How to Clean Kitchen Cabinets?

The hygiene of your kitchen is vital for you and your family. You prepare your meals on the countertop, take the pans out of the cupboards, and dry ingredients from the relevant shelf. All these parts of the kitchen must be clean so that you cook healthy meals. But you might be asking yourself how to deep clean kitchen cabinets. Don't worry! In order to maintain the hygiene of your kitchen, there are some basic steps you should take once or twice a week. Here are the steps for professional cabinet cleaning explained in detail.

1. Remove the Kitchenware

Before getting to the rubbing and scrubbing, make sure you empty all the cabinets and the countertop. Put your stuff on the dining table or take them to another room. You need space for this task. Remove the sheets you use to protect your cabinets' base and consider washing them, too. You will see how dust and crumbles are piled up inside your cabinets. Don't be demoralized. You will nail it. Use your electric vacuum cleaner or a dustpan to get rid of them.

In this step, you shouldn't wet the dirt lest they stick more into the surface of your wooden kitchen cabinets. When they meet water, the greasy particles will hold it more, making your work harder in the following steps. Thus, please refrain from using a wet cloth to dispose of them. 

2. Prepare a Mixture for Cleaning

Now, the wet part starts. Keep following these steps if you wonder how to clean wood cabinets and make them shine. 

 The mixture you use for cleaning cabinets should be intense. It is impossible to clean, especially the greasy and sticky areas with plain water. But before preparing the mixture, you should decide whether you want to listen to your environmentally friendly side and go for home-made cabinet cleaners or use chemical solutions. Both options have their pros and cons. 

Cleaning cabinets with oil and baking soda is not a bad idea if you care for your environment and health. Although not the best degreaser for kitchen cabinets, the natural solutions you make at home are probably less expensive. Also, there are plenty of more intense options to accomplish the level of cleanliness you desire. 

If you use detergents sold in the supermarkets, you can be sure of the result: clean and shining cabinets. However, these chemicals are so strong that breathing and touching them might cause you harm. Furthermore, they pollute the waters and are dangerous for nature. 

You might consider buying eco-friendly detergents from the supermarkets as a middle-ground option. Although it might cost a little more than the options given above, it is well worth it. 

As a result, whichever cleaning agent sounds plausible to you, put some in a bucket and fill the rest with warm water. With warm water, you can solve the grease more easily. 

3. Tops First

It would be best if you had a roadmap for cleaning kitchen cabinets. You can't just start with the cupboard door in the middle. There should be logic in the order of the cabinets you clean. 

The gap between your ceiling and the cabinets is the least touched and seen area in your kitchen. Thus, they are generally way dirtier than the other parts. Also, the last stop of the greasy vapor emitted from your cooking pan is there. Thus, it is one of the most complex parts of your cleaning journey. You might ask, "Why would I start with the hardest part?". You should, because some of the dust heaped there will fall out while you are wiping and make the lower cabinets dirty. It is inevitable: the law of gravitation. 

Therefore, take a cloth when your water mixture is ready and wet it. Then, scrub the tops of the cupboards. 

4. Now the Insides

When finished with the tops, you should go on with the insides of the cabinets. You are on the right paragraph if you don't know how to clean inside kitchen cabinets. 

The inner sides of your cabinets are the second most dirty places in your kitchen. Small pieces of food are spilled in the cupboards every time you take out some rice or biscuits. Also, you might come across some stains of liquid spilled out of your oil cup or vinaigrette. In order to get rid of them, you must pay attention to the details. 

As you have already swept the insides of the cupboards, only small pieces of dirt must still be on the inner surfaces of your cabinets. Wipe the back and side walls before the base. Pay attention to the deep corners and junction points as the smallest crumbles might be hiding there. 

5. Shiny Cabinet Doors

Now that you dealt with the core of the cleaning, it is time to focus on the display of your kitchen. Everyone wants their cabinets to look clean and shiny. The doors of the cupboards are one of the most visible parts of your kitchen. However, generally, they are stained by water or your handprint easily. If you have a toddler, it is much harder to keep the doors as clean as the first time because they love getting support from every surface they find to stand up. 

For clean and shining cabinet doors, you should wipe them out with the mixture you prepared at the beginning. However, it is not enough as most kitchen cabinets need more. There are plenty of products in the supermarkets available as kitchen cabinet polish, but your cabinet doors' material matters. It would help if you didn't use glass polishers on wood. 

If your cabinet doors are wooden, you can apply appropriate polish with a piece of cloth. You might prefer those that don't contain wax or silicone, but if you want to find a home-made solution, you can use vinegar and olive oil. 

6. Tackle the Hardware

The hygiene of the handles is also crucial for having a sterile kitchen as they are the most touched parts. You can simply wipe them with a wet cloth. You might spray sanitizer on them in order to make them stay clean for a more extended period. However, make sure it is applicable to the material your handles are made of. Otherwise, the coating of them would flake off. You can use vinegar or lemon juice mixed with water for metal parts.

Also, if you want to achieve a more detailed cleaning, you might want to take out the drawers and wipe the related accessories. They are probably filled with dust, too. 

7. Don't Forget the Kitchen Utensils

Cabinet care and maintenance don't end with cleaning only the cupboards in your kitchen. The pans, cutleries, and plates you took out must be cleaned before putting them back. Before all else, the pans you use less, maybe from guest to guest, get dusty in a while. If you place them inside your freshly cleaned cabinets, they will result in a waste of time and energy. They will screw up the inside of your taintless kitchen cabinets. 

You might want to fill them in the dishwasher for convenience or wash them on hand. In both cases, make sure they are stainless. 

Put them all inside the cupboards, and finally, you are done!

Wrap Up

Are you concerned about how to clean kitchen cabinets before moving in? Or do you want to cook your delicious meals in a sanitary environment? No worries. If you follow the steps in this article, it is easy peasy for everyone. 

• The first thing you need to do is to empty the cabinets. There shouldn't be any single utensils inside them so that you can clean up thoroughly. Make sure you remove the cover sheets inside the cabinets you use for protecting the base. 
• Start with vacuuming or sweeping inside the cabinets. This will ease your job in the following steps. It is best if you don't leave any small dust, including the ones under your covering sheets. 
• Then, find the perfect kitchen cabinet cleaner for you and mix it with warm water. You can prepare one by yourself or buy detergents from the store. For the home-made cleaner, use vinegar and baking soda. They will solve the grease successfully if you rub a little challenging. The ready-made chemicals are more potent and practical, but they are not the best for the environment or your health. It is recommended that if you have children in the house, you should prefer natural solutions. 
• Continue with the top of the cabinets and the shelves. The logic of cleaning cabinets is going from top to bottom and then from inside to the outside of the cabinets. 
• The cabinet doors can be polished with vinegar or lemon juice, depending on their material. 
• The handles are used frequently, and they can accommodate bacteria and viruses. Wipe and sanitize them. 
• Last but not least, wash and clean your kitchen utensils before putting them back in order to maintain the cleanliness longer. 

To learn more about kitchen design tips, you can read some of our blog posts such as; "10 Most Popular Kitchen Cabinet Knobs & Pulls to Enhance the Beauty Within", “How to Organize Kitchen Cabinets? Limited Space, Unlimited Ideas!”, and “Kitchen Cabinets Guide for Standard Sizes and Dimensions".