Your kitchen is one of the places in your apartment that needs the most work to keep clean. No matter how much you cook, your kitchen is bound to get dirty. Your apartment kitchen can be easily cleaned in 15 minutes, giving you the time to do more of what you love and still have a clean kitchen.
Gather Your Materials
Getting everything you need right away will speed up the whole process of cleaning your apartment kitchen. Think about how much time you waste trying to find where you left the broom or where your disinfecting spray is. The supplies you will need to clean your kitchen in 15 minutes are a trash can, basket for non-kitchen items, dish soap, surface cleaners, floor cleaners, a sponge, scrubber, broom or vacuum, and a mop. Some people enjoy wearing gloves when cleaning their kitchen, so they don’t have to touch anything gross and help save their hands from the potentially harsh cleaning chemicals.
Fill Your Sink with Hot, Soapy Water
Fill your sink with the hottest water you can; it’s going to cool down as you use it. If you are lucky enough to have a double sink with a garbage disposal, fill the side without the disposal, so you have somewhere to dispose of food leftovers.
Scrape Off All of Your Dishes
Using a fork or knife, scrape off all of the leftover food on all of your dishes. If you have a sink with a garbage disposal, then do it there. Otherwise, get out your trash can!
Time to Soak
Begin the soaking process right away, so your dishes have more time in the water. For bowls, pots, and pans, you can fill them with soap and hot water and leave them on the counter to soak. Soak plates and everything else in the sink, placing the dirtiest dishes at the bottom.
Focus on the Trash
Go through our entire kitchen—cabinets, counters, floor, and clean up all of the trash. Just focus on the trash during this step.
Only Kitchen Items in Your Kitchen
Remember that basket for all of the non-kitchen items cluttering up your apartment’s kitchen? It’s time to get that out! Now that the trash is gone, through your whole kitchen, remove everything that does not belong in your kitchen and put it into the basket. Don’t worry about the things in the basket after this; stay focused only on your kitchen.
Put Away Kitchen Items
Take everything that is out of place in your kitchen and put it back where it belongs. It’s crucial during this step that you don’t get distracted trying to organize your cabinets or drawers. Just put things back where they go; you can organize your kitchen on a different day.
Wash the Dishes
Your dishes are ready to be washed now that they have been soaking for a while. If you are lucky and have a dishwasher, load it for this step, and you are done! If you don’t have a dishwasher, now is the time to handwash; you will find washing by hand is much more comfortable after letting your dishes soak for a while.
Wipe Everything Down
Wipe down all surfaces and appliances in your kitchen. Don’t scrub out the microwave or clean the crumbs from the toaster; this step is just for wiping down the surfaces of your counters, cabinets, and appliances. Some of the most overlooked areas to wipe down are the buttons on your microwave and oven; don’t forget the fridge handle either!
Sweep or Vacuum, Then Mop
Get all of the crumbs and dirt off of your kitchen floor by sweeping or vacuuming. Pay attention to the areas that collect a lot of dirt, like the oven’s sides or in front of the sink. After you have taken care of the dirt, it’s time to mop!
Take Out the Trash
Don’t forget to take out the trash! Even if it’s not all the way full, you will still want to take the garbage out because of the food waste in there. Frequently emptying your trash will prevent it from smelling or attracting bugs like fruit flies.
Enjoy Your Clean Kitchen!
It only takes 15 minutes to clean your kitchen, and use this helpful routine to clean your kitchen every day. The more often you clean, the less you will have to clean. Remember that this is for a quick everyday kitchen clean; set aside more time to do a deep-clean of your kitchen.
