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It’s early morning, the party is over and you have to go back to the kitchen and do some cleanup. I know it is so daunting and cleaning that greasy mess is not an easy job.
We have brought some easy kitchen hacks to save your day, and not just a day, every day! From the easy cleaning of stovetops, kitchen countertops, and deodorizing the kitchen with orange and cloves, we have got it all.
These solutions are cheaper, better, and eco-friendly, and you can say goodbye to commercial cleaners. Check out 30 Awesome Kitchen Cleaning Hacks and work up your kitchen cleaning routine right away!
1. Cotton Balls in Trash Can
Garbage cans can become really stinky and the smells get intolerable as well. Here’s a trick to make it smelly in a good way. Take two to three cotton balls, dip it in essential oils (choose something that has strong aroma), and place the balls underneath the bag or liner.
This inexpensive odor fighter can keep lingering smells at bay and keep your trash can fresh for a longer period of time and it won’t get too pungent as well!
2. Cleaning Wooden Cabinets
Kitchen cabinets can be easily renamed as oil magnets because they attract loads of oil and grease and the nasty buildups keep increasing every day. With two super-efficient ingredients, cleaning the cabinets is not a tough job anymore.
You just need some coconut oil and baking soda. Mix them up well and apply it to the affected areas with a toothbrush or a rag. The combination would cut through the grease and that old shine would be back!
3. De-grease Floors
Greasy buildups in kitchen floors can get as messy as those cabinets and yes, we don’t want to step in a tacky floor. If your regular mopping isn’t working, try out this easy trick.
Mix liquid dish soap, white vinegar, and washing soda to 2 gallons of water. Make sure the mixture is soapy and use it to cut through those grease buildups on the floor. You don’t have to worry about suds as well. The floors would sparkle when they dry up.
4. Oven Cleaner
If you want some inexpensive, chemical-free kitchen cleaner that could sparkle the appliances and do not leave behind toxic traces, we have baking soda for you.
So, if your oven is dirty after cooking those thanksgiving dishes, pour four tablespoons of vinegar in the cooking plate. Add a few drops of dishwashing liquid and baking soda to make a paste and scrub it out after 10 mins. The oven would be spotless and this time, no industrial cleaners!
5. Clean Stove Burners
This one is a failsafe option for cleaning stover burners and yes, without some violent scrubbing. You just need a plastic sealed bag and some ammonia for this easy cleaning hack.
Say goodbye to those frying pan drips and burns and treat it with some ammonia fumes. Seal the burner in the bag with ammonia and you would notice some fumes because ammonia is at work. Leave it overnight and check the results.
6. Clean Stainless Steel Sink
The norm for every modern homeowner, stainless steel sinks are common to almost every household because they are easy to clean, doesn’t stain much and are quite affordable. They do need cleaning once in a while because of the dirt and grease buildups.
You just need to sprinkle baking soda evenly throughout the sink. Take a toothbrush and start scrubbing. The grease would be cut off and your sink would shine again!
7. Clean Garbage Disposals
Cleaning your kitchen sinks and garbage disposal can be challenging at times, with all the sludge and food debris that choke the drain and it is a messy situation.
Switch to an organic cleaning method, avoiding the industrial cleaners, and make the garbage disposal sludge free. You just need lemon, vinegar, and baking powder to clean the disposal and the sink. Pour in vinegar and lemon in the unit and sprinkle baking soda in it. Run cool water through it and you will be amazed to see them at work.
8. Lemon and Vinegar Deodorizer
Refrigerators can get smelly with an unpleasant odor and the lingering smell can even alter the taste of other food items. A simple hack of lemon ice cubes can save your fridge from smelling.
Fill in your ice tray with lemon cube and white, undiluted vinegar. Keep the frozen cubes in a bag and place it in the refrigerator to deodorize. You can also put these cubes in the garbage disposal, say once every two days, and run the unit until dissolved. This can prevent buildups pretty well.
9. Quick Blender Cleaning
Cleaning a blender is not a tough job. I mean you can place it under running water or use a toothbrush to drive away fruits and veggies remain that are stuck. If you are looking for a better option, something with less manpower, we have it!
Put a squirt of dish soap in the blender, fill the blender with hot tap water up to 1/3rd capacity, put the lid on, and start the whirl! Once done, rinse it clean and dry.
10. Clean Dirty Cooking Pans
Did you ever think that kitchen pans can be cleaned with a dryer sheet? With this easy kitchen hack, dirty pans or baked-on food residue can be cleaned with just a dryer sheet.
Place the dryer sheet in the cooking pan and fill the pan with warm water. You will see bubbles all around and you have to let it sit for 2 or 3 hours. The residue would be all gone and remaining partials come off with running water.
11. Cleaning with Chalk
Chalk is a super-absorbent and that makes it a stain stick. They do work well when it comes to greasy stains and oil marks from soiled garments and is very cheap as well.
Use a paper towel to clean any excess food or oil stains from soiled garments and cover the entire spot with chalk. Just before you toss them in the washing machine, clean the affected area with some laundry detergent. Wash in hot water and the stain would be gone.
12. Pot Scouring Pads
Cooking pots are often stained with burnt-on food residue and other food remains. It is quite difficult to clean sometimes, especially if the dirt is dried up.
Make a DIY scouring pad from mesh produce bags and sponge and scrub the dirt out! If you buy dozens of lemons or potatoes, you will get those mesh bags. Place an old sponge inside them, zip tie the mouth, and clip the ends. This DIY pot scrubber is effective and efficient!
13. Clean Enameled Cookware
Just like every other cooking and baking utensils, enameled cookware get stained and dirty from all our cooking experiments. Also, violent scrubbing doesn’t help with enameled ones and the stain is unaffected.
Just boil water in the pot, put in baking soda in it, and give them a good stir. Give a few minutes of simmering before you use a wooden spoon to scrape off leftover bits.
14. Clean Silver Spoons
If you have silver spoons in your kitchen, I know they get tarnished over time and the essence of silver utensils is lost. Clean up the tarnish without scrubbing by using aluminum foils.
Take a glass baking dish, line it with aluminum foil and sprinkle some baking soda and salt in it. Fill up the dish with boiling water and sink the spoons and cutlery in it. The reaction would be similar to a science project, but it will definitely work.
15. Clean Wooden Cutting Boards
Though very efficient and helps us every day when it comes to some good chopping of veggies, wooden cutting boards are equally difficult to clean. They have a porous surface which makes it easy for bacteria to thrive on it.
Clean, de-grease and disinfect your wooden cutting boards with just two ingredients- lemon and salt. You just need to sprinkle salt, pour lemon juice and water and start scrubbing with a sponge. You can also use the lemon slice for scrubbing and it will work well. Then rinse off.
16. No Coffee Stains
Clean up those stained coffee marks with this easy hack and have your coffee pots and mugs all clean and shiny. Just sprinkle some baking soda into the bottom of the cup and pour enough water to make it a paste.
Scrub it for a few minutes and the gentle abrasion of baking soda will remove the stains. Rinse and dry once done and enjoy some hot coffee in the sparkling mug!
17. Banish Sink Odors
Not always, but sometimes gross stuff goes down the sink drains and the regular buildups cause disgusting odors. I mean, who would want their kitchen sink to stink like a pig?
Try out this DIY de-clogger to keep the pipes clean and with no gunks. Flush your drain with warm water and slowly sprinkle some baking soda in it. Pour some lemon juice in it and wait for the fizz to show up. Leave it for a few minutes before you flush them out finally.
18. Potato and Rusty Cast Iron
Stuff like cooking pans and other cast iron utensils in your kitchen can get rusty if not used regularly and dried properly after every wash. This potato hack can be used on any cast-iron surface to clean the rust.
Cut the potato in half, dip the cut end in dish soap or baking soda and keep scrubbing the rusted area. If the potato gets slick, cut down that end and start afresh with the new cut end. Keep on repeating this easy hack until the rust is removed.
19. Clean up Broken Glass
Little overexcitement or some too enthusiastic gestures can end up breaking glasses and bowls, especially if you are enjoying a glass of wine. The big pieces are easy to clean, but those tiny sherds can be a real pain, literally as well!
You just need a piece of bread and then press it gently over the glass and the little fragments that could cause some serious harm would stick to the soft dough. So much for just a piece of bread, I mean, it deserves the Wonder Bread title.
20. Clean Cabinet Tops
If there is some space between the cabinet top and the ceiling, you can consider lining the surface to protect it from dust and dirt. For kitchen cabinets, we have already discussed how they attract grease and oil and the tops can get super messy.
Use sheets of wax paper to keep the dirt and dust away from the cabinet tops. The wax cover would attract dust and grime, and it will be easy to clean or rather replace when dirty. You can also use a newspaper which is environmentally friendly.
21. Clean Greasy Stovehoods
Cleaning greasy stove hoods aren’t easy and they get very messy at times, with all the oil and grease buildups. We have brought an easy hack that would clean the hoods in lesser time and yes, it very inexpensive method as well.
You just need half a cup of baking soda, a large stockpot, and water. Start boiling the water in the stockpot and add baking soda very slowly to avoid extra fizz. Soak the stove hood into it and wait for a few minutes before you see baking soda cutting through the grease.
22. Clean Oil with Oil
It might sound weird but just like sometimes the poison itself is the cure, cleaning up oily surfaces in your kitchen can be done with the help of another oil. You can use a mixture of water and ammonia but ammonia is very irritating and smells nauseous.
Use some mineral oil or vegetable oil with a paper towel and see the magic. Just put a few drops of vegetable oil in the paper towel and clean the gunk out of the oily surface. Once done, gently dab the surface with a clean towel to remove cleaning oil remains.
23. Vacuum Refrigerator Coils
If you have those small, mini vacuum cleaners for your car, you will be surprised to know that it can be used to clean up refrigerator coils as well. They are covered in dust and it is justified, considering they are neglected often. Just pop the grill out and clean those dust bunnies with portable vacuum cleaners. You will be surprised to see the dust buildups, trust me!
24. Toasters and Paint Brush
Toasters get dirty with those bread crumbs and they burn every time you make a toast for your breakfast. Before using it, take it out, turn it upside down and give it a shake. The loose crumbs would fall off with this.
If there are still lodged in crumbs, use a paintbrush to clean them up. Remove and clean the tray and wipe down the exteriors of the toaster with a damp cloth.
25. Descale a Kettle
Limescale deposits are very common with tea and coffee kettles and if you live in a hard water area, they limescale buildups would be more. The buildups gradually end up in your tea and coffee and make heating very noisy.
You can use commercial de-scalers or use an easy DIY to clean the kettle. Fill the kettle with equal parts of water and vinegar or lemon juice. Keep it for an hour and the scalings would be gone. Rinse it clean and you are good to go!
26. DIY Kitchen Air Freshener
Take some orange slices and boil it in water with some cinnamon sticks and cloves and let it boil. In about 5 mins, the steam would deodorize the surroundings and your kitchen would smell so fresh!
You can make these ahead of time and store it in mason jars. The jar would be handy if the kitchen starts to smell and you just need to boil the readymade recipe and your job is done!
27. Clean Kitchen Counters
Keeping the kitchen worktop clean and hygienic is very important to maintain good health. It is always advised to clean them on the go like if you spill something, clean it right away.
If you have a wooden countertop, use hot, soapy water to clean and see off germs. Use kitchen roll to dry it up which is very important. You can use vinegar or lemon to remove stains and avoid tough cleaners on the wooden surface.
28. Clean the Fridge
There are many neat tricks to clean a refrigerator and my favorite is the one with distilled vinegar and water. Pull out the shelves and drawers after you empty the fridge, spray diluted and distilled vinegar on the interiors and let it soak. Meanwhile, you can wash the shelves and return when done.
Wipe out the interiors thoroughly with damped clothes and you would see not only the dirt is gone, but the fridge is smelling fresh as well!
29. Clean & Deodorize Dishwasher
Loading a dishwasher can take a toll on our smell senses because of lingering smells from the last wash. Sprinkle some baking soda at the end of the dishwasher to eliminate food odors that tend to linger.
You can also opt for deep cleaning with baking soda paste and use a toothbrush to scrub and clean the crevices around the dishwasher doors and seals.
30. Remove Cooking Odors
Kitchen odors not only occur due to the lingering smell from the dustbins, but cooking things like fried fish or some other curry dishes can leave a strong odor as well.
Take a cast iron pot and heat it up. Sprinkle some ground coffee on it and pour some water over it. The instant steam absorbs bad odors and also spreads the soothing coffee aroma across your kitchen. You can also walk around with the pan for better deodorizing, and yes, ground coffee won’t spill much as well!
All these kitchen hacks are very easy and they are super-efficient. They come handy and yes, makes your kitchen experience a lot better, isn’t it? So, are you ready to make those lemon-vinegar ice cubes? Or you can just stock up baking soda!
