How do you keep your kitchen clean

[Getting2me]

Everyday the sink and counters are full of dishes and mess, the cooker is caked all over in dried up food, and I've got to wipe everything down and brush and mop the floor thats covered in all sorts. I'm going through a bottle of washing up liquid every couple of weeks, sounds excessive but there isnt much obvious foam and the water gets dirty and dishes dont get cleaned unless I douse them. Also have to fill up the sink several times before everything gets washed. There is nothing going on besides ordinary cooking and I'm fed up with it.

Clearing up as you go and a dishwasher

I put all my dirty dishes in the dishwasher as soon as they've been used, so nothing hanging around the countertop. If I spill anything on the hob, I clean it straight away while it's warm. I clean up the whole kitchen before I go to bed and hoover ot every 2-3 days. Then I have a cleaner who does a deeper clean on it every other week.

Well kitchens are used 3 times a day usually and you have to clear up as you go along. Don’t leave breakfast dishes in the sink and wipe the counters down whenever a meal has been prepped.

How much cooking do you do every day?

It’s hard to see how adults can make this much mess just with ordinary cooking. The answer is to be more careful, and to clean up a bit as you go. Have a dishcloth and some spray to hand (I just use washing up liquid and water in a spray bottle) and if I spill or flick something onto the hob as I am stirring, I spray and wipe, or just wipe, as I go. But it’s not hard not to let things spill and boil over on a hob, really. We make our own bread and that’s very crusty, so the worktops and floor get crumby every day, so we just wipe down the tops and sweep the floor after finishing the dishes in the evening. We are a shoes-off house with doormats at the entrances, so the floor doesn’t need actually washing more often than once a week.

It might be different with children in the house, but in general: put things away as soon as you’ve used them; wipe up spills as soon as they happen; wash up regularly and put away.

Same as others have said really! I empty the dishwasher first thing so I just fill it through out the day. I clean counters after every meal, wipe the hob, splash back and surround every evening after tea. I have a hoover and mop robot that I send round every day sometimes twice. Everything has its place and I put things away after I used them.

And having bins or other receptacles for bins and recycling either in the kitchen or an adjacent room, or just outside the back door, means you don’t end up with ‘mess’ around on the worktops, and can put things where they belong as soon as they are finished with.

I am sensing though, looking again at the post, that all this mess might not be of your making, OP? Are your family creating havoc that you then deal with on your own? If so, then they are heathens who need taking in hand. It’s not also your job. Everyone is responsible for the mess they make, and nobody gets back in the kitchen until their previous mess is cleared away and made clean for everyone else to use, too.

Tidy and clean little and often, so as you go along. It is a bit of a cliche but it works. The thing is you think I'll do it later but then it becomes a huge job and never-ending and it gets you down. Before you eat put pans etc to soak. Clear up straight away if you spill something. Get ingredients out, take out what you need then put away. You should then just be left with dirty plates and cutlery to wash. But yes a big you need a place for everything and use it Cree

Cree ffs!

Get yourself a dishwasher, asap!
Mine broke over Christmas and I got to remember life without one for 3 weeks. Honestly, doing dishes by hand is a time bandit. That’s not an exaggeration. I really noticed how much doesn’t get done when you’re hand washing dishes. And you just run out of steam yourself. Ok if it’s just for yourself but if you’re hand washing dishes for a family, it’s overwhelming. Get yourself a half-size dishwasher if space is an issue. A dishwasher will be worth EVERY single penny.

This ^

DM was pretty easy going about most things but anyone using 'her' kitchen was required to leave it clean.

How I wish that DH had had similar training.

How is it getting so messy? I had a tiny kitchen with two small children and no dishwasher and it was always clean and tidy. I washed up after each meal, wiped the surfaces/table and cleaned any mess on the cooker at the time. Dishes were dried and put away. A quick dustpan and brush if there was debris on the floor. You just need to keep on top of it after each meal.

Just clear up as you go, I honestly can’t understand how anyone can make this much mess.

Dishwasher!
It's on everyday

Quick wipe of cooker and counter tops everyday

Every week all cupboards, fridge, doors get a proper scrub

The floor gets swept every day and a quick Hoover too

I clean as I go, it doesn’t build up. We do have a dishwasher though, but pots and pans I immediately soak on serving , sometimes even washing then through before eating.

Clean as you go so it never ever gets that bad.

How many of you live there op? There has to be something going on for there to be this much mess?

Welcome to housework!!

As everyone else said: clean as you go.
I tend to empty the dishwasher from the night before as the DCs are eating breakfast, then it’s empty and ready to go for todays things.
Wipe as I go - counter tops, table, sink etc.
When I’m cooking, as soon as I’m finished with a pot or utensil, it goes straight in the dishwasher. Then it gets turned on when everyone’s finished dinner.
Granted, before I had my dishwasher, it took longer washing everything in the sink, but still: clean as you go. Stop it piling up and seeming like one massive job.

If you're cooking three times a day, cut that way back. Nobody needs three hot meals cooked fresh daily. Batch cook, or at least only cook once a day.

If you have family members who destroy the kitchen, it's time to read them the riot act.

When you're cooking, clean as you go. Don't leave your pots boiling furiously, or get mesh splash guards to plop on top, spray and wipe spills as they happen, always have even a little piece of tin foil where you can lay down a wooden spoon or other utensil that's covered in sauce while you're still using it, to keep the hob clean. If you're baking, the first thing to do is fill a washing bowl with hot, soapy water to dump your baking utensils into and wipe clean as you go along so you don't end up using every single teaspoon in the drawer forgone cake or whatever.

If you could get a dishwasher, it would save you a lot of time and effort.

Well presumably from the first post, the OP doesn't have a dishwasher....

And maybe no space for one either..... just a thought.

This. I explained to DH that if he wants stuff like the hob to stay looking nice, wipe it down daily after cooking so I don't have to scrub off cold grease and wear it.

For those questioning the dishwasher. The OP asked how other people do it. I couldn't do it without a dishwasher. When I go to my daughter's, I spend hours washing up and putting away. Hours.

I just clean it all the bloody time 😂
We do have a dishwasher and also I have a policy of nothing living on countertops so it’s very easy to just spray and wipe over. No appliances, no utensils etc, all sides and island are totally clear.
we cook a lot, usually make ds his breakfast and unload the dishwasher from the night before. Dh will usually cook himself mid morning if he comes back from work (he eats mid morning and then an evening meal) and tidies up after himself mostly but if im wfh he’ll make something for both of us and then I’ll clear up as I go along. Dd is a college and does random hours so will often cook or make herself some lunch.
Ds gets home from school and makes himself a snack with mixed results from cleaning up. He will load the dishwasher but there are often things like a butter knife left out and the butter dish which lives high up in the cupboard (it’s easy to get it down but harder to put it back if you’re small!).
And then dinner rolls around, always a messy affair with someone making some kind of bread and then just general chaos in the kitchen.
everyone does pull their weight, it’s not all on me, but I’m home the most so find myself hoovering multiple times a day and wiping over the sides every time I’m in there.
TLDR - I’m just always fucking cleaning it 😂😂