What level of tidiness is your kitchen usually maintained at?

[Mub]

I have a tidy husband. He likes to keep the house tidy but the kitchen is his particular focus. I mean so do I but I think he’s a tad overboard. He says he finds a messy kitchen depressing and puts him off cooking (he cooks a lot) and it reminds him of his house growing up (hoarder parents).

Dh maintains the kitchen at a 8 or 9 / 10. Which seems overboard. The counters are always clear and wiped, sparkling taps and a clear sink. Everyday he will wipe down bins and fronts of cupboards/fridge/kettle etc (I see this as too much). The hob is properly wiped after every use (even if we only fried eggs and not too much of a mess was made).

The worst that ever needs doing is a sweep and a mop (we have large dogs). He’s not annoying with it as he gets on with it himself. But it’s exhausting to watch! He’s always washing down the sink with the hose attachment.

for example we deep cleaned yesterday as we had people over for the evening. He’s got up and given downstairs and the kitchen a tidy. Sure it got a little messy - glasses, crumbs etc but it’s mostly still fine. He streams the floor every day. I would just use the flash mop personally

Am I crazy?

I'm with your husband on this one but my husband and kids are at a permanent 5 which stresses me out.

Why wouldn’t you wipe your hob after use? Oil splatters from eggs are grim if left to sit
and if you have dogs then your floor probably does need sweeping daily
I have a clean and tidy kitchen every day and probably similar to your DH

I’m with your husband. It’s somewhere I prepare food to eat. I don’t want grim rotting remains of previous days meals.

at the most we have a couple of mugs / plates in the (clean) sink while we wait for dishwasher to finish.

Same standard here.

I am messy, DH is neat.
I do not enjoy cleaning. Absolutely.
Even I realised that quick 3 min wipe down is easier than letting things build up and having to spen more time at once cleaning it😬 So I am with your DH even as messy person.
He still does the big clean with me "helping" because I loath it.
I do like hoovering though!

If my husband wanted to do all that-fine!

I hate cleaning and I live alone. But for me it's just depressing to walk into the kitchen first thing in the morning to see last night's dishes and bits and pieces all over.

So I keep the sides and sink and hob clean. I wouldn't clean the floor or wipe down the cabinets daily, but I like to be able to walk in and it's all tidy whenever I go in. So it's probably kept around a 7? Ish.

In fairness we have very very pale limestone floors which show EVERYTHING. Came with the house. Hate them

Ours is probably around 4 out of 10 at the moment. We have no space. Tiny kitchen, 5 of us here currently. 1 vegan, 1 veggie and 3 omni. Pans, trays, cooking implements, serving bowls, the lot are so multiplied with varied diets, so kitchen always has something waiting to be dealt with.
Cooker, microwave, kettle and sink are clean. The rest takes its turn.

House vibe is more old time Coronation Street than Modern Designs. Everyone mucks in, so I find it hard to be bothered.

I'm also with your husband.
Although in our house it's also DH who cleans because he retired early.
I think it's important to keep on top of the kitchen mess. I'm not a " it's just a few crumbs type of a person"

Robot hoover!
Saved our sanity when we had pale floors.

I definitely would not bother wiping the hob beyond a couple times a week. I always thought they were supposed to me a bit messy (my parents rarely wiped ours)

The hob needs wiping every time. Grim to leave it and makes stuff stick on from extra cooking.

I don’t clean the cupboards more than maybe once a month but I clean as I go. It’s messy but I think people would accept a cup of tea

It’s one never ending fuck awful fucking battle in this house.

I need it clean, clear and everything in its place. Because, you know, everything has a place. EVERYTHING.

That said, today I did a fry up. I didn’t have any of it. Left the kitchen and them all to it.
Went back in to begin the cleaning… and fuck me! It had been done! They had done it!

So today, believe it or not, I am less angry and defeated.

10. I can’t stand to look at mess

Supposed to be messy?🤢

I’m with your husband. A messy kitchen makes me feel very stressed so I very much clean and tidy as I go.
Ive spent the last couple of hours baking and apart from some things cooking on the side and some bread waiting to go in the oven, you wouldn’t know.

Eek! No, the hob gets wiped clean and buffed (induction) after every use.

I don't keep my kitchen that clean/tidy, though I'd love it to be sparkling and pristine all the time. I just don't care enough to put in the effort. I have other things I'd rather focus that energy on (including indulging lazy moments here and there).

However, as he's happy to maintain it himself, I think you have to just accept that this is how he is and try not to be bothered by it. I can imagine feeling awkward and unable to completely relax while he's cleaning, so I sympathise, and I'd worry slightly that if he's ever unable to do it himself, he'll want you to pick up the slack to keep it to the same standard. Might never happen, though, so not really worth thinking about, if you can help it.

9-10 - 9 if I have to leave something soaking in the sink overnight, otherwise 10. I prepare food in here, it's really important that it's clean!

Team husband. And if he is happy to do it, leave him be. I like everywhere being clean/tidy as I find mess and dust and dirt depressing. Always keep sink, worktops, hob wiped down and wipe cupboard doors very regularly. Leaving the hob dirty is pretty grim.

Probably a 7. I wipe cupboard fronts weekly and if I notice they need it, brush up crumbs but only steam mop once a week. Hob and worktops wiped after every use. Bin cleaned whenever it’s emptied. I’ve only been able to do this since we got a new kitchen installed with twice as much storage and I love that we don’t have busy, messy counters any more. In our old kitchen, I felt no matter how much I cleaned it didn’t look clean and it was quite depressing. It also helps that student DC are living away from home these days!

On The Douglas Sea Scale I would be Moderate to Rough

I think you’re the issue here OP, not your husband. Sorry. 🙊

We don’t wipe down the front of the cupboards every day, but do everything else you’ve mentioned. We have a cleaner that does the fronts of cupboards once or twice a week though.

Just be glad he does it!

I think mine would be a 2 on his scale. The hob is dirty and there's permanently a small pile of recycling in the sink needing washed out. And I only mop the floor once in a blue moon.