6 Kitchen Deep-Clean Jobs You Can Do With Pantry Staples

6 steps · by Homeknacks Editorial

A kitchen gets dirty in four distinct ways: grease, burnt-on carbon, limescale and protein residue. Each one needs a different chemistry, which is why a single all-purpose spray always leaves something behind and why people end up owning nine bottles.

Four cheap staples cover almost all of it. Baking soda is a mild alkali and a soft abrasive. White vinegar is a weak acid that dissolves mineral scale. Dish soap is a surfactant that lifts fat. Salt is grit. Between them they cost a few dollars and handle the six jobs below, in the order that keeps you from cleaning the same surface twice.

One warning up front: never mix vinegar with bleach, and do not bother mixing vinegar with baking soda in a bowl — they cancel each other out into salty water.

1. 1. Start with the extractor hood filter, because grease falls downward
2. 2. Lift burnt-on carbon from the hob and pans with a soda paste
3. 3. Use vinegar only where there is limescale
4. 4. Clean the oven overnight with soda, not fumes
5. 5. Sanitise chopping boards, sinks and the fridge properly
6. 6. Finish with the details that make a kitchen read as clean

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