A kitchen deep clean is mostly about two substances: grease that has been carried around the room as vapour and settled everywhere, and limescale where water sits. Everything else is ordinary cleaning.
Because both need contact time, the order you work in makes an enormous difference. Get the slow treatments on early and the rest of the job happens while they work.
The short version
- Start the oven and any soaking jobs before anything else
- Grease travels: the tops of wall units and the ceiling above the hob are affected
- Extractor filters are the reason a clean kitchen gets greasy again
- Fridge seals, washing machine gaskets and dishwasher filters cause most smells
- Floors last, edges included
Set the slow jobs going
Apply oven treatment, put the extractor filter into hot water with a degreaser, and drop the hob burner caps or the dishwasher filter in to soak. All of these work without you.
While they sit, clear the worktops completely. Cleaning around a kettle, a toaster and a knife block is roughly twice as slow as cleaning an empty surface.
Work from the top down
Grease vapour rises and settles, so the tops of wall units, the ceiling above the hob, light fittings and the extractor housing all carry a sticky film that collects dust. It is the layer people never see and always notice once it is gone.
An alkaline degreaser applied and given a minute or two will release it. Wiping dry, or immediately after spraying, just smears it around.
- Tops of wall units and the extractor housing
- Ceiling and wall area above the hob
- Light fittings and any open shelving
- Door frames and the tops of doors
Cupboards, inside and out
Empty each cupboard, wipe the interior, and let it dry before anything goes back. Doing one cupboard at a time avoids covering the worktops with everything at once.
Handles and the area around them hold more soil than the doors themselves. So does the edge under each door, where fingers pull it open.
Appliances
Appliance interiors are where kitchen smells come from, and they are almost always neglected because the problem is out of sight.
- Oven interior, shelves, runners and between the door panes
- Extractor filter degreased, and the fan grille wiped
- Fridge shelves, drawers, seals and the drip channel at the back
- Washing machine door gasket, detergent drawer and filter
- Dishwasher filter, spray arm holes and door edge
- Microwave interior including the ceiling of the cavity
Keeping it clean afterwards
A kitchen stays clean far longer if the extractor is doing its job, because the extractor is what stops cooking vapour settling across the room in the first place. Washing the filter regularly is the single highest-value habit in a kitchen.
The second habit is wiping surfaces while they are still warm. Grease and food residue come off a warm hob or splashback with a cloth, and the same soil an hour later needs a degreaser and dwell time. A five-minute wipe after cooking removes most of the reason a deep clean is ever needed.
Finally, keep the worktops as clear as you reasonably can. Every appliance and container on a surface is something to move each time you clean, and the film that builds up underneath them is what makes a kitchen feel grubby even when it has just been cleaned.
- Wash the extractor filter monthly, more often with frequent frying
- Wipe the hob and splashback while still warm
- Deal with spills in the oven before they are baked hard again
- Keep worktops clear so routine cleaning stays quick
Sink, taps and limescale
The sink area is a limescale and biofilm job. Descale the taps, the aerator on the spout and around the base where water pools, then deal with the waste and the overflow, which are frequent sources of smell.
On stone or composite worktops, use a pH-neutral cleaner and keep acidic descalers well away from the surface. Acid on natural stone causes etching, which is physical damage and cannot be cleaned off afterwards.
Splashbacks, worktops and floors
Splashbacks and tiling behind the hob need a degreaser with dwell time. Grout lines hold grease and discolour, and a soft brush works far better than a cloth on a textured joint.
Finish with the floor, including under the kick boards where crumbs collect, and the edges where the floor meets the units. On vinyl and LVT, avoid over-wetting joints and never use abrasive pads, which dull the wear layer permanently.
- Degreaser and a soft brush on grout lines
- pH-neutral cleaner on stone and sealed surfaces
- Kick boards removed or wiped underneath where possible
- Floor edges and corners, not just the open middle