You may be surprised, but the kitchen is one of the dirtiest rooms in your home. Yes, not the toilet, the kitchen. The reason is bacteria and mold.
The kitchen is the perfect place for bacteria and mold to grow. You bring all types of bacteria on raw meat and other food products. At the same time, you create a wonderfully humid atmosphere when cooking. When you put these two together, you get the dirtiest environment in your home.
That’s why the kitchen requires special maintenance. It’s the place, which needs the majority of your attention every day. In this article, we’ve collected the most useful tips for homeowners to keep their kitchens clean and safe.
1. Clean Your Garbage Disposal Regularly
When you send food down the drain and break it down with the garbage disposal, pieces of it are still stuck inside the sink. With time, bacteria starts growing, creating unpleasant odors and settling on other surfaces in your kitchen.
It’s vital to clean your drain disposal at least once a week to ensure a good condition of your kitchen and the health of your household members. Below are a few ways to do it without too much effort:
· Freeze vinegar in ice cubes and send them down the drain.
· Put vinegar and lemon peels into the disposal
· Add half a cup of baking soda and several drops of vinegar, then flush with hot water.
If none of your DIY methods help and the drain is still creating odors, call professional technicians. They may need to take the appliance apart.
2. Check Walls Monthly
Kitchen walls suffer tremendously from all the grease flying around the kitchen. Many homeowners ignore them until the dirt becomes obvious. Once that happens, getting rid of it could be tough. Mold may start growing inside the ventilation system while grease penetrates the walls and becomes impossible to remove.
That’s why it’s vital to check and clean kitchen walls at least monthly. Wiping them with warm soapy water is usually more than enough to keep the kitchen in good shape. In case you miss a few spots, and they become too dirty, bring in the heavy artillery. Use vinegar and bristled brushes.
You can find many different cleaning solutions on the store shelves. However, the majority of them contains chemicals, which could be harmful to your health. With vinegar, baking soda, and lemons, you can clean the entire kitchen at a much smaller expense.
3. Change Filters
Kitchen hoods, air purifiers, air conditioners, and many other appliances you use in your kitchen have filters. These filters become dirty much faster in the kitchen than they do in any other room.
It’s absolutely imperative to replace filters timely. Otherwise, the appliances would stop doing their job and start consuming too much energy.
Meanwhile, dirty filters create an excellent environment for the growth of bacteria. Eventually, the appliance would draw air in, run it through a moldy filter, and send mold spores and bacteria into your atmosphere. This could be a disaster for people with respiratory problems.
4. Watch Your Windows
Windows in the kitchen get dirty quickly. The reasons are grease and high humidity. It’s important to wash kitchen windows at least twice a year to ensure their longevity. Hard water stains could appear due to the moisture settling on the glass. If not removed, they could cause irreversible damage, which would lead to window replacement.
However, washing is hardly enough. Inspect your windows regularly for mold growth. Old and poorly installed windows often allow moisture to seep inside the room and create a great environment for mold growth. Mold spores could settle on the food you eat, causing health problems.
5. Clean the Area Around the Garbage Bin
The second dirtiest place in your kitchen after the disposal is the garbage bin. When you throw garbage into the bin, some of it tends to settle on the bin itself and the furniture around it. While many people throw out garbage bags regularly, they forget about cleaning the bin.
Mold and bacteria grow around it, turning your kitchen into a hazard for your health. Use disinfectant cleaners to take care of the bin itself and the area around it.
6. Maintain Appliances
Besides replacing filters, your kitchen appliances require regular maintenance. Inspect all of them at least once a month for leaks, cracks, broken seals, etc. By discovering a problem in its early stages, you can save yourself hundreds of dollars. Don’t avoid reading manuals. They contain tips on proper appliance maintenance.
If something is wrong with the appliance, don’t try to fix it yourself. Call appliance repair specialists. DIY appliance repair could be dangerous for you and your household members.
7. Clean As You Go
One of the best things you can do for your kitchen is clean it as you cook. When you allow spills to sit on the surface, they have an excellent opportunity to turn into a great place for bacteria growth. Spills are so much easier to clean when they are “fresh”.
Try to wipe the surfaces as soon as they get dirty and never start cooking until the kitchen is clean.
According to technicians from Jackson Appliance Repair, lack of kitchen maintenance is the key reason for appliance repair and replacement. Keep your kitchen clean using the above tips. It will do wonders for your budget.
