Tips on Cleaning Kitchen Appliances

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How to Clean Your Kitchen Appliances

Cleaning your kitchen appliances is a necessary evil. Most of the time, you don’t think about cleaning smaller appliances until they become big cleaning jobs!

The trick is to clean kitchen appliances as you use them. When you don’t clean as you go, don’t worry – we have tips on how to make cleaning easier, even if it’s a caked-on mess!

Vacuum Shortcuts

If you use the vacuum in the kitchen for rugs and getting in the corners where your broom can’t, there are a few more jobs the vacuum can do for you while you have it in the kitchen.

The most known (and probably least done!) kitchen job for your vacuum cleaner is to clean those coils underneath the front of your refrigerator. We all know that we are supposed to do it, but we rarely actually do it. You should. It can make your refrigerator run more efficiently and keep dirt and debris from causing motor problems.

 The next vacuum job is only applicable if your range hood has removable filters. Take out both filters and vacuum each side. While your vacuum is out, you might as well open up the oven. I know it’s unconventional, but if you have burned, crusty crumbs at the bottom, why not just suck them up? Just make sure that you haven’t used your oven any time recently. Do NOT suck up anything even remotely warm.

Once in a while, lift up the cook top and use your vacuum hose to suck up any crumbs.  (avoid grease messes). Open up that drawer underneath your oven and get all the crumbs that fall in there, too.

Now take your vacuum to where you keep your toaster. No matter how careful you are, every time you empty the crumb tray, crumbs go everywhere. You also can’t get the crumbs out of the toaster. Every time you set it down, more crumbs fall. Make sure it’s unplugged, and then remove the crumb tray. Empty the tray into the trash. Suck up the excess crumbs, and then vacuum from the bottom of the toaster where the crumb tray goes. Suck up any crumbs that fell on the floor, and you’re done. No more crumby mess.

Let the Appliances Do the Work!

Some kitchen appliances can help clean themselves. Your dishwasher, for instance, can be cleaned by running an empty cycle with vinegar in the soap dispensers. To clean your coffee maker, you have a few different choices. You can either fill the water reservoir with:

• 1/2 Cold water and 1/2 white vinegar
• Hot water + 2 tablespoons CLR (or another brand formulated to decalcify)
• Hot water and a denture tablet

Put a clean filter in the coffee maker and run it as usual. Be sure to run it at least once afterward with PLAIN water to get rid of cleaner remnant and any remaining build-up. I run it twice afterward, just to be safe.

For the microwave, put some water in a microwave-safe bowl and heat it for about 3 minutes. This will soften up all the caked-on food in the microwave so you can easily wipe it away.

Double up to Save Time

After you heat that water to clean your microwave, take a crisper drawer out of the fridge, put it in the sink, dump in the microwave water, add a couple drops of dish soap, more hot water, and throw in the plastic dials from your stove to let them soak.

After a few minutes, wash and dry the stove dials, scrub the crisper drawer, pull out another, and pour the still hot, soapy water into that drawer. You save time and water!

A great way to clean a toaster oven is to put a 1/2 cup of ammonia in it (with it turned off and unplugged), and let it sit overnight.

The fumes from the ammonia loosen up any grease stains and caked-on food so it’s easily wiped out the next day. Pour that 1/2 of ammonia into 2 quarts of water to clean grease and grime off the kitchen window or plain tile (not painted) backsplash. Ammonia also works well on chrome, but be sure to rinse it off well.

Dangerous Can Openers

Yes, can openers can cut you, but there’s a better chance of them poisoning you! Think about the different things you open with your can opener – dog food, tuna, fruits, vegetables, and soups. Those foods and others grow bacteria that can make you sick the next time you use your can opener.

You should really clean it every time you use it by simply wiping off the blade with a soapy, damp dishrag. If the blade on your electric can opener isn’t removable, take a dry toothbrush to caked-on food. Then you should be able to clean off the rest with your soapy dishrag.

When to Avoid the Dishwasher

So many appliances can now be taken apart and pieces can be washed in the dishwasher. This is much more convenient, but there are times when you should avoid washing pieces in the dishwasher.

Food processors often have plastic containers that are technically dishwasher-safe, but a lot of times the plastic gets discolored and cracks much more easily. Also, the blades from food processors can be bent and dulled in the dishwasher, so you should avoid washing them that way.

Metal pieces from mixers or handheld can openers can clash with other things in the dishwasher, the coating will peel, and they will eventually rust. Washing them in the dishwasher once in a while is OK, but the most of the  time, just use soapy water in the sink.