Professionals clean a kitchen in a fixed order, and the order is most of the trick. Chemicals go on first and work while other jobs happen, dust falls downwards so high surfaces come before low ones, and floors are always last. Follow the sequence and a full kitchen deep clean takes two to three hours. Ignore it and the same work takes five, because you keep re-cleaning things.
The order
- Oven cleaner on, racks in to soak
- Descaler on taps, sink and kettle
- Degreaser on the extractor filter, in the sink
- Empty and clean cupboard interiors
- Tops of cupboards
- Splashback, tiles and grout
- Appliance exteriors and interiors
- Oven finished
- Worktops
- Sink and taps finished
- Skirting, kickboards, switches, handles
- Floor
Steps one to three happen in the first five minutes and are not completed until steps eight and ten. That waiting time, running in parallel with everything else, is where the hours are saved.
Step by step
Get the chemicals working
Coat the oven interior with cleaner, avoiding the heating element, the fan and any catalytic liners, which are the rough matte panels that caustic cleaner destroys permanently.
Put the racks in the bag that comes with the gel kit, or in a bath of hot water with a scoop of biological washing powder. The enzymes digest fat, so the racks need a fraction of the scrubbing afterwards. This is the most useful trick in kitchen cleaning and almost nobody uses it.
Put the extractor filter to soak in the sink with very hot water and a strong degreaser, or the same biological solution.
Wrap a descaler-soaked cloth around the tap spout, or tie a small bag of descaler over it so the spout sits submerged.
Then walk away from all of it for thirty minutes and do something else.
Cupboard interiors, one at a time
Empty one cupboard, wipe the interior including the back corners and the runners, dry it, put the contents back. Then the next. Emptying the entire kitchen at once produces a mess large enough to make people stop, and half-finished kitchens stay half-finished.
Hot water with a little washing-up liquid handles most interiors. Use degreaser for the cupboards nearest the hob, where an invisible film builds up on the inside of the doors.
Take the opportunity to throw things away. A deep clean is the natural moment to deal with the three half-empty bags of flour and the spice jar from 2019.
Tops of cupboards
If your units do not run to the ceiling, the tops carry a film of grease bonded to dust which is genuinely unpleasant and almost never cleaned. Degreaser, left for a couple of minutes, then a scraper edge or a stiff cloth.
Line them with baking parchment afterwards. Next year you replace the paper instead of doing the job.
Splashback, tiles and grout
Degreaser applied from the bottom upwards, which prevents streaks running down over dry areas. Leave it to dwell, then wipe from the top down.
Grout needs a stiff brush rather than a cloth. If the grout is discoloured rather than dirty, cleaning will not fix it, and a grout pen or regrouting is the honest answer.
Appliances
Fridge. Empty it, remove shelves and drawers and wash them in the sink, wipe the interior with warm water and a little bicarbonate of soda rather than a scented cleaner, since fridges absorb smells and you will taste a lemon spray for a fortnight. Do the door seals with an old toothbrush, since that fold holds mould. Vacuum the condenser coils at the back or underneath, because dust there makes the fridge work harder and shortens its life.
Freezer. Defrost fully rather than chipping at ice. Towels on the floor, bowls of hot water inside, door open.
Washing machine. The detergent drawer comes out completely and goes in the sink. The rubber door seal has a fold at the bottom that holds water, mould and small items, so pull it back and clean inside it. The filter is behind a panel at the bottom front and should be emptied over a towel and a shallow tray, because there will be more water than you expect. Finish with a hot empty cycle, ideally at 90°C.
Dishwasher. The filter unscrews from the base. The spray arms lift off and their holes clear with a cocktail stick. Wipe the door seal.
Microwave. A bowl of water with lemon on full power for three minutes steams the interior loose, including the roof, which is the part everyone forgets.
Kettle. Descale it. In a hard water area this is a monthly job, not an annual one.
The oven, finished
Scrape the softened deposits out with a plastic scraper, never metal, working top down so debris falls to the base.
Wipe repeatedly with hot water until no residue remains. Caustic residue left behind smokes and smells on first use. Six or seven rinses with changed water is normal.
Do the door glass at a shallow angle with the scraper. Many oven doors come apart via two screws at the top edge, giving access to the cavity between the panes where drips collect.
Racks out of the soak, wire wool, rinse, dry immediately so they do not rust.
Worktops, sink and the rest
Worktops after the cupboards above them, not before. The join where the worktop meets the wall collects debris and needs a thin tool or a skewer wrapped in cloth.
Sink last of all the surfaces, because it has been your dirty water reservoir all day. Descaler on the taps and around the base, a brush in the overflow hole, then a metal polish or a dry microfibre buff for the shine.
Then skirting boards, kickboards, light switches, handles, and the bin inside and out.
Floor
Sweep or vacuum thoroughly first, edges included. Mopping over grit grinds it into the surface and scratches the finish, which is the most common cause of dull kitchen floors.
Then mop, working out of the room rather than into it. Change the water when it is dirty rather than when you finish, since a dirty mop redistributes grease rather than removing it.
Products that earn their place
You need far fewer than the supermarket aisle suggests.
- A proper degreaser. The single most useful product in a kitchen
- A limescale remover. In hard water areas, non-negotiable
- Bicarbonate of soda. For fridges and gentle abrasion on stainless steel
- A caustic oven cleaner with a rack bag
- Biological washing powder for soaking racks and filters. Cheap and very effective
- Microfibre cloths, several, colour-coded so the one that did the bin never touches the worktop
- A plastic scraper and an old toothbrush
- Long chemical-resistant gloves
What you do not need is a different branded spray for every surface. Most are the same detergent with different fragrance and a different bottle.
Two safety points. Never mix bleach with an acidic descaler, which releases chlorine gas. And never use acidic descaler on natural stone worktops such as marble or limestone, which it dissolves permanently, leaving dull etched patches that only re-polishing will fix.
How long it takes
| Kitchen | One person |
|---|---|
| Small galley | 1.5 to 2 hours |
| Average family kitchen | 2.5 to 3.5 hours |
| Large kitchen diner | 4 to 5 hours |
| Neglected for 2 years+ | Add 2 hours, mostly the oven |
| Hard water area | Add 30 to 45 minutes |
Those figures assume you follow the sequence. Working room-randomly roughly doubles them.
Keeping it
The kitchen decays faster than anywhere else in a house because heat, grease and water all meet there. Four habits hold a deep clean for months:
- Wipe the hob while it is still warm, not hot. Warm grease lifts with a cloth
- Run the extractor for ten minutes after cooking rather than switching it off with the hob. Most kitchen grease on walls and cupboards got there because the extractor was switched off too early
- Descale the tap and kettle monthly in a hard water area
- Wipe the fridge seals once a month, which prevents the mould that eventually stops the door sealing properly
None takes more than a minute, and together they postpone the next deep clean substantially.
Frequently asked questions
How often should a kitchen be deep cleaned? Twice a year for the full job, with the oven and extractor filter quarterly if you cook most days.
Can I use bicarbonate of soda instead of oven cleaner? For light, recent grease, yes. For baked-on carbon, no. It is a mild abrasive and will not dissolve carbonised fat.
What is the worst job? The oven, by a distance, followed by the tops of the cupboards.
Should I do the fridge on the same day? Yes, but empty it into a cool box first and do it early, so food is out of temperature for as little time as possible.
Do I need to pull the appliances out? For a proper deep clean, yes, at least annually. Turn off the water and power first, and be careful with flooring, since appliance feet mark vinyl and wood.
