Kitchen cabinets are not usually cleaned as frequently as other kitchen areas, and that can leave them sticky and stained. When you are doing the dishes, it is easy to add in wiping down the countertops, but the cabinets are often neglected.
Cleaning your kitchen cabinets regularly can help to remove unwanted bacteria, sticky glue, dirt, and stains. The longer you leave it, the harder it is going to be to clean. That leads us to our first question: how often should you clean your kitchen cabinets?
Cabinet Cleaning Frequency
We would recommend cleaning the exterior of your cabinets, mainly the doors, every week. When you wipe them down weekly, they become easy to clean.
For the interior, it is a good idea to give them a clean-out every couple of months. A good way to do this is to go ahead and clean inside when they are mostly empty, tackling the cabinets one at a time. For example, you have had people around for coffee, and most of your mugs are in the dishwasher. Remove the rest from your nearly-empty mug cupboard and give it a deep clean.
How To Clean Kitchen Cabinets
When it comes time to clean your kitchen cabinets, you can do so easily with our simple steps. Of course, you can use only some of the steps if you need to do a partial clean.
Before we get started, let’s look at some of the equipment that you might need.
Tools, Equipment, & Materials
- Cloths
- An old toothbrush or small cleaning brush
- Soap
- Vinegar
- Cabinet cleaner (if needed)
- Baking soda (for particularly tough stains)
- Glass cleaner & lint-free cloth or paper towel (if you have glass doors)
Preparation
Unless you have heavy stains, most of your cabinets can be cleaned using a cleaning solution made of warm water with some dish soap squirted in. You can also choose to buy an all-purpose cleaner, and both will work for your kitchen cabinets.
If you are using a store-bought cleaner, we recommend using it on a hidden section of your cabinets first to ensure that there is no reaction to any of the chemicals.
The dish soap mixture that you make up will be strong enough to tackle most stains and surfaces.
If you have tougher stains to handle too, make sure that you have your baking soda at hand, and mix up some vinegar and warm water (50:50) in a spray bottle.
Grab all your cleaning cloths and cleaners, and you are ready to begin.
Start At The Top
As you spray your cleaner on your surfaces, gravity is going to take over, and the cleaner is going to work its way downwards. This is why it is essential that you start at the top. By doing so, you are going to save yourself a lot of time and effort.
For cabinets that are empty and away from other surfaces, you can spray directly on the cabinet. If you need to be more careful, you can spray directly onto your cleaning cloth and then apply the cleaner.
When you are working from top to bottom, don’t forget to do the edges and undersides.
Clean & Wipe
Once you have sprayed your cleaner and wiped the cabinets, use another clean cloth to wipe off any excess moisture so that there is no water damage or discoloration. Let the insides dry before you replace what was in there.
Glass
If you have any glass in your kitchen cabinets, use glass cleaner (or your vinegar and water mixture), and clean the glass with a lint-free cloth or paper towel. We recommend that you spray the glass cleaner onto your cloth and not the surface so that you do not damage any other surfaces.
Knobs, Handles, & More
For your metal knobs, handles, hinges, and pulls, you can use your vinegar and water solution, along with the toothbrush or small cleaning brush.
Dip the brush in the cleaning solution, and apply it to any metal hardware, working it in with the brush. Wipe off the cleaning solution with a clean cloth.
Tough Stains
If your cabinets have not been cleaned in a long time, there may be tough stains, and there are two ways that you can clean this. You can buy a cleaner (orange cleaners work well), or you can use baking soda.
For a particularly tough stain, use a magic sponge too.
An orange oil cleaner should be allowed to sit on the stain for a few minutes before wiping it off. You may have to repeat this a few times to get rid of the stain.
For baking soda, make a paste with the baking soda and a little water. Use a toothbrush to scrub the area, and let it sit for a few minutes before scrubbing again and wiping off. Again, for tougher stains, you might have to do this a few times.
Interiors
For interiors, make sure to empty them first before cleaning them. You can use the same cleaners as above, and you might want to use a vacuum if there is a lot of debris inside.
Wrapping Up
When you are done, simply let any wet areas dry and replace the contents. We recommend wiping down your kitchen cabinets every week with a slightly damp cloth to remove dust and superficial dirt.
If you keep up with your kitchen cabinet cleaning, you are going to have them sparkling.
