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?

If you dont want him @Mub id be happy to trade 😆

May I suggest a quickie divorce and send your soon-to-be exDH round to mine.
To make things fair and square my soon-to-be ex DH will be round to yours express delivery.😎

Work surfaces, cleaned and disinfected multiple times a day. Floor swept when it becomes noticeable that it needs doing. Washed virtually never. Hob rarely cleaned. We don’t care about appearance but we do care about work surfaces as they might actually come into contact with food that we’d eat.

Our kitchen is cleaned twice a week but dh likes it sparkling all week so I leave him to it! If a man’s home is his castle let him clean it!

My family use the kitchen worktops and table in lieu of the junk drawer and it drives me mad. Clutter everywhere!
However, wiping down the cupboards, bin and kettle every day would be stressful.
As long as it’s clean, somewhere in between would be ok for me as it’s a working kitchen and full house and I have to be realistic.

I'm with DH on this one.

I wipe my worktops down several times a day. Annoyingly they are black (why did i pick black!) and show up every tiny crumb.

Cooker generally wiped down daily as well.

Bins get a proper clean and Zoflora treatment everytime I change the bin bag so at least twice a week.

I’m with your DH.
Only wiping the hob a couple of times a week is grim.

Mine is always clean - wipe up spills/crumbs as they occur, but it can get untidy.
I don't have a dishwasher and with just me and DS at home often we only need to wash up once a day. So the sink and the side of sink might have cups and the odd plate if either of us were home for lunch.
The kitchen table can also get cluttered with day to say stuff - but that's normal isn't it?
I don't wipe cupboards, bins, appliances daily. The hob does get cleaned after every use.
I think your DH could lighten up a bit, after all a kitchen is a busy room. No need to deep clean it every day.

With your husband on this one as well daily with the kitchen frontals wiped down weekly and as and when in between if they have grubby marks on them.
worktops twice a day as I can’t stand to see crumbs and dust on them.
kitchen table daily we have cats so it’s also for hygienic reasons.

My kitchen is always spotless, the floor does however have toys on, the freezer has magnets on that my child plays with, but surfaces, floor, hob, sink etc is always extremely clean. Its the way I prefer it so its never a massive job!

id be quite happy if the kitchen was between a 6 and a 7. My daughter and her partner, when she visits, clean it up to about a 9 or at least 8 and a half. DH will occasionally get it to that level..I only keep it between a 6 and 7, except when a friend is coming over for a chinwag in which case I might aim for an 8.

Unless we're seeing people for food or just tea/coffee, I can't really be bothered..

I wish I was as motivated as your husband!! I'd say 7 for ours, although on your husband's scale it's probably less!

I’m also with your husband and don’t see that as an eight or nine out of ten, just basic cleanliness

I’m really shocked you think a hob should be wiped once or twice a week, that’s disgusting, it takes seconds to do and should be done after every use,

Mine is immaculate, except inside the oven which is ming. I hate myself for it, but not as much as I hate cleaning it.

Are you complaining about watching him do the work of cleaning the kitchen to a nice standard? Really?

Who wants to go into a dirty and or messy kitchen to cook? I think he's got a good point. You leave spatters and spills and they get hard to remove and ick.

The only quibble I have is about how the flooring will hold up to daily steaming.

I'm with your husband and wish he'd come and live with me! Why does it bother you if he's doing it himself? Just don't watch.

I can’t Get past you thinking hobs should be “a bit messy”. The only mess that you can be refering to is grease, food etc, how can anyone think your hob should have that on it?

Surfaces and hob wiped after use is a fairly basic thing imo. (Well I wouldn’t wipe the hob if all I done was something water based eg boiling eggs, but frying eggs absolutely!)

Clear sink - ideally yes but sometimes the dishwasher is on so I’ll put something in there that will go in the dishwasher later. Definitely clear at the end of the day.

What does he think is happening to the kettle and the front of the cupboards that they need wiping daily?

What do you mean “supposed to be”? I could understand (but would disagree) if you’d said “I don’t really think it matters as the only thing that touches it is the bottom of the pans anyway so no problem if it’s left a couple of days”.

But supposed to be messy?

Like a sooty fireplace. Just the cost of doing business.

Mine’s probably about an 8 just now. Hob cleaned after use and oven wiped down a if used. Worktops cleaned multiple times a day before and after use. Gross I know, but the cat sits on them. Floor mopped daily again due to cat. I do a deep clean weekly

Can't stand a messy kitchen it doesn't help that I have a black kitchen and pale grey tiles on floor. robot hoover is my sanity on every day hoovers and washes. I have an island and that's it no counter space after that. have a pantry that opens up for tea and toast etc but door closes to hide it. no clutter no nothing is on the island apart from the fruit bowl. I would hide that too but husband likes it and takes fruit nearly every day out of it. it's a good habit to get into to clean counters down including hob is a given every day . it takes 5 mins literally why would you not do it

That level of cleaning would tire me out too OP. By all means be clean but you can focus on it too much to the expense of other things.
My DH grew up in a house with a mother who was extremely clean. And tidy. I mean very. As he says, there was a price that came with it.
Balance is best.

7 on busy days, 8-10 in general.
My issue is there's too many people with too many different footwear. It's like a goddamn shoe shop if I don't tell them/just put them away myself. I'm alone alot with everyone out working/socialising (I'm currently in a bad way with pain/exhaustion so rarely go out.)

My nights are making sure the kitchen is tidy before bed, then cleaned first thing every morning. If I'm doing the dishes, I might as well do the worktops. If I'm doing the work tops, I might as well do the hob. If I've done the hob, I might as well wipe the doors down. If I've wiped the doors down, might as clean the skirting. Then I hoover. Hoover - mop. Mop-infinite mini jobs that people will never truly notice as it's always mostly kept on top of. But they'd soon notice if I stopped! I am guilty of only cleaning the glass pendant kitchen light maybe once or twice a month though. It hurts too much to reach up for too long.

DH is great at doing jobs when he's home, not to my standard but definitely keeps on top of the important bits. Kids doing their part are hit and miss depending on their day. But when they do, they crack on with it and do a good job.

Mine’s probably a 3/10. I’m messy and don’t really care.