How do you keep your kitchen spotless?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I clean as I cook. Try to wash prep dishes while dinner is cooking, including wiping down counters. After clearing the dishes up after dinner, I usually wipe down the stove. I think that it also kind of depends on how your kitchen is organized. I think it looks cleaner if there's only minimal stuff out on counters or whatever. We have a toaster and a coffee maker and that corner looks really busy.

All this, it's how I was taught as a child and the only way I know how to do it. A messy kitchen stresses me out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

you should just move and take nothing with you.

[Anonymous]

My mom was OCD and it's the one thing I miss about living in her house. The spotless kitchen. I would love mine to be spotless. I could do the wipedown after each meal (she made me do that growing up anyway, so I learned to do it to her perfect standards!) and it's not that hard. But people just keep dumping stuff on the counters. I'm looking at it now and its covered with people's school crap, a stuffed animal, a lunch box, etc. It just crushes me trying to find a place for everything, and then I turn around and there it all is again.

Part of the problem is the new kitchen design -- it's open to the family room and there's an enormous island, so people just stop and dump stuff there, no matter what I say.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm guessing none of you people has kids under 6. I would love the time to clean my kitchen.

I have teen boys. They are almost as bad as toddlers.

+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.

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.

Maybe you misread. I said that it would be easier to do it myself but I don't, I make them redo it. They don't get out of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is very easy. I clean up after each meal. I have a gas stove and remove the grstes and do a quick wipe at night.

And believe me. I cook up a storm. I eve make all my bread at home.

I find the kitchen the easiest part of the house to keep clean. Can't keep thr office clean to save my life. My kids destroy it with their craft projects, homewoek and bullshit.

I'm so you! I leave it spotless when I leave every morning for the gym- my husband used to make a holy mess making his lunch and I would come home to it- used to drive me insane. He's finally realized that our kitchen is my version of his office- and I like it my way!

I do a deep clean twice a week (mop and handwash all appliances and cabinet doors that get heavy use). Otherwise I simply clean well after each meal. With three kids we generally fill the dishwasher each day and I run it at night and empty it before the kids get up.

Do you work outside of the home? If so how many hours?

[Anonymous]

I don't, but I hope to start implementing some things the posters in the thread have mentioned.

[Anonymous]

After remodeling the kitchen and having a baby we vowed to keep it cleaner. Key is to clean as I go and get as much of the prep dishes into the dishwasher before sitting down to dinner. We load the dishes immediately after dinner and there's usually enough for a run a day or every other day. DH empties it in the am before work as he gets up early. We try not to keep a lot of stuff out on the counters.

[Anonymous]

I'm kind of baffled thay people find this difficult. I work full time and the kids are home with an AuPair and i cook every night. I leave the house sporless every morning when i leave for work. AuPair os expected to return it in the same condition. I clean as i cook and whennwe sit doen to dinner, the kitchen is already pretty clean. My kids are 6&10 and they have chores. As a working mom, i cant afford to have kids who arent independent and who dont have responsibility around the hosue. Im too busy to be everyones maid. And yes, im a neat freak so it all needs to be to my standard. I find keeping things clean is less work than dealing with messes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm kind of baffled thay people find this difficult. I work full time and the kids are home with an AuPair and i cook every night. I leave the house sporless every morning when i leave for work. AuPair os expected to return it in the same condition. I clean as i cook and whennwe sit doen to dinner, the kitchen is already pretty clean. My kids are 6&10 and they have chores. As a working mom, i cant afford to have kids who arent independent and who dont have responsibility around the hosue. Im too busy to be everyones maid. And yes, im a neat freak so it all needs to be to my standard. I find keeping things clean is less work than dealing with messes.

I don't understand how people find this difficult. Even if they don't have hired help like I do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kitchen looks like no one ever uses it but I cook 3 times a day. It's the one room I am seriously OCD about. If unexpected company drops in, they will never see a messy kitchen even if I'm in the middle of cooking.

Tips

Clean as you go. Draw a sink of soapy water before you start.
Load the dishwasher as you go
Keep countertops uncluttered
Wipe microwave after each use
If you see it clean it
Dry and save pots immediately
Use Pledge multi surface on everything. It cleans and smells good
Swiffer the floor

This takes me under 30 minutes, 15 if I have husband help. You have to want to do it.

This person nailed is. Plus:
-Empty the dishwasher first thing in the morning, then dishes are added to it all day and it is run at night. Easiest way to clutter up a kitchen is to not empty the dishwasher.
-Keep counters clear using the principle of everything in its place and a place for every thing. Install a 3M hook for keys. Declutterer cabinets so pans can actually fit. Throw out mismatched Tupperware. Get one of those plastic bag holders to contain plastic bags.
-I have a toddler and we love our learning tower. Toddler plays in the sink while I prep, cook, and clean. Kitchen is spotless when I am done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm kind of baffled thay people find this difficult. I work full time and the kids are home with an AuPair and i cook every night. I leave the house sporless every morning when i leave for work. AuPair os expected to return it in the same condition. I clean as i cook and whennwe sit doen to dinner, the kitchen is already pretty clean. My kids are 6&10 and they have chores. As a working mom, i cant afford to have kids who arent independent and who dont have responsibility around the hosue. Im too busy to be everyones maid. And yes, im a neat freak so it all needs to be to my standard. I find keeping things clean is less work than dealing with messes.

So your kids are out of the house all day and you have an au pair who straightens up while she's there and don't understand how this is hard for people not in that situation. Got it.

[Anonymous]

What do you use to wipe down your counters, stove, etc? I feel guilty about the amount of paper towel I'm using, but I never know what to do with wet sponges, rags, etc.

[Anonymous]

Question about time:

This morning it took me 45 min to:

1) empty dishwasher
- we have cramped kitchen so putting away requires perilous stacking. We have ditched all mismatched Tupperware and such, just small home for 5 people who cook all meals from scrap arch
2) wash dishes by hand and dry in dishwasher
- dishwasher is crummy so wash by hand and dry there
- we used metal and glass cookware, so significant scrubbing can be required even after soaking overnight. Nonstick not an option
3) wipe down counters, stove, and sweep

DW thinks 45 min is excessive but curious how fast other folks manage their kitchen daily clean?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Question about time:

This morning it took me 45 min to:

1) empty dishwasher
- we have cramped kitchen so putting away requires perilous stacking. We have ditched all mismatched Tupperware and such, just small home for 5 people who cook all meals from scrap arch
2) wash dishes by hand and dry in dishwasher
- dishwasher is crummy so wash by hand and dry there
- we used metal and glass cookware, so significant scrubbing can be required even after soaking overnight. Nonstick not an option
3) wipe down counters, stove, and sweep

DW thinks 45 min is excessive but curious how fast other folks manage their kitchen daily clean?

Depends on how large your kitchen is and how many dirty dishes you had. I've never looked at the time, but in my kitchen it would probably take 20-25 mins or so, unless the stove needed a really thorough scrub.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What do you use to wipe down your counters, stove, etc? I feel guilty about the amount of paper towel I'm using, but I never know what to do with wet sponges, rags, etc.

Stove and fridge is a magic eraser to get the dirt to loosen and then wipe up with microfiber. A different microfiber for the counters. They live under the sink and get washed once a week. If it's visibly seriously dirty then paper towel to clean and microfiber to dry.
I bought a huge attach of different colors and I have one color for kitchen and one for bath and one for floor messes.