Regularly cleaning your kitchen is extremely important, it is a breeding ground for bacteria and germs. Preparing food includes cutting raw meat and chopping foods with juices, both containing bacteria, and because of the nature of cooking in the kitchen, germs are easily transferred from the preparation area to appliances, work surfaces, handles, towels and cloths, eventually being spread around your home.When it comes to cleaning your kitchen, there are some things you need to do and with some frequency, and some things you should avoid doing at all costs. Here is a list to
help you to keep your kitchen clean without damaging it:
Do:
Ensure you keep your towels and cloths clean and dry, hang them up to keep them fresh. Germs breed in damp environments so a damp towel is ideal for bacteria, when a cloth or towel gets too wet or dirty put it in the washing machine on at least 60 degrees to kill all bacteria.Clean all your work surfaces at least once a day with an all-purpose cleaner, thoroughly re-clean after preparing any food.Clean sinks daily, especially around the plug hole where food may have gotten trapped. Wipe over your taps and anything else you may have had to touch throughout the food preparation process.Clean your oven, both the interior and exterior. Remove all food residue and bits and apply a good oven cleaner. Clean all the hobs, grill pan, shelving and knobs.Clean appliances such as washing machines, dishwashers and kettles and descale them. Lime scale provides an excellent breeding ground for bacteria, so use anti-lime scale products to break down and remove the lime scale. Remember to clean any rubber seals, if left uncleaned they will go moldy over time.Clean floors. Check with your floor manufacturer as to what products you can use on your flooring. Vacuum or sweep your floor daily and mop over it with a suitable cleaning detergent.
Clean on top of and inside of cupboards periodically to remove any dust or bits of food that may have fallen out of boxes.
Don’t:
Use products without checking their suitability first. If you have stone or marble work surfaces, for example, you may not be able to use an all-purpose cleaner. Using the incorrect product may damage, crack, break or discolor the surface.
Use a sponge to clean everything. There are a variety of different cleaning tools, the reason for this being that different tools should be used to clean different things, for example a scouring pad is perfect for ‘heavy duty’ cleaning, such as cleaning the bottom of a saucepan, however, it would scratch glass, plastic, work surfaces, laminate etc.
Use more cleaning product than you actually need under the belief that more is better, this is not always the case. And some things, especially wooden floors, become damaged if too much liquid is put onto them.
Forget to protect your floor if you decide to clean your oven or defrost your freezer
