Maybe it’s because I have a tiny, city-sized kitchen, but more often than not, I find myself in a vicious cycle of cleaning. I somehow manage to dirty my kitchen every time I touch it, and I spend what feels like hours tidying it every week.
I knew I couldn’t be the only one with this problem, so I asked the Tasty Community to give me their best tips on maintaining a tidy kitchen with as little effort as possible.
Here are the 21 most helpful tips and insights I found, along with some useful insights from the r/CleaningTips community:
1.
“A kitchen may look clean, but if there are odors, especially if they’re emanating from the garbage can, it’s not really clean. A trick I have to avoid this problem is putting any potentially smelly items in a gallon-size Ziploc bag and freezing them throughout the week instead of just tossing them into the trash.”
2.
“My husband and I always have a ‘kitchen close’ policy. No matter how tired we are or how busy we are, we always clean the kitchen before bed. If we are going out that night, we will do the kitchen close before we go so that when we get back it’s already done. Our kitchen never gets out of control because we always ensure the sink is empty, counters are wiped, things are put away, and floors are swept.”
3.
“Keep less clutter on the counters. Get cabinet racks to organize and an organizer for pull-out drawers.”
4.
“Fill the sink with hot soapy water as you’re cooking. It makes it easy to wash and rinse off prep dishes and pots. You can wash things as you are waiting for water to boil, etc.”
5.
“It could simply be that the workflow is disorganized. Is there a place to put dirty dishes? Do you have separate prep, cook, and dishware sections? Is clutter that doesn’t belong in the kitchen being dumped in the kitchen? (mail, medicines on the counter instead of a specific place, groceries/bags, etc.)? You really need to break down what is causing the mess in very specific ways.”
6.
“Bleach powder in the sink; it smells so good afterward. Just leave it and wash it later for a clean sink.”
–Anonymous
7.
“One thing that works well for me is ‘body doubling.’ This can look like making a phone call to a friend, zoom/Skype chat, listening to a podcast, or having a friend come over and sit nearby. Just the presence of another person helps me a lot. I genuinely hate doing dishes, and we’ve never had a rental with a machine, so I totally get the desire to just ignore them.”
9.
“I always clean up as I go. It saves dealing with a colossal mess when it all adds up in the end. Done chopping the veggies? Wash the knife and cutting board and put them away (or slide them into the dishwasher). Done with that pan? Ditto!”
–Kat V., Washington
10.
“Unload the dishwasher once it’s done and don’t wait. Otherwise, dirty dishes will pile up in the sink instead of in the dishwasher where they belong.”
11.
“A place for everything, and everything in its place. Our kitchen is considered small based on American standards. The items we have out are a marble board with our salts and oils, two jars of utensils, a knife block, a compost caddy, chopping boards, a kettle, a toaster, a microwave, and a fruit bowl. Everything else goes onto shelves or in cupboards.”
12.
“One thing I do to help relieve the chore is to do mostly one-pan cooking dishes. I don’t even prepare an extra plate to serve my food. I eat straight out of the pan. This way, I only have one pan and a few utensils to wash.”
Download the free Tasty app to browse and save hundreds of one-pot and one-pan recipes to your phone (and keep your kitchen way cleaner in the process).
13.
“For people with low time and energy, doing it in bite-sized pieces is good. When you’re waiting for something to heat up in the microwave, do a couple of dishes. When you’re waiting for your water to boil, do some dishes. This helps keep the mess levels down.”
14.
“Fridge and cabinet organizational bins and devices. I have some sliding bins for the fridge that I put fruit and veggies in since the crisper drawers to me are the land of ‘I will forget about this, it will rot’…drinks go in crisper drawers now.”
15.
“If it’s a problem where you feel unmotivated to do the dishes, think hard about what you don’t like about it, and get specific about problems and solutions. Whether it’s replacements for old sponges/towels, a pair of gloves to avoid wet hands, more drying space, or just making sure to actually use enough soap, small adjustments can make a big difference in your experience.”
16.
“After cleaning the tops of your cupboards, cover them with newspaper. Kitchens are humid and greasy and dust catches and sticks to the newspaper instead of the tops of your cupboards. Next time you clean? Pull up the newsprint and it’s just an easy wipe.”
–KH, Canada
17.
“Go through fridge/freezer/pantry weekly. Eat down what you have, and toss expired food before the next shopping trip. We only go every eight weeks now for groceries and almost exclusively shop at Costco for 90% of what we need so things last longer. Fresh foods first, then pantry, then frozen, in that order for fruits, veggies, and dairy.”
18.
“The dish wand sponges are really handy — you can wash things without having to get your hands really gross, and it’s just one thing to grab instead of finding a clean cloth/sponge, finding soap, applying soap, etc.”
19.
“Wipe the counters, then vacuum after every meal. I have a cordless Dyson, and it takes less than 30 seconds to vacuum the whole kitchen after making a meal. It keeps crumbs from being kicked into tighter spaces and tracked throughout the house.”
20.
“Consider meal planning or cooking two meals in one day so you can give yourself days off from cooking and have more time to clean.”
21.
“One thing that has helped is putting all dirty dishes in a bin instead of the sink. Basically, it’s hard for me to wash dishes if all the dishes are in the way. So I have a big plastic bin next to the sink that I try to put all my dirty dishes in — that way my sink is clear to actually start washing them.”
Do you have any tips that belong on this list? Let us know in the comments or by filling out the anonymous form below. Your submission could be featured in an upcoming Tasty post!