Pointers for Cleansing Kitchen Cupboards

Kitchen cabinets are beautiful when they're first installed, but the environment they exist in shortly can mar their beauty if you don't make it a practice of cleaning kitchen cabinets on a constant basis. It's not simply the interiors that need cleaning, either. The exteriors of kitchen cabinets take a beating. They are assaulted with air laden with cooking grease, sticky fingers, moisture, smoke, and food spills. If this build-up of grime is permitted to harden and continue to increase over time, it's going to be much harder to remove, so you need to clean your cabinets often.

Often a gentle soap, such as 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 type of cleaner to help penetrate the grease and dirt, particularly 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 cabinets for a similar reason.

For an old-time, natural approach, you can try a solution of half vinegar and half water. Grandma 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 final resort to salvage cabinets that the greasy build-up 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 acute heat, wear gloves while using it, and open windows to give yourself plenty of ventilation. You may additionally want to wear a respirator to keep yourself from inhaling the fumes. Be sure to test the paint thinner on a concealed spot to be certain it isn't going to break the finish on your cupboards before really 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 such a great deal of time, elbow grease, and cleaning experience to remove.
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