Quick and Easy Kitchen Cleanup Checklist
A simple, daily cleaning checklist for your kitchen.
Your daily guide to kitchen maintenance
The kitchen is often referred to as the heart of the home and I couldn’t agree more. It’s the focal point for so many activities, and its uses extend far beyond just cooking, eating, or making our morning coffee.
The kitchen is where our families gather, and many people tend to gravitate toward spending time there. It’s probably the most universally used room in our homes and over the last year, many people added ‘home office’ to its list of functions.
Our kitchens are also inevitably one of the messiest rooms in the house. And the more we stayed home in the last year, the more meals we ate at home, which meant bigger messes to clean up! Consistent clean up might seem like an inconvenience, but regular maintenance is important and can mean avoiding an overwhelming chore in the future. Following a simple daily cleaning routine can easily become second nature and you’ll thank yourself later when you are not faced with addressing months-long buildup of crumbs and dried-food splatters during a deep clean that you finally got around to. Plus, creating a clean space where you enjoy cooking, eating, and spending time helps keep your family healthy and happy. Read on for my recommended routine, which will help make kitchen cleaning into a consistent habit divided into quick, small tasks that will ultimately save you time and stress in the long run. The tidier and cleaner you keep your kitchen, the more you’ll be able to enjoy the countless activities you do there. If you need even more in-depth kitchen cleaning tips categorized by daily, weekly, and monthly chores, Home Made Simple has you covered.
Kitchen cleaning 101
Before I get into my list, here are some general tips to make kitchen cleaning quick and simple:
- Clean from the top to the bottom. I recommend starting with the countertops and ending with the floor because you don’t want to wipe dust or crumbs from the countertops onto the floors that you just cleaned.
- Clear off counters, tables, and the sink first. When nothing’s in the way it leaves room for quick and effective surface cleaning.
- Use a multi-surface cleaner to minimize supplies. A cleaner like Mr. Clean Clean Freak Mist is a go-to for a daily kitchen cleaning so you don’t need to switch between too many supplies when you want to clean food residue off a countertop or tackle stubborn grease around a stove burner.
- Keep it quick. The purpose of doing these steps daily is to save you time in the long run, so you can avoid having to do much deeper, tougher cleans later on. That doesn’t mean every night needs to be a two-hour commitment—no thanks!
6 steps to a clean kitchen
Grab a sponge and a microfiber cloth, throw on some background music, and follow these six steps for a quick and easy daily kitchen clean up.
1. Wash any dishes to clear out the sink
It goes without saying that a sink full of dirty dishes has no place in a clean kitchen. Even if everything else is tidy, a stack of dirty dishes piled up in the sink will make the kitchen still appear dirty. Make sure to scrape food remnants off dishes, and if your sink has a garbage disposal, run that before washing the dishes. Use a drop of Dawn Original Dishwashing Liquid and scrub the dishes clean, or if you own a dishwasher, it’s always a good idea to run it at the end of every day. Make sure you’re loading it correctly and choosing the right cycle, too!
2. Clear off the tables and countertops
Time to de-clutter! The less clutter you have in your kitchen, the less mental clutter you have, too. Be sure to put everything back in its designated place. Left the cooking spray out? Back in the cabinet it goes (until tomorrow morning)! Clearing off your space and organizing everything will speed up the daily cleaning routine and free up space to easily wipe down the surfaces.
3. Wipe down the tables and countertops
Wipe down your countertops and tables with a disinfecting wipe or multi-surface cleaner, depending on the material, to clean up any leftover sauce spills that happened throughout the day and remove any other food residue that might be left over. Taking some time to do this at the end of each day resets your kitchen for the next day and generally keeps everything looking fresh and shiny.
4. Clean the sink
In addition to doing the dishes themselves, it’s important to also clean the sink to remove any food waste that’s built up, especially in the drain. Doing this regularly is necessary to prevent unwanted odors from forming and to keep the drain from getting clogged. No one wants to deal with the headache of having to unclog the sink!
5. Wipe down appliances
Appliances tend to get dirty from frequent use and should be wiped down regularly with a disinfectant wipe or multi-surface cleaner. From cleaning off food bits and grease that collect around your stove burners to getting the fingerprints off your stainless-steel refrigerator handle, cleaning your appliances is key to keeping your kitchen looking clean and beautiful. Though not necessary every day, it’s also important to occasionally clean the inside of your appliances. To get started, check out these tips for cleaning the inside of your microwave.
6. Sweep and mop floors
With splattered food, crumbs, and footprints from everyone coming in and out, kitchen floors are guaranteed to get dirty quickly and need just as much attention as countertops, tables, and appliances when it comes to cleaning. Leaving it as the last step makes the most sense, since crumbs can further dirty the floor as countertops are being cleaned. Doing a quick sweep, vacuum, or using a Swiffer WetJet Mop Starter Kit to clean the floor at the end of the night can not only make the kitchen look and feel cleaner but also remove any food remnants that might attract unwanted pests.
And that’s it—you’re done!