The kitchen is the centre of the home for many families and certainly one of the busiest rooms in the domicile. That’s why you may be thinking about giving it a good spring clean.
Most of us will focus on making sure the cupboards and shelves are cleaned and sorted, but what about all those appliances? Here’s our quick guide on how to give your fridge, oven and dishwasher a good spring clean:
Kitchen Appliance Spring Cleaning
Defrost and Clean the Fridge
The fridge is probably one of the most used appliances in the kitchen and will definitely need a bit of a spring clean. Either run down the contents or find somewhere to store them (perhaps in a large cool bag) and then switch the appliance off.
All you need to clean the fridge is some warm soapy water and a nonabrasive sponge to wipe everything through. You don’t want to use harsh or abrasive chemicals as this is where food is going to be stored. A good antibacterial washing up liquid is a good choice. Take out the shelves and compartments and give them a good clean in the sink, be careful to wash excess suds away before draining. Whilst these are standing on the draining board, you are clear to wash down the inside of the fridge. Do not overly soak the area, and once all marks and debris are cleared and the fridge is once again clean, we recommend drying with an old soft towel. Tip: Old baby towels are ideal for these kinds of cleaning tasks.
Tackling the Dreaded Cooker
By far the biggest and most dreaded job in the kitchen is cleaning the oven. While the top may be in reasonably good order, the inside of the oven attracts baked on grease and dirt over time, which is why we should always make the effort to clean it on a regular basis.
There are several options here but most of them, unfortunately, depend heavily upon elbow grease. If you want a natural option then a solution of baking soda and vinegar works reasonably well. Shop bought oven cleaning solutions can be overly abrasive and challenging to use. One thing you might want to do at the same time is pull the oven out and clean behind and underneath it – you’ll be amazed how much dirt and grease can accrue in these areas. Be careful of the oven connections if you are doing this.
The trick to making this less of a challenging job in the future is to clean the inside of the oven at regular intervals rather than leaving it to accumulate months of grease. A quick wipe down with a wet cloth after cooking the Sunday lunch can make a big difference. Of course there is nothing wrong with calling in the professionals, a reputable local oven cleaning company will make light work of this challenging job.
Microwave Cleaning Hacks
The inside of the microwave can get splattered with all sorts of food that then hardens and builds up over time. No matter how diligent we are, the most often missed area is the roof of the oven. Take a look. To combat this simply fill a bowl with vinegar and baking soda and zap this in the microwave for 30 seconds at a time, we are not looking for an explosion here, so please be careful. You should then be able to wipe away any grease and food with a damp cloth, leaving your microwave smelling fresh and looking spotless in next to no time.
Washing Machine and Dish Washer
Many people forget about cleaning their washing machine or dishwasher. The washing machine has a filter which catches hair and other dirt and this needs to be cleaned out every so often. You might also want to take out the detergent drawer and give that a good clean. Finally, give the seals a good wipe down and then run a hot cycle with a descaling tablet inside.
Dishwashers also have a filter which needs to be cleaned regularly. Pull out the trays and give the inside a wipe over with a damp cloth. Once that is done, get out your vinegar and baking soda again, put a small amount in the compartment and run a wash cycle.
Tumble Dryer
If you’re following the manufacturer’s instructions, you’ll know that any tumble drier needs a little clean every couple of months. That usually involves removing any build up of lint and giving the inside drum a gentle wipe with a damp cloth. You may have a few extra tasks if your dryer is a condenser, take a look at this helpful Hotpoint video on how to clean a condenser dryer.
There is no doubt about it, Spring cleaning can be very satisfying, however, if you are struggling for time, then enlist help from the family – or get a cleaning crew in! It is no less satisfying if you get help
