When creating a new kitchen area, there are several aesthetic selections to consider. You must figure out how to make it seem slick and attractive while being simple to navigate. On the other hand, its design should not be overlooked for its practicality. Kitchens can get filthy, so most of your house cleaning is focused on making it spotless. When it comes to kitchen design, it’s important to keep efficiency in mind. There are a variety of methods to make sure that your kitchen is simple to clean, and using them will make the task a breeze.
Clean and Maintain a Consistent and Smooth Countertop: Simple Tips for Every Homeowner
A simple-to-clean surface has a consistent and smooth feel to it. Some materials and tiles need gaps between them in order to be properly linked together. If you have a certain type of tile that requires cement or glue, you’ll wind up with lots of little holes between your tiles. Because they are lower than the surrounding floor, they may accumulate a lot of dirt and grime. The fact that they are lower than the rest of the surface makes cleaning them even more difficult.
Your countertop should be as uniform as possible. Anytime you wipe the dirt away, it should take just one smooth motion that covers the entire length of the surface. Your stovetop won’t be linked to the countertops or tables around it, but there’s no reason you can’t make them as close to matching. It will make cleaning your stovetop easier, and your kitchen will be more sanitary.
Make sure the countertops and stovetops are close to the walls, as well. You won’t notice the dirt buildup behind them, but your wall will soon get cluttered if you don’t clean it.
Clean Kitchen Counters Without Paper Towels: Going Green on Your Wallet
Kitchen cleaning has long been heralded as the savior of paper towels. You just wipe up some filth and throw it away in the garbage. Unfortunately, they aren’t the most environmentally friendly choice. While it may be handy, it is still made of paper. Millions of trees are cut down every year to make room for this cleaning convenience.
You can achieve the same results with basic kitchen towels. They are washable, which is good because paper towels are not. You may also reduce your carbon footprint by going green on your wallet. Not having to buy paper towels every week may save you money.
Keep in mind the purpose of your bins, too. Paper towels produce a lot of trash, and this necessitates frequent waste removal.
Choose the Right Location for Kitchen Cabinets: Tips from the Pros
Your kitchen can’t function without cabinets. You’ll need somewhere to keep your silverware and clean dishes. Choosing the right location may make a significant difference between a tidy kitchen and one that’s cluttered. If your cabinets are inconvenient and difficult to access, you won’t be overly excited about putting the clean cups and plates away after supper.
Try to find the point in between your stove and dishwasher, where you can easily get anything from your cabinets. Not only will this enable you to clean faster and more efficiently, but you’ll be much quicker and more efficient when you need to cook or prepare something.
Cabinets should also be simple to clean. Don’t use any crazy angles or protruding parts in your designs. It’s challenging to keep this clean, and it’s particularly important to be able to do so in the kitchen.
Kitchen Floors: Why They Matter and What to Look For
When it comes to cleaning, kitchen floors may not immediately come to mind, but they are crucial. The kitchen is a high-traffic area. You’re cooking one minute, and the next minute people are walking around spreading dirt on your flooring. Without a well-controlled floor, most of your surface cleaning would be directed downwards.
Grease and water are prevalent sights on the kitchen floor, which makes walking in it while preparing dangerous. To keep you from tumbling down, you’ll need some sort of non-slip, easy-to-clean surface. Rubber mats are a fantastic solution for preventing slips and falls. We are only 1 minute away from this bus stop.
It’s also crucial to select the proper material. You want to make cleaning the floor as simple as cleaning the countertop. This necessitates specific materials that are both durable and manipulable. Engineered wood or vinyl could be your best option. Anything without grout lines would be great. The good news is that you will also receive something to match your kitchen’s design.
Large Format Tile vs. Hardwood Flooring
Large format tile is an excellent choice if you want to tile your kitchen. You may also request that your tile installers use the smallest amount of grout suggested by the manufacturer. Also, don’t forget to ask for stain-resistant epoxy grout that’s easy to clean. Flooring with a smooth vinyl surface will also have minute pits or no pits at all. Linoleum with little texture is also very simple to maintain.
But most of us desire to bring the hardwood flooring in our connecting living areas into our kitchens. If you choose prefinished wood flooring with beveled edges in your kitchen, you’ll have to deal with gaps and grooves between planks. It’s impossible to clean the gaps between these ridges because crumbs and spilled liquid can get trapped there. As a result, cleaning those nooks is a tough job for the kitchen island.
Look for prefinished floors with micro bevels to make cleaning easier. Tiny crevices that will less likely to gather as many crumbs are more easily cleaned. You may also pick wider planks, which have fewer crevices. The best easy-to-clean wood floor is one that has unfinished planks put down and stained on site. Unfinished planks (square edge) are firmly joined together and have no gaps. As a result, the entire surface is relatively smooth, making it simple to sweep and mop.
The Best Sink for Your Kitchen: Undermount or Built-In?
A sink is required in any kitchen, whether you’re washing or rinsing dirty dishes. Even if you have a dishwasher on hand, you’ll need accessible water to wash the dinnerware. A double bowl sink is a popular choice among homeowners because it allows them to maintain two distinct areas for cleaning and drying. This way, you can be confident that no dirt will be transferred from objects that have not been cleaned.
One of the essential decisions you’ll make regarding your sink is whether to put it under mount or built-in. This makes cleaning much easier than the overmount alternative. You may simply deposit any debris on the sink and save yourself the bother of collecting it.
The Low-Maintenance Countertop: Corian, Quartz, and Steel
Corian, quartz, and steel are non-porous surfaces that make excellent countertops. They don’t have grooves to trap dirt, grease, or food and are simple to clean since they’re a solid surface. Quartz is an ideal option for individuals who want the look of marble or granite but don’t want to take care of it. These low-maintenance characteristics are why quartz surfaces are so prevalent in fast food restaurants and hospitals. And quartz is a fantastic substitute for people who love the appearance of marble or granite but don’t want to maintain it.
Kitchen Trash Cans: Keeping Your Kitchen Clean and Organized
The easier it is to spot your garbage and recycling bins, the less likely you’ll be to leave dirty malware or broken packaging around. Where should your trash and recycling be kept? To make cleaning up as efficient as possible, they should be placed beneath the sink or as near to it as feasible. Minimal possibilities for spills and mess are created by keeping sinks and garbage cans at a safe distance. There are several designs of cabinets with pull-out bins, making them easy to get to without drawing attention.
Why should a kitchen only have one trash can? Add another trash bin to the area near your refrigerator, dining room, pantry, or anywhere else you may need to dispose of waste or scraps of food. If you have wall counter space, a second integrated trash can or even tiny trash can incorporated into a buffet or cabinet may save you several steps and make cleaning up faster and easier.
Clean a Backsplash Without Grout: Easier Maintenance for Quartz, Granite, Marble
Wiping down a backsplash without grout is much simpler. Quartz, granite, marble, porcelain, and quartzite slabs are flat, smooth surfaces that may be cleaned with a cloth or sponge in a matter of seconds. On a backsplash, however, marble is highly porous and stains easily. Marble may also be stained by splatters of tomato sauce or wine. Back-painted glass, mirrors, stainless steel sheets, and even washable, durable paint provide functional wall surfaces that are easy to maintain.
Stainless Steel Appliances That Are Fingerprint-Resistant: The Best Options for You
Look for stainless steel appliances that are fingerprint-resistant. Avoid stainless steel kitchen appliances with non-stainless steel, easy-to-wipe surfaces. Examine the knobs on stoves and ovens for tight crevices that may be difficult to clean. Ensure enough clearance between the knobs to allow for a rag, wipe, or sponge.
When you have the option, choose self-cleaning appliances. If possible, look for coffee makers with an automatic cleaning function. Ovens with a pyrolytic cleaning option are also worth looking for. The oven is heated to extremely high temperatures in order to burn off any residue using pyrolytic cleaning. Some steam ovens include automatic steam cleaning and drying routines. According to what I’ve read, ovens with pyrolytic cleaning features clean themselves more effectively than those that have a self-cleaning option that employs steam.
The Induction Cooktop: Quick and Easy Cleaning or the Conventional Gas Stove?Â
An induction cooktop is a cooktop that works on electricity. There are no hard-to-clean grates or recessed surfaces like those on a gas cooktop. Wiping an induction cooktop is just as simple as cleaning a smooth countertop. However, if you prefer to use gas as a chef, the ease of cleaning the induction surface may not be worth sacrificing your beloved gas stove. It’s all about what’s essential to you: quick or natural cleanliness.
Why Slab Cabinets Are Better Than Curly Cabinets: Fewer Nooks and Crevices Mean Easier Cleaning
Cabinets with crown molding, corbels, and ornamental legs may look fantastic in a conventional kitchen, but you’ll have more surfaces to clean. Most homeowners are choosing Shaker cabinets these days, and they’re far more straightforward to clean than the elaborate curly cabinets of the late 1990s and early 2000s. Even shaker cabinets have ridges that catch and hold crumbs and dust. Slab, flat-front cabinets have no grooves or ridges that need extra cleaning.
As much as possible, eliminate nooks and crevices. In general, the fewer nooks and crannies there are in your kitchen, the less time it will take to clean them. This implies avoiding small drawers in cabinets and, instead, choosing big cabinet hardware doors that open up to expose one large storage area. Even better if you can skip the upper cabinets.
Kitchen Shelves vs. Kitchen Drawers: Which is Best for You?
Open shelves, however, are perfect for displaying beautiful items and are very popular, but they can be high-maintenance since dust, oil, and grime may settle there. They also need to be groomed and arranged to look elegant. Not only will dust and grime decide on the shelves themselves, but also on any plates, glasses, or other objects you put on open shelves. As a result, not only will you have to move things off the shelves to clean them, but you’ll have to dust the items as well.
If you prefer open shelves and don’t want to spend as much time cleaning them, use mostly cabinets and limit the number of open shelves in your kitchen. Also, keep cabinets several feet away from the cooktop to prevent grease and grime from accumulating.
Both shelves and drawers are incredible at collecting crumbs and other food particles. Liners can be purchased on Amazon or produced in various colors, designs, and materials. You may simply wash the contents of your drawers and shelves in the sink, so they’ll be clean and sanitary. They also protect wood wall cabinets from water and oil damage, especially those constructed of oak or walnut.
Invest in a Powerful Range Exhaust Hood for a Grease-Free Kitchen
Invest in a powerful range exhaust hood that can remove dust, dirt, smoke, and grime. A decent vent hood will most grease, dust, and dirt away from your kitchen to prevent debris and filth from settling on interior surfaces. Avoid ductless or down draft vents and those over-the-range microwave filters that just recirculate stale air back into the kitchen. Those exhaust solutions won’t be nearly as effective as exhaust hoods that effectively remove stale, greasy air and odors from the kitchen.
Look to the cooktop manufacturer’s recommendations for the required amount of ventilation for gas cooktops/ranges. A rule of thumb for gas cooking is that your exhaust should have 1 CFM for every 100 BTUs. The acronym “CFM” stands for “cubic feet per minute,” which measures how much air is moving. Since BTUs are used to measure heat energy, they’re a measure of heat energy. Although the rule of thumb is to get a vent hood with 1 CFM for every 100 BTUs of your gas cooktop, you should ultimately follow or exceed the guidelines provided by the cooktop’s manufacturer, whether it’s a gas or electric, or induction cooktop.
