Tips for an easy(er) to clean kitchen

[sheeplikessleep]

We are hoping to have a new kitchen installed after Christmas, so starting to look at ideas.

BUT, I am quite slatternly on the house cleaning front, but we do cook quite a bit! So our kitchen takes a bit of a battering. Planning on buying a self-cleaning oven, but does anyone have any tips on what else we can build in or think about to try to minimise the (little!) kitchen cleaning we do

Not everyone will agree, but it's worth thinking about putting down the kitchen flooring before the units go in (so there is no cutting and fitting where spilt milk and ants can go), and also having the units on chrome legs with no plinth so you can mop under them.

Some people say that toys and peas will go under the units, but I find it is much more satisfying to be able to get down and swab under there or mop up water than to know it is filthy.

You can also put your mousetraps and ant poison at the back under the units.

Dammit, I just wrote a long post but lost it.

In summary

• Agree about the floor going under rather than round the cabinets

• I'd say do have plinths (but then I know I'd never clean under the cabinets )

• have appliances built in where possible. otherwise dirt collects down the sides

• electric hobs easier to clean than gas

• a worktop with a bit of pattern (eg granite) will hide dirt better . Avoid wood.

• try to have as little as possible sitting out on the worktops. So see if you can include in your design a place for eg cooking oils, cooking utensils etc to live so that they are not sitting out to collect grime.

• glass splashbacks better as grout collects dirt. Or large tiles at least.

thanks both for posting, useful points.
to be fair, i don't think i'll ever be strict enough to clean under cabinets either, but i do like the idea of floor going down before cupboards. i'd like 'built in' plinths' ;)
only concern i have with built in appliances (well 2 concerns) is that i have quite a new washing machine which i love and i want to keep! and also that if the appliance breaks down, it's then a pain to get new appliances?
worktop with a pattern is a good idea (our wooden worktop here when we've moved in is like the opposite of what i want - it stains, really difficult to get clean as all of the varnish or whatever has rubbed away and marks / burns easily)
glass splashbacks is also a brilliant idea, as yes grouting especially looks mucky after a while.

useful stuff, thank you

I'd opt for cupboards that go all the way to the ceiling, to avoid dirty tops to clean.

Also, a little wipe down of surfaces after breakfast and before going to bed makes the kitchen a bit less depressing when you get up or get back from work/school run. It's a bit annoying at first but once you get into the habit it is a quick and easy way to make the kitchen look much better (although you'll need to catch the crumbs from the worktop or they go all over the floor, making it look awful)

Re the appliances - fair enough if you love your washing machine! In that case I would say see if you can get strips to cover the gap between the washing machine and the next cabinet along - that would help stop stuff going in between. Also don't put it anywhere near the bin/other grubby areas.

I think it's fairly easy to replace a broken down integrated appliance though - you just have to unscrew the door from the broken appliance and then rescrew it onto the new one (and you have to pull out the plinth - but that's easy). Does mean you are limited to integrated models though.

Ooh yes, something I forgot. If you have space, consider a built in bin. It means that any dropped bits/splashes will go in the cabinet/drawer rather than on the floor/wall by the bin. That is a good and a bad thing - good because it looks neater, bad because the bits and splashes are in a cabinet/drawer so may be a bit harder to clean out.

Have a dishwasher.

Don't have it white as outside TV ads no-one cleans their floor enough to keep a white floor and base plinths sparkling white. Well probably someone does but I don't and it's depressing (half the white tiles are broken, too).

However white wall tiles with an integral grey smear design are not a good idea as they look dirty even when clean!