Kitchen cabinets are attractive when they’re first installed, but the environment they exist in soon can mar their beauty if you don’t make it a practice of cleaning kitchen cabinets on a regular basis. It’s not simply the interiors that need cleaning, either. The exteriors of kitchen cupboards take a beating. They are attacked with air charged with cooking grease, sticky fingers, moisture, smoke, and food spills. If this build-up of grime is permitted to toughen and continue to increase over time, it’s going to be much tougher to remove, so you want to clean your cupboards frequently.
Regularly a gentle soap, like a grease-cutting dish detergent, and warm water will do the trick as long as your cabinets are laminate, painted, plastic, metal, or wood-grained vinyl, but there are times when you need some kind of cleaner to help penetrate the grease and dirt, especially with wood cupboard surfaces. All-purpose cleaners may do a good job of cleaning the outsides of your cupboards, but never use anything abrasive on the surfaces, for example Comet, because that will scratch them. You should also avoid using steel wool or scrub brushes for cleaning kitchen cupboards for the same reason.
For an old-time, natural approach, you can try a solution of half vinegar and half water. Grandmother knew that the combination was sure fire when it came to cleaning kitchen grease, and it will still do a good job for you. If the build-up is too great for this solution to penetrate and wash away, try using straight vinegar. You can also make a paste out of some baking soda and water or a solution of lemon juice and club soda which will cut the grease naturally.
As a last resort to salvage cabinets that the oily increase has been permitted to accumulate and harden, you can try paint thinner. This is much more caustic than the other solutions you can use, so treat it with care. Never use it around an open flame or extreme heat, wear gloves while using it, and open windows to give yourself masses of ventilation. You may also want to wear a respirator to keep yourself from inhaling the fumes. Be sure to test the paint thinner on a concealed spot to make certain it isn’t going to hurt the finish on your cupboards before basically going to work.
Cleaning kitchen cabinets is plenty of work, particularly when dirt and grease have been permitted to build-up over a period. By wiping your cupboards down periodically, you can keep them from getting the thick build-up that takes so much time, elbow grease, and cleaning expertise to remove.
.