Pointers for Cleaning Kitchen Storage Cabinets
Thursday, February 25th, 2010 | House and Home
Kitchen cabinets are lovely when they’re first installed, but the environment they exist in soon can mar their beauty if you don’t make it a practice of cleaning kitchen cabinets on a constant basis. It’s not just the interiors that need cleaning, either. The exteriors of kitchen cupboards take a beating. They are assaulted with air charged with cooking grease, sticky fingers, moisture, smoke, and food spills. If this build-up of grime is allowed to harden and continue to increase over time, it’s going to be much harder to get rid of, so you need to clean your cupboards often.
Frequently amild soap, such as a grease-cutting dish detergent, and warm water will do the trick as long as your cabinets are laminate, painted, plastic, metal, or wood-grained vinyl, but there are times when you need some form of cleaner to help penetrate the grease and grime, especially with wood cupboard surfaces. All-purpose cleaners may do a good job of cleaning the outsides of your cupboards, but never use anything abrasive on the surfaces, such as Comet, because that will scratch them. You should also avoid using steel wool or scrub brushes for cleaning kitchen cupboards for the same reason.
For an old-time, natural approach, you can try a solution of half vinegar and half water. Grandmother knew that the mixture was sure fire when it came to cleaning kitchen grease, and it will still do a good job for you. If the build-up is too great for this solution to penetrate and wash away, try using straight vinegar. You can also make a paste out of some baking soda and water or a solution of lemon juice and club soda which will cut the grease naturally.
As a final resort to salvage cabinets on which the oily increase has been allowed to acquire and harden, you can try paint thinner. This is much more caustic than the other solutions you can use, so treat it with care. Never use it around an open flame or intense heat, wear gloves while using it, and open windows to give yourself plenty of ventilation. You may additionally want to wear a respirator to keep yourself from inhaling the fumes. Be sure to test the paint thinner on a concealed spot to make sure it isn’t going to damage the finish on your cupboards before basically going to work.
Cleaning kitchen cabinets is a large amount of work, particularly when dirt and grease have been allowed to build-up over a period of time. By wiping your cupboards down periodically, you can keep them from getting the thick build-up that takes a great deal of time, elbow grease, and cleaning expertise to get rid of.
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