The kitchen is often the hardest-working room in the house, not to mention it’s the heart of the home. This means it requires the most care and attention when it comes to cleaning, disinfecting, and sanitizing. We’ve asked Sarah McAllister and the team at GoCleanCo., a wildly popular Instagram account and cleaning education site, to break down how often to clean each surface in our cook space and how to do so properly to ensure a safe, sparkling kitchen.
How To Clean Kitchen Surfaces
We rely on our kitchens to be clean spaces, no matter whether we cook elaborate meals every night or plate our favorite takeout. Some surfaces in the kitchen are used multiple times a day, and they need to be cleaned often. Others can go a bit longer between wipe-downs. Here’s how often the various surfaces in your kitchen need attention.
Fridge
The GoCleanCo. team advises cleaning the exterior of your fridge at least weekly, but it may require a daily refresh if you have dogs and children. The good news is, you can simply clean the exterior with a warm cloth and dish soap.
Stainless steel fridges will also benefit from a material-specific cleaning spray (the team likes Weiman), and you’ll need to wipe in the direction of the grain of the steel to avoid streaks.
When it comes to the interior surfaces of your fridge, the team says you can be a bit more lax. The entire inside of the fridge should receive a monthly wipe down, while a more thorough deep clean should take place twice a year where the drawers and shelves are removed to get all the nooks and crannies.
“Make sure you let the shelving come to room temperature before wiping them down with warm water, as a drastic temperature change can cause the glass to shatter,” says CEO and founder Sarah McAllister. “Use hot water and bleach to disinfect or dish soap and hot water to clean the shelves during a deep clean.”
Freezer
Depending on what’s in your freezer, it likely just needs a twice-yearly clean. This needs to be a bit premeditated, so the team advises letting the freezer thaw out before wiping it out well with hot water and bleach. However, you may need a bit more effort if you have some long-lost items hiding in the back.
“If you have a smelly deep freezer where meat has gone bad, you can plug it in and fill it with crumbled newspapers once you’ve cleaned it out well,” says McAllister. “Leave it for 24 to 48 hours and the newspaper will absorb any odors.”
Stovetop
Especially if you’re an avid home cook, the stovetop could benefit from routine cleaning at the end of each day. The GoCleanCo. team suggests wiping it down with Dawn Power Wash and a microfiber cloth. If you need a bit more heft due to burnt-on spots, try Easy Off and an S.O.S. steel wool pad, rinse, and use Windex to polish the surface for sparkle and shine.
Wipe down the oven front weekly, just as you would your refrigerator, with a damp cloth and dish soap or stainless steel cleaning spray for the stainless parts.
Microwave
Depending on how often your household uses your microwave, the inside should be cleaned at least once a week with dish soap and hot water on a microfiber cloth. McAllister says that microwaving a bowl filled with vinegar for a minute will help dislodge stuck-on food and deodorize your microwave, so all you’ll have to do is wipe up the loosened grime with a cloth.
Dishwasher
Yep, the dishwasher needs cleaning, too. You can follow the same rules for the exterior of the fridge if your dishwasher is stainless steel, while most other materials will just need a bit of dish soap and hot water on a microfiber cloth, plus a few sprays of Windex to polish.
The GoCleanCo. team recommends cleaning your dishwasher’s filter weekly with a scrub brush and hot water. McAllister says that you can remove hard water buildup by soaking the filter in a bowl filled with vinegar. The interior just needs monthly maintenance, and you can simply pour a cup of bleach into the bottom of the appliance and run a long “hot” or “sanitize” cycle to get it in prime condition again.
Sink
“All sink materials should first be cleaned with dish soap and a scrub brush, then rinsed with hot water,” says McAllister. She advises giving your sink a weekly clean.
If you have a stainless steel sink, use Bar Keepers Friend with a paper towel to buff out scratches or watermarks, then polish with Weiman. Porcelain sinks will also benefit from Bar Keepers Friend but will require a scrub brush to ensure all the grime is dislodged. It then needs to be rinsed well and polished with Windex or a similar product. Silgranit sinks can be cleaned with a mixture of dish soap and vinegar, which will need to sit for at least an hour if there are any hard water deposits before being rinsed and dried. Bonus points if you buff it with olive oil to give it a brilliant shine.
Countertops
Due to countertops being highly trafficked areas in your kitchen, they need to be wiped down with water each day and given a deeper cleaning at least once a week. Laminate, quartz, and granite countertops can be cleaned with a mixture of liquid laundry detergent and hot water, and you can bring a bit of bleach into the rotation to disinfect or lift tough stains. Butcher block countertops need a 50-50 mix of hot water and bleach for cleaning, plus a material-specific oil to prevent the block from drying out. You’ll need to keep the bleach far away from any marble countertops, and they just require a mix of dish soap and hot water to get refreshed.
Additionally, it’s a good idea to clean the items on your countertops. Declutter by putting away items that collect there throughout the week, like mail, packages of food, keys, or extra dishes. Wipe down any small appliances (don’t forget underneath), bottles or storage containers, or decorations on your counters to remove dust or grease buildup every week.
Floors
“How often you clean your floors will depend on if you have pets and children—and how many,” says McAllister. “You may need to vacuum twice a day if you have big dogs, but on average it’s good to vacuum once a week.”
McAllister says it’s also important to mop the floors at least every other week and the team loves using a spin mop (O-Cedar is a favorite brand) to get all the nooks and crannies. A simple mixture of a teaspoon of liquid laundry detergent and a gallon of hot water will help to get those floors as good as new.
Garbage Can
This is one place in the kitchen that often gets overlooked when it comes to cleaning, but it needs freshening at least weekly. It does hold trash, after all. Take out the trash and empty any crumbs from inside the can. Use a disinfecting wipe to clean the inside and outside of the garbage can.
Cabinets
Cabinets can start to look dingy after a while, but a little soap and water go a long way to make them look their best again. Spruce them up every few months with a deep clean. It’s always a good idea to start at the top and work your way down as you clean, so dust the tops of your cabinets first. Then use a cloth dampened with warm soapy water to wipe down the front every week. Don’t forget to wipe the cracks in the detail of your doors. Wipe with a clean, dry cloth.
