We won’t lie, this is a big job. But cleaning your kitchen cabinets and drawers will make your kitchen feel cleaner, less cluttered and more spacious. Yes, even that drawer. The dreaded miscellaneous junk drawer that has been accumulating batteries, old mail, instruction manuals for years.
We have put together a simple guide to make cleaning, decluttering and reorganizing the kitchen cabinets and drawers more manageable and less overwhelming. Let’s begin!
Now, this isn’t strictly part of the cleaning process, but it makes it way more enjoyable. Whistle while you work! This is also a great time to clear the clutter from your kitchen counters to make room for you to clean and gather your cleaning supplies:
- A few microfiber cleaning cloths
- A gentle all-purpose kitchen cleaner
- Baking soda
- Scrub sponge
- Vacuum cleaner
- Step stool
Tackle one cabinet at a time to make this mammoth cleaning task manageable.
- Empty it completely. Put the contents on the kitchen counter.
- Vacuum the cabinet to get rid of debris.
- Use the all-purpose cleaner to clean the cabinet interior and wipe clean with a slightly damp microfiber cloth. Caked-on stain? Sprinkle it with some baking soda, leave for a couple of minutes, then scrub with a heavy-duty sponge. Make sure to test this on an inconspicuous spot first to make sure you don’t scrub away any paint or gloss.
- Sort through the contents of the cabinet. Decide what to keep, donate or throw away. Wipe down whatever you decide to keep.
- Replace items back in the cabinet in an organized way. A tip for kitchen efficiency is to put the most used and favorite items to the front.
- Clean the outside of the cabinet door and handle with a microfiber cloth and all-purpose kitchen cleaner.
With the cabinets clean, it is time to tackle the drawers. Clean one drawer at a time. We like to start with the cutlery drawer!
- Remove the contents of the drawer. Place on the kitchen counter.
- Wipe the drawers clean with an all-purpose kitchen cleaner and microfiber cloth. Don’t forget the cutlery storage tray and underneath it!
- Replace drawer liners that are ragged or moldy.
- Decide what you want to throw away, donate or keep. Wipe down everything you will keep before replacing it in the drawer.
- Wipe down the front of the drawer and handle.
For some, the pantry is just a couple of cabinets filled with dry food and cans. Others may have a separate walk-in pantry—a dream for home cooks, but a bigger job to clean!
- Remove the entire contents. While canned food and dry goods have a very long shelf, they don’t last forever. Check the expiration dates and throw away anything out of date.
- As you go through the contents of your pantry, consider donating any unopened food you won’t use.
- Transfer opened items into glass jars or containers. You can also combine similar half-used products.
- Wipe the shelves clean with an all-purpose kitchen cleaner and microfiber cloth.
- Neatly place items back in the pantry.
- Wipe down the pantry door and door handle.
You'll feel pretty pleased with yourself when you are done. Your kitchen will feel tidier, less cluttered and more spacious! Want to improve the overall efficiency of your kitchen? Do that here