s time to organize your kitchen to make it easy and convenient to work in. Organize cabinets and drawers by the proximity of use — dishes near the dishwasher, pots, and pans next to the stove. The roaster goes on a high shelf while the crockpot goes in a prime position, easy to reach. Group like items together, with all the baking items in one cabinet, glasses and coffee mugs in another. Think about how you use your kitchen, and arrange items in the most logical positions for your lifestyle. 

Fridge, freezer, and pantry

A key habit for a useable, healthy kitchen is keeping the fridge, freezer, and pantry clean and well-stocked with the food you actually like to eat. It’s far too easy to let food go by the wayside: forgotten produce rots in the bottom crisper drawer, leftovers get pushed to the back of the shelf, seldom used condiments get left in the door shelves “just in case” we need them later. A healthy kitchen that’s fun to cook in needs to have only the good stuff in it, and it’s hard to find something healthy for dinner when there’s an assortment of mystery meat crowding the freezer.

I like to clean out the food each week before grocery shopping. I start with the fridge, then do the freezer and the pantry:

• Cleaning shelf-by-shelf, starting at the top, pull everything out, wipe down the shelf, then put back only the food and beverages that are still safe to eat and that you actually plan to consume before their expiration. Repeat the process for the second shelf, all the way to the bottom. I like to line the crisper drawers with paper towels to make them easier to clean. Pay close attention to expiration dates, and discard anything with an “off” smell, freezer burn, or mold growth.
• Organize food and condiments by category. Soups together, meats together, veggies together, and so on. If you like to meal plan, you might want to consider organizing meal items together so you can see at a glance that you have all the necessary ingredients.
• If you find food that’s still good but that you don’t plan to eat, set it aside for a donation to the local food pantry.
• Consider storing dry goods such as rice, flour, sugar, and other staples in air-tight clear containers. I use large glass jars with rubber seals for my staples. If you opt for plastic, buy containers free of Bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical used in many polycarbonate plastics that may migrate from containers to food (types 3 and 7 plastics may contain BPA).
• Corral small items together in bins, baskets, or clear boxes. An over-the-door shoe organizer with clear pockets works fabulously on standard pantry doors. Small items such as tea bags, drink packets, microwave popcorn, spices containers, oatmeal packets, and bags of beans can be organized easily.
• Keep your fridge and freezer clean by doing a maintenance clean-up once a week, removing old leftovers, wiping up spills with a warm cloth, and arranging older items toward the front to use them up faster. Do a quick sweep through the pantry to straighten the shelves and get rid of any stale or expired products.

Make it a shiny, clean kitchen

Now that you’ve gotten rid of all the extra stuff that was creating chaos in your kitchen, cleaning it should be a lot simpler. I’ll walk you through it in eight easy steps, starting at the top and working our way down.

1. If you’ve got dirty dishes lying around, gather them up and either load the dishwasher or soak them in a sink of hot soapy water.
2. If your upper cabinets are grimy, grab an all-purpose spray and a cleaning cloth and wipe off all the fronts. 
3. Working in sections, clear off everything from the counters and wipe them off with all-purpose cleaner and a clean cloth. Replace items one by one, wiping off each appliance as you return it. Consider which small appliances can live in a cabinet instead of on the counter — less stuff on the counter keeps the kitchen looking cleaner and gives you more workspace for food prep. 
4. Clean the microwave by placing a coffee cup of white vinegar in the microwave and heating it for about 2 minutes. When time’s up, pull the mug out and use a clean cloth to wipe out the microwave, dipping a bit of your cloth in the cup of vinegar when you need a little extra cleaning power (watch out, the vinegar is HOT!) Don’t dump out that vinegar just yet.
5. Now clean the top of the stove, using your all-purpose spray and a cloth. If you’ve got burned-on spots that stubbornly stick around, place a cloth or paper towel on the spot and pour some of that hot vinegar on it, letting it soak for a couple of minutes — the spot should wipe right off. If you have a flat ceramic cooktop, follow your manufacturer’s instructions for cleaning — you may need a specialty cleaner for your cooktop.
6. Grab your all-purpose spray and wipe off drawer fronts and the bottom cabinet doors.
7. Wash the dishes, either by hand or using the dishwasher.
8. Clean the floor — sweep it and then mop the floor. I like to add a few drops of lemon essential oil for extra degreasing power. You’re done!