Cleaning out your Kitchen Cupboards

How often do you clean the inside of your kitchen cupboards? Probably not often enough. Cupboards in the kitchen do get dusty inside and the cupboard under the sink usually ends up a real mess. Then there are the kitchen drawers which seem to always get a collection of dust and other debris as well.

The great thing about cleaning kitchen cupboards and drawers is the articles you find which you forgot you had, as well as broken articles that should be thrown away.

If you have high sitting cupboards you will need a ladder to reach inside the back of the top shelves. Only ever use a ladder, standing on a chair or a table it is too dangerous. While you are up the ladder take the opportunity to clean the tops of the cupboards and doors. These will be greasy and sticky. You will find neat sugar soap will help get them clean.

To clean the insides of the cupboards use a diluted solution of one cap of sugar soap in half a bucket of hot water. Depending on the bench space you have, remove all the contents cupboard by cupboard, or shelf by shelf. Wipe over the shelves, back and sides then clean the doors inside and out. Do the initial wipe over with a sponge wrung out in the sugar soap solution, then dry off with a soft dry cloth. Drying the shelves means you can put the contents back straight away.

For hard to remove stains or marks especially in the cupboard under the sink, scrub them with a little cream cleanser. Remember to wipe-off the cleanser with a clean damp cloth and dry with a dry cloth.

While removing the contents from the cupboards, throw away anything that is broken as well as the empty or out-of-date items under the sink

Clean one drawer at a time. Remember to wipe over the runners and sides on which the drawers sit, they get extremely dusty. If you can remove the drawer you will find it easier to clean. Tip it upside down to shake out the dust and fluff. Wipe out the drawer with your sugar soap solution and clean the front. Dry all the surfaces with a dry cloth and then replace and refill the drawer.

In both the cupboards and the drawers make sure you get into the corners. Dust gets caught in the grooves. Sometimes a cloth around a knife blade run along the edge will get into that hard to reach area.

Cleaning out your cupboards actually kills two birds with one stone. You will not only have clean cupboards inside but outside as well, making your kitchen sparkle.

Dirt along the rubber of the refrigerator door

Hubby was home alone the other day and decided to clean up a few things around the house. He came to the articles sitting between the fridge and the wall and pulled them out. Not only were the articles dusty, but because they were sitting on the floor in the kitchen they were greasy. Hubby got to and gave every article a good wash in hot soapy water. Then he removed the articles sitting on top of the fridge.

It was during this action that hubby discovered a black coating over the rubber seal around the freezer door. How long it had been there we are not sure, but I regularly wipe around the freezer door seal so it was a surprise to both of us. Of course the top of the fridge was dusty and a little greasy so that area got a good wash with hot soapy water, but the rubber seal was a little more difficult.

The rubber seals for fridges and freezers need to be springy so the rubber is flush against the frame ensuring no leakage of air. To achieve this the rubber has folds and tucks, and these areas are prone to collecting dust and dirt. The rubber can be removed, but this is not the answer when it comes to cleaning. It would be great if the rubber inside the folds could be scrubbed out with a brush, but even an old toothbrush doesn’t quite do the job.

In the end hubby had to wipe down each section of the seal with a cloth rinsed in the hot soapy water, wrapped around his finger. As he pushed down into the grooves and along the folds it slowly lifted and removed the black. But as he explained to me later, it wasn’t an easy job; each section had to be rubbed over a couple of times, and in some case more than that. I might add that after cleaning the seals on the freezer hubby pulled out the fridge from its position and vacuumed and cleaned the surrounding floor.

When I came home he proudly showed me what he had achieved and then discussed where we should house the items that had previously been sitting down the side of the fridge. This of course required some sorting out of other cupboards but eventually space was found elsewhere and the articles gaining dust by the side of the fridge are no longer there.

The gap between the fridge and the wall has always been a great place for storage. Things like brooms fit in there well, and if used regularly don’t get as dusty as something only used on very rare occasions. But the seal surrounding the freezer and fridge doors do need to be cleaned, and on a fairly regular basis.

Kitchens can be hot greasy places which causes mold and other dirt to accumulate anywhere not often cleaned. So every couple of months take a hot soapy cloth and wipe over and around the seal on the freezer and fridge door. It will not only make it look better but help keep the seal supple and your freezer and fridge cold.

Cleaning Windows

The windows around the house were filthy. It was more noticeable when the sun shone through the glass and showed the dirt and grime on the outside. Each day I kept telling myself I must clean the windows.

Eventually it became too much and I realised I had to put aside a day, or morning, to make them clean. I chose a Monday.

Thankfully we have sliding windows in our home which makes it easier for cleaning the outside of the glass from inside the room. And as we have upstairs and downstairs it meant I could clean the outside glass of the upstairs rooms without having to climb a ladder.

Our windows have a fly screen slotted into the metal frame outside the sliding section of the window. Both the sliding section and the fly screen were removable so I did that before starting to clean the glass.

The sliding window when opened slightly was easily lifted up and out from the frame at the bottom and pulled out of the top section of the frame so the window could be placed on a towel on the floor. The fly screen had two little handles on the side nearest the wall which helped me lift up the screen out of the bottom slot and push outwards until the screen dropped down from the top slot. I was then able to twist the screen around and bring it inside the room.

I cleaned the fly screen by running the vacuum cleaner with the upholstery brush across and down the screen on both sides to remove the dust. With a damp cloth I wiped around the frame of the screen and removed all the dirt.

It was time to clean the windows themselves. I started on the outside. With a bucket half full of hot water with some washing up liquid and wearing rubber gloves, I rinsed a large sponge in the water. I had to sit on the window sill to reach the extremity of the window but thankfully I do have long arms so it wasn’t a problem. After washing down the window I used a rubber window wiper blade to scrape across the outside and remove all the water and dirt. I did have to go over the edges with a cloth to remove the excess water.

I cleaned the inside of the same window with the sponge and rubber blade making sure both sides were completely clean and streak free. The removable window I was able to wash and clean both sides while it sat on the towel.

When it came to replacing the screen, it wasn’t as easy. Having to reverse the procedure I slid the screen into the top slot of the outside window frame, and used the handles to pull the screen in towards me. The gap was precise and I found it difficult. Finally it slotted into place and slid down into the bottom slot.

The removable window was a lot easier. It easily lifted into the top slot and dropped down into the bottom. I was able to slide the window across and close it shut. Of course that was number one. I had three more rooms to go.

Once the windows were clean I felt quite elated. The glass looked fabulous and brightened each room. I know I should clean my windows more often than I do, but as it takes so long I am happy to leave it until I can’t stand the dirt any longer.