For many people, cleaning the kitchen can be one of the hardest tasks in the house. The so-called heart of the home is the place that should be pristine because it is where food is prepared.

For that precise reason, we spend many hours in the kitchen, so having it clean and organized equals well-being, and although this is a well-known truth, when the time comes to do so, we never know where to start.

The oven? The refrigerator? Or the countertop? All of the above need to be cleaned meticulously, but if you can’t make up your mind on where to begin, here are some tips that will help you face this battle.

5 steps to a sparkling clean kitchen

Prioritizing is the secret to making the most of your time when it comes to cleaning. If you don’t want to spend all weekend degreasing, disinfecting, and organizing, you should come up with a plan based on logical steps to take your kitchen from dirty to sparkling in just one hour.

You have no idea how to do it? Well, don’t worry, here is a detailed step-by-step plan that will allow you to take advantage of both the performance of the products and the benefits of .

Preliminary considerations:

a) Read the labels of the products you plan to Verify if you should use gloves or not, and pay attention to the time of action of the products.

b) Consider using degreasers or natural solutions to clean your kitchen. It will be safer for you and healthier for the planet (Read 5 100% Natural tricks to have an impeccable kitchen).

c) Get into the cleanfullness groove, and accompany this work with either meditation music or dance music, as it will make the task more bearable. (Read also Cleanfullness or cleaning as a way of well-being).

d) Read the appliance’s manual carefully since it includes suggestions for maintenance.

Now, the step-by-step:

1. The dirtiest first: kitchen extractor hood, microwave, and oven.

These three appliances are the most used and generally the most time-consuming to clean, due to the amount of grease they accumulate.

In this case, the solution if you don’t have a pyrolytic oven (they are wonderful, and you’ll only need baking soda, water, and vinegar in a bowl) is to start by applying an anti-grease product to the appliance. While the detergent is working (5 min), place a bowl with water and lemon in the microwave (3 min), and then wash the microwave’s glass plate.

Once the microwave oven is ready, leave it open for a while (5 min), dry the whole appliance thoroughly, and clean the outside. At the end of this step, wipe the oven with a damp cloth to remove any chemical residue and dry it.

Next, put the grease filter of the extractor hood in the dishwasher. Choose the fastest cycle of the appliance (it usually has the hottest water which will help to remove the grease well) along with other dirty pots or dishes, and while the dishwasher is working, pass a sponge with water and an appropriate degreasing product over the extractor hood without touching the motor. Once this is done, dry everything well and put the filter back in.

2. Range or cooktop, tiles, countertops, and upper cabinets

Always clean from top to bottom. Before starting on the upper cabinets, apply glass ceramic cleaner to the cooktop (if induction) or degreaser if you have a gas range. This will allow the products to work while you wipe the cabinets and tiles with a cloth dampened with vinegar or a special product for that purpose. Remember to dry both surfaces afterward to avoid watermarks.

If you have an induction cooktop, remove (wearing gloves) the specific product used for glass ceramic with a damp sponge (if necessary, use the scraper). If you have a gas range, remove the degreaser with a sponge and dry everything with a cloth.

Oh, and don’t forget the countertops. Remove dust or grease from them with a mild product first and then wipe them dry.

3. Top of the refrigerator, and windows

Do the same as you did with the upper cabinets. Clean the top of the refrigerator and then the front part and sides with a sponge with mild detergent and dry everything very well at the end.Windows can be cleaned with a cloth dampened in water and vinegar and then dried with newspaper or a lint-free cloth.

4. The interior of the refrigerator

As a general rule, you should clean the interior of the refrigerator at least every 2 weeks. To do so, take out everything inside and wipe all items with a cloth moistened in water with vinegar, and dry them at the end. Leave the fruit and vegetable trays for last, as these should be cleaned with water and allowed to dry before you put them back into the unit.

5. Lower cabinets and floor

Repeat the procedure described above with the lower cabinets. After that, wipe up any water residue on the floor, sweep the entire kitchen, clean the sink (including the faucets) with a soft sponge and detergent, wipe it dry and finish cleaning by mopping the floor with water and a product suitable for the type of floor in your kitchen. Let it dry and enjoy the view of a spotless kitchen.