How do I remove built up grime from kitchen cupboards?

[wehaveonlyjustbegun]

Hi all - off work today so decided to clean outside of kitchen cupboards. Are there any products that would make it easier to remove the built up grime? Tried some baking soda. It did help, but are there any easier methods?

it's probably vapourised cooking fat that has stuck to the surfaces and hardened into a gummy varnish as it oxidises.

I find wiping over witha liquid detergent such as WUL or GP cleaner, and leaving it a while to soak in, then rubbing with a foam pad with more detergent, will get it off.

If you have a hand-painted kitchen, especially if it is not gloss, the paint will tend to be worn away.

It will be much worse on top of the cabinets, where it settles and dust sticks to it, so when you get those clean, put a throw-away protector such as paper or cling-film on the tops.

Try very hard not to let detergent or water get into the joints of the cabinets or any exposed particle board or MDF, only let it get on the painted ot laminated surfaces.

If you have a cooker hood that extracts the fumes, your kitchen will stay much cleaner. When you take out the grease filter you will see what a huge amount of fat deposits would otherwise have settled in your kitchen. You do have to get into the habit of turning it on before you use the cooker.

sugar soap

Dettol/Dettox do an anti-mould spray in a bright green bottle which I usually use in the bathroom (v small and grout in the corner sometimes goes a bit black as it's so damp)

I used it on the top of my cabinets and it did a great job - it was black with grease from when my extractor used to filter the air back into the kitchen before I got piping to feed the air outside.

I reckon it's quite harsh (smells of bleach) so you couldn't use it often, or leave it to soak, but I sprayed it on the muckiest areas, left it sit for 60 secs, and then took it off with kitchen roll which I binned.

For the doors, which were cleaner, I just sprayed it on the cloth and wiped over them.

I then wiped over everything with a clean damp cloth to get rid of the Dettol.

It got rid of that horrible 'tacky' sensation you get from slightly greasy surfaces, and didn't take much scrubbing at all.

Wear rubber gloves and have the window open though.

I used cif kitchen spray, as recommended by a friend. It was perfect for the job...

In fact, i should probably do it again .

Aldi do a pink grapefruit anti-bacterial spray which is the best grease cutter I've ever used - it's their own brand, Power Force, & is about 80p.

my kitchen cupboard doors have beading on & I spray them, scrub the beading with a kitchen sink brush, then wipe off with a microfibre cloth. it works really well

Thanks for the suggestions.

Pigletjohn - I think you are right, it is vaporised cooking fat. My kitchen is solid oak and I have a cooker hood and extractor fan which is not very powerful! I have an actifryer and it produces a lot of oily steam. I don't have WUL or Gp cleaner, so will look them up.

OTBWAWW -I do have Dettox Ant-mould spray so will have a go with it after lunch.

Jojane - must buy sugar soap as it would be useful to have in the house.

also it's not a health hazard like the Dettol mould remover - I love using that for some cleaning (in shower for instance) but usually have to pull my T-shirt over my mouth & nose - the fumes are horrendous

Janek - have seen cif kitchen spray so it should be easy to get.

Ponders - no Aldi here unfortunately! But doors have ridges which are also black, so will use an old toothbrush to get into the crevices.

Thanks again - I have made new curtains and blinds and am now turning my attention to the rest of the kitchen.

Recently cleaned my brothers place & it was THICK with the same congealed animal fat (so glad we are veggie) his was really bad & we still managed to et it all sparkling again:)

What worked was sugar soap, elbow grease & a steam cleaner on the grimmest bits - the rest of it came off easily with my favourite cleaning discovery - baby wipes :)

CIF etc didn't work at all on DBs kitchen, he had several types of cleaner & tried them all & all were a waste of time - the baby wipes worked better than them all

Use a cream cleaner like Cif. As a professional cleaner I used this successfully on some pretty bad kitchens! It's cheap too.

For really bad build up, Astonish paste is great on non scratch surfaces like tiles.

wehave WUL is washing up liquid and GP cleaner I think is general purpose cleaner.
I didn't know these things until quite recently thanks to this board! Good luck with it, it's a job I hate doing and you've reminded me it time for doing it again

strong solution of hot water and soda crystals - v cheap and effective.

strong solution of hot water and soda crystals - v cheap and effective.

strong solution of hot water and soda crystals - v cheap and effective.

strong solution of hot water and soda crystals - v cheap and effective.

I was going to suggest washing up liquid - squirt some straight onto the cloth. should do the trick, perhaps with a bit of CIF too.

What do you recommend burberryqueen ?

I second/third babywipes, they took loads of gunk off: cupboard doors, front of fridge, front of dishwasher, outside kettle and outside toaster. Rather frightening, really!

Doh! I actually thought WUL was a brand of cleaner, is it any wonder I couldn't find it

The anti-mould cleaner is doing too good a job as I am afraid it may damage the surface.

Will get some Cif and baby wipes and give them ago - the cupboards are going to annoy me now until I get them done.

Thank you for all your suggestions.

Bar keepers friend. I spent years trying to get a thick layer of vegetable oil out our cupboard then eventually smothered in in bar keepers friend and it was gone in a few minutes!

Baby wipes worked a treat for the sides of the 2 cupboards either side of my hob/cooker hood.

Green Cilit Bang

I use the orange Mr Muscle kitchen cleaner - dissolves grease in an instant.

I use white spirit! Probably not up everyone's street, but it brings my white kitchen cupboards up a treat!!