How do you keep your kitchen spotless?
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Anonymous
+1 Three teenage boys wreck my kitchen and their version of "cleaning" means leaving pots and pans with visible food still on them. Would actually be easier to just clean up after them but I keep reminding myself it's not the best choice in the long run. |
Anonymous
| Exactly. My kitchen would be spotless if it were just me in there because I cook a lot and clean a lot. But then I pull open the kitchen drawer and what! Why is the handle sticky? What is down the front!? What is that drip on the floor that nobody else notices? ?! The family who insist on kitchen privileges are not as neat! |
Anonymous
| Mine gets dirty throughout the day but I scrub everything down every night before bed so I always wake up to a spotless kitchen. At least I have that. |
Anonymous
| Heh. Good one, OP. |
Anonymous
| I don't even try |
Anonymous
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My kitchen isn't spotless, but I think I keep it pretty clean. My one trick is to always have either a bowl or sink of soapy water while I cook or bake, and always, always, always have an empty dishwasher. I only run my dishwasher maybe twice a week, but being able to toss in dishes or do a quick wash and rinse as I go is extremely productive.
Use a towel, plastic placemat or a plate to rest utensils on while you're cooking. Set out all ingredients you need before you start cooking. If I'm baking, I set everything on a baking sheet, that way I can transfer everything from the pantry to the island without running back and forth, knocking stuff over, etc. A stick vacuum that you keep in the corner, visible. Even children can operate these. We rarely eat seconds, so I'm fine with putting our food in tupperware to be placed in the fridge before I sit down to eat, that way the pots and pans can soak while I'm eating, and either be cleaned quickly or tossed into the dishwasher. |
Anonymous
| You know what really did the trick for me to get motivated to keep my kitchen spotless? The roaches in our new apartment. I used to be a bit more lackadaisical about scrubbing the stove after every cooking session. No longer! Everything gets scrubbed within an inch of its life each evening. Nothing motivates like creepy crawly disgusting bugs. |
Anonymous
| I keep a spray bottle of watered down dish soap. It is great--you just spray the counter with it and the stove and wipe! If you do it every day after a meal, your counters should stay pretty clean. And it takes minimal amount of time! (Trust me....I have babies!) |
Anonymous
My kids are 3 and 4. I clean as I cook. I hand the kids things to dry and put away if they're in the kitchen. They don't know it, but my motto is "If you're in the kitchen you're helping or cooking." Then after dinner we both clean up. We expect the nanny to do the same, so we're always leaving each other a clean space. |
Anonymous
Soooo you eat off of plates that are dirty? I have teen boys and My kitchen stays spotless. |
Anonymous
This hasn't worked for me. 
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Anonymous
This was me you're replying to. No. The dishes go in the dishwasher. It's the pots and pans and mixing bowls that we air dry. I have them rewash them but their skills never seem to improve in this regard so it feels like I'm always nagging. My kitchen is pretty clean, definitely not spotless, but only if I do it myself. It's as if they are incapable of seeing the dirt and mess. |
Anonymous
#1 rule of home ec: clean as you go. #2 rule: mise en place. My kitchen is not spotless, but it's very clean. Keep the dishwasher emptied, do all the dishes & wipe things / sweep as needed nightly, plus a deep clean every other week (mop, appliances, cabinets). |
Anonymous
If you let them get to be teenagers with the understanding that if they do a sloppy job they can get out of helping, that's on you. I expected all my children to help. No nagging, just clear expectations. If they didn't clean up on their night, then they got to clean up the next night and the next until they got it right. When there are no rewards for sloppiness it's amazing how quickly my boys figured out how to wash pots and load the dishwasher. |
Anonymous
There it is in a nutshell folks. My kitchen isn't spotless because I just don't want to do it.
It's reasonably clean though which is really all I care about. |