If you are using your kitchen a lot lately, then clean these forgotten kitchen items.
Hey everyone. We had such a gloomy day in Lexington yesterday that I decided to give our stove a deep cleaning. When you do as much cooking as I am doing right now, things get dirty faster. I bet all of you are doing a lot more cooking in your kitchens, too. I am loving every minute of it – the cooking, that is. In fact, if you’re new to our blog, then here is a month of meals we shared last month. Now, I am on to cooking from a new list of dinner ideas, and Jordan and I are both loving this cookbook. So, while I was in the kitchen anyway, I decided to show some love to some appliances and other things that don’t get cleaned on a regular basis. While I was at it, I thought you might like to see what I cleaned, just in case you need to spend some time spiffing up your kitchen, too. So, according to my experience, we all need to clean these forgotten kitchen items. And the good thing is, none of them took very long, but they sure are shining now.
Stove Fan
The stove fan is kind of the Rodney Dangerfield of most kitchens. It gets no respect. We have a beautiful hood over our fan, but I really don’t pay much attention to the fan. Well, it showed. There was a grease and grime build up that surprised me mostly because the only time I fry anything is when I am making our Sunday brunch. Apparently, bacon can generate a lot of splatters on more than just the stove and its surround. The nice thing about cleaning a stove fan is that most of them just pop right out. Then you can clean it in a dishwasher cycle, or you can let it soak it in a full of sudsy warm water. I recommend using Dawn for its grease-cutting powers. (Because it was a dreary day, I had to have the overhead lights on when taking photos. The lights created a blue glare on the hood.)
Faucet
Most of us wipe our faucet every single time we clean up the kitchen, I bet. However, do you pay much attention to the place where the faucet and the countertops meet? Gunk can build up there, but it’s simple to clean. Just wrap a damp wash cloth around a knife, and put the point in the crease where the faucet and counter meet. It’s an easy task.
Flatware Drawer
Even though we only put clean forks, spoons and knives into our flatware drawer, crumbs seem to make their way into the compartments. Clean out this drawer by removing all of the flatware, and use a hand-held vacuum to clean out the crumbs. Then wipe it out with sudsy water.
Microwave
If not cleaned on a regular basis, microwaves can get nasty and germ-laden. A microwave is easy to clean by putting a cup of water in it, and run the oven on high for three minutes. Add a wedge of lemon if you want to create a nice fragrance. After the three minutes are over, leave the door closed for at least five minutes, and the steam will loosen any food that has dried on the interior. Then just use a damp cloth to wipe it down. All of the stuck-on food will wipe right off, and it will smell fresh, too.
Toaster
The toaster is a kitchen work horse, and other than a wipe-down of the exterior, mine doesn’t get a lot of love. Well, yesterday, I gave it a good cleaning. After unplugging it, I removed and washed the tray on the bottom. I used sudsy water to wash the outside and even scoured out some areas that had random food stuck to them. How did that happen????? Then I used a small brush and loosened up the crumbs that were stuck to the interior. Finally, I gently shook it, and all of the crumbs just fell out. Afterwards, it looks just like new. Oh, and you can buy a similar Dualit toaster here.
These tasks might sound daunting, but all of it took just an hour. Oh, and that included giving the stove a very thorough cleaning. If you are spending more time in your kitchen these days, then by all means, clean these forgotten kitchen items.
Take care.
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