How To Clean Your Kitchen – Chemical Free, Natural Kitchen-Cleaning Hacks

Splish, splash.

Clink, clank.

Fizz, crackle, and pop!

So many sounds. So much activity. All in one room.

The most used space in any home is a kitchen and keeping it clean is of prime importance. Dirty kitchens are a breeding ground for bacteria that ultimately lead to digestive problems. We agree cleaning can be cumbersome and tiring. But the reward of a sparkling kitchen and a healthy gut is not a small one. Make your kitchen look like it’s straight out of a Pinterest #KitchenGoals board with our easy cleaning hacks without using any hard chemicals.

Bye, bye grime. Hello, spotless heaven.

Cleaning a microwave

The inside of a microwave is not a very stunning view. Honestly, its a lot of grime and mixed food smells that we didn’t know existed. Let’s help you fix that with a simple solution – Lemons.

How to clean a microwave

1) Add water in a microwave-safe container, squeeze a lemon in it. Add the peels along with it. Do not throw them out. 2) Heat it in the microwave for 6-7 minutes. 3) Once the cycle is over, leave it untouched/unopened for 5 more minutes. 4) Take the container and the microwave plate out. Clean the plate with a sponge and liquid detergent. 5) Clean the microwave with a wet cloth/sponge. Place the ‘plate’ back. 6) VOILA! Fresh smelling, sparkling clean microwave.

The citrus punch of lemons are great to clean microwaves.

An Odourless fridge

If the pungent whiff of chopped onions or grated cauliflower has hit you hard when you opened the fridge, you will thank us for this hack. Apart from regular weekly cleaning, organizing and decluttering, it is also important to keep everything in the refrigerator covered and sealed.

How to clean your fridge

1) In a cup add vinegar, 2 drops of lemon essential oil. 2) Clean the fridge with this mixture. 3) The pungent smell will be gone. 4) You can keep 1/2 a lemon with 2-3 cloves stuck inside as a quick fix.

Vinegar and lemons are your best friends to deodorise a refrigerator

 

Cleaning your glassware

A rack of shiny glasses on your bar top is a view as good as Manhattan’s skyline. Okay, maybe we stretched it a little too far. But, has your glassware gone cloudy or is it stained with hard water? Don’t know how to save your glasses from the inevitable? Learn how to clean your glassware with our cleaning hacks.

How to clean your glassware

1) For cloudy glasses – Make a solution of vinegar and warm water. For every cup of water, add 2 tablespoons of vinegar. This will help remove all cloudiness. 2) For hard water stained glasses – Rub your glasses with baking soda instead of detergent. This will also help and remove any foul odors. 3) For dark coffee stains – Clean with a basic white toothpaste and a soft-bristle brush for best results. 4) Using coarse salt to clean will remove any small staining and deodorize your glassware. 5) Cleaning glassware by hand is much effective than cleaning them in a dishwasher.

 

Stellar ‘steel’

If you go by Indian advertisements, there is a diabolical competition between neighboring homemakers to compare how shiny their steel is. Stainless steel utensils have always been an integral part in any Indian household. Having recently gained back some popularity, stainless steel utensils can be hard to clean. The trick is to dry them out as soon as you wash them to avoid water stains.

A detailed guide on How to clean your stainless steel utensils

Water marks, burnt pans, rust stains. We have a solution for all!

How to clean the grimy walls and floors

Cooking produces a lot of grease and splatter that ends up sticking to the walls and floor of the kitchen. If you are a regular at cleaning your kitchen, it is a known fact that warm water and detergent scrubbed in a circular motion can do the trick. But can it help with tough residues? Let’s try an alternative.

How to clean kitchen walls and floor

1) If the stains are not budging from your kitchen, try using a solution of cleaning bleach with water. This will definitely do the job. 2) Make sure you clean this with a damp cloth and then dry it up with another one.

Tip – If you have marble floors or a granite backsplash in your kitchen, do not use hard cleaners that include ammonia or bleach. This will further stain your stone and damage it.

Say goodbye to an oily cooktop

Gas stoves go through a lot. The burners and grates need a lot of care for them to sustain so much. Grease deposits can become hard and tough to remove if not cleaned regularly. Let’s have a look at easy methods to clean them.

How to clean your cooktop and burners

1) If you have a glass cooktop, mild soap and warm cloth are enough to wipe all stains. 2) If you have a steel cooktop with tough stains that won’t leave with soap and water, use a vinegar-water solution. 3) Make sure you wipe the stovetop with a clean cloth afterward to avoid water stains. 4) Soak your burners and grates in warm soapy water. Let them sit for 15-30 minutes. This will help to soften any greasy deposits. Scrub the burners lightly with a toothbrush. Scrub the grates with regular dish soap.

 

Sink-ing the stains

Kitchen sinks can be a hotbed for bacterial formations if not cleaned properly and regularly. It would be such a waste if everything is squeaky clean and the sink is left dirty and unattended.

How to clean your kitchen sink

1) Simple good old cleaning with dish soap and scrubber needs to be done on a daily basis. 2) A mixture of baking soda and lemon juice is great to remove any hard deposits. 3) Make sure you clean the drain regularly to avoid clogging. The same baking soda-lemon juice mixture poured directly into the drain can clean and deodorize it naturally. 4) A stainless steel sink is easier to clean than a porcelain one.

 

The kitchen sponges are often neglected and are probably the nastiest to clean. Make sure you clean your sponge every day and change it often. There is nothing more appalling than a wilted foul-smelling kitchen sponge.

Have you tried any kitchen cleaning hacks of your own? Let us know in the comment box below.