The kitchen is the heart of a home. It’s where we gather with friends and family to share a meal or a cup of coffee, do the bulk of our cooking, and clean up after those meals and drinks. But it can also be the most chaotic room in your house. In this blog we will see some easy ways to make your kitchen mess-free.
Dirty dishes pile up by their sinks, food debris accumulates on countertops and floors, and dirty pans sit in sinks overnight instead of being washed immediately after dinner—and that’s when things are only moderately messy! Even cleaning up after meals can seem daunting when you’re short on time (or energy).
But there are small changes you can make to keep your kitchen running smoothly, so it stays clean all day long:
A Sparkling Sink
You can make your sink sparkle like a dream by following these steps:
- Clean it with a sponge and dish soap. After every use, wash the sink out with warm water and soap to remove food particles and any stuck-on residue.
- Use a strainer to collect waste. Keep a strainer in your sink at all times so that you can catch anything that falls down the drain (e.g., cooking oil) as soon as it happens instead of having to work around it later on when things get messy!
- Clean out clogged drains with a snake if needed! If you find yourself dealing with an unusually slow drain, try using an old metal coat hanger or another long-wire object to clean out the pipe—but only if this is something you feel comfortable doing on your own or have someone else do for you!
A Purged Refrigerator
Before you get your cleaning supplies out, make sure that there is nothing left in the refrigerator. If you don’t want to throw away food, put it in a cooler and take it out of the fridge. That will give you more room to work with.
Next, clean each shelf thoroughly with soap and water. You can use a scrub brush if necessary to remove any stuck-on food or other debris. Don’t forget to clean under the shelves as well!
Clean around all sides of the refrigerator coils with warm water and soap (again). Use an old toothbrush if necessary; be careful not to scratch them!
An Organized Cabinet
If you want to make your kitchen mess-free, you should start with the most obvious place: your cabinets. It’s easy to get into the habit of throwing everything in and letting it stay there until you need it again. This creates clutter, which leads to disorganization, which is a major source of “kitchen messes.”
You can avoid this by organizing your cabinet space so that frequently used items are at eye level and less frequently used ones are out of sight (or at least behind those more frequent ones). Using baskets or bins helps keep things tidy, too—be sure not to use too many! Otherwise, the whole point will be lost on you when it is time for cleanup.
Clean Dishes
It may be a good idea to clean your dishes as soon as you’re done eating, especially if you’re the only one in the kitchen.
If you want to get the most out of your dishwasher, don’t put dirty dishes in it. This will result in having to run two cycles—one for washing and one for drying—and it could also damage your machine over time.
Instead, try putting dishes away right after they are used so that they won’t pile up in the sink or on your countertop when they are ready to be washed again.
Proper Food Storage
Store food in airtight containers. The easiest way to avoid a kitchen mess is to keep your food in sealed containers until you use it. This will prevent any dust or crumbs from getting on other things and keep insects away.
Keep food in the fridge, freezer, pantry, cabinet, and refrigerator crisper bins in order to avoid cross-contamination between foods that don’t belong together (like raw meat touching cooked vegetables).
Conclusion
A mess-free kitchen is a beautiful thing. It might take some time to get there, but if you implement these five habits in your daily routine, you’ll be well on your way.
