4 Tips to a Cleaner Kitchen When Guests Are Coming Over
The kitchen - it's the centre of the home. It's where family gets together to spend dinner hours discussing their days. It's where entertaining guests happens. It's where gourmet meals are prepared. It's also the place where mounds of dishes are left to be done, food splatter needs to be wiped, and floors need to be mopped due to grease stains. To make sure a good time is had without any comments made about the unruly state of the kitchen, it's important to keep up with a few tasks.
Here are 4 tips to a cleaner, neater, more sanitized kitchen.
1. Clear off and wipe down the counters
The top priority of the kitchen ideally should be that it's the place to cook. So get rid of the mail, school homework and schedules, and those rarely used tools and place them in their appropriate spots. Grab your trash can, and start throwing all the little tidbits of food products or other unwanted edibles into the trash. Once the counter is clean, spray some all purpose cleaning solution, or simple white vinegar, all over the counter and wipe dry. Don't forget about the toaster, canisters or cookie jars. You'd be amazed at what a difference this simple step makes to the look and cleanliness of the kitchen.
2. Purge the refrigerator
Grab that same trash can you used to clear the countertops and proceed to the fridge. Get rid of all the leftovers that have been sitting there for days or even weeks, or the jarred products that expired months ago, and get rid of them. Many times it is these culprits that are responsible for that certain "smell" that may be coming from the kitchen, or at least the fridge. After you've gotten rid of these products, consider emptying out the rest of the fridge and wash out all the shelves and bins, or at least give them a good wipe-down. Make sure not to forget about those pesky splatters and fingerprints on the fridge door and handle too. Place an open box of baking soda to help keep odours to a minimum.
3. Think About the Sink
Rather than spend forever washing that pile of dishes by hand, throw them in the dishwasher and run a cycle so that you can clear it before guests show up. You're going to need your dishwasher cleared to make room for the new set of dishes that are in need of being washed after dinner. Run a sponge around the sink basin to clear it from leftover food and scum, and wipe off the faucet - then you're good to go!
4. Go Easy on the stove
If you're having guests over for dinner and you haven't had the chance to run the oven's self-cleaning cycle, don't worry about it. Now is not the time to be spending 4 long hours that's needed to run this cycle. Instead, just do some spot cleaning using a clean cloth sprayed with white vinegar to both tackle grease and odours too. Make sure to get rid of dead giveaways, such as grease on the oven handle, dried up spills on the stovetop, and splatter marks on the glass door. Just give it a wipe and you're good to go - until Saturday's clean-up!
Here are 4 tips to a cleaner, neater, more sanitized kitchen.
1. Clear off and wipe down the counters
The top priority of the kitchen ideally should be that it's the place to cook. So get rid of the mail, school homework and schedules, and those rarely used tools and place them in their appropriate spots. Grab your trash can, and start throwing all the little tidbits of food products or other unwanted edibles into the trash. Once the counter is clean, spray some all purpose cleaning solution, or simple white vinegar, all over the counter and wipe dry. Don't forget about the toaster, canisters or cookie jars. You'd be amazed at what a difference this simple step makes to the look and cleanliness of the kitchen.
2. Purge the refrigerator
Grab that same trash can you used to clear the countertops and proceed to the fridge. Get rid of all the leftovers that have been sitting there for days or even weeks, or the jarred products that expired months ago, and get rid of them. Many times it is these culprits that are responsible for that certain "smell" that may be coming from the kitchen, or at least the fridge. After you've gotten rid of these products, consider emptying out the rest of the fridge and wash out all the shelves and bins, or at least give them a good wipe-down. Make sure not to forget about those pesky splatters and fingerprints on the fridge door and handle too. Place an open box of baking soda to help keep odours to a minimum.
3. Think About the Sink
Rather than spend forever washing that pile of dishes by hand, throw them in the dishwasher and run a cycle so that you can clear it before guests show up. You're going to need your dishwasher cleared to make room for the new set of dishes that are in need of being washed after dinner. Run a sponge around the sink basin to clear it from leftover food and scum, and wipe off the faucet - then you're good to go!
4. Go Easy on the stove
If you're having guests over for dinner and you haven't had the chance to run the oven's self-cleaning cycle, don't worry about it. Now is not the time to be spending 4 long hours that's needed to run this cycle. Instead, just do some spot cleaning using a clean cloth sprayed with white vinegar to both tackle grease and odours too. Make sure to get rid of dead giveaways, such as grease on the oven handle, dried up spills on the stovetop, and splatter marks on the glass door. Just give it a wipe and you're good to go - until Saturday's clean-up!