How To Clean Dirty Kitchen Wood Cabinets
Last updated on Jan 12th, 2022 at 10:06 am
What is the best way to clean kitchen cabinets? At first glance, it seems like a basic question with a bones answer. I certainly idea and then. Just later on reading what the experts had to say, I was surprised that there a lot was more to it.
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Why Clean Wooden Kitchen Cabinets?
Sure, cleaning your kitchen cabinets is function of a having a make clean dwelling house. But did you know that if cleaned and kept properly, kitchen cabinets tin can last for a long time – upwardly to l years? Impressive, right? That's a longer lifespan than most kitchen components, including appliances, countertops and kitchen sinks. Heck, 50 years is older than me, and I'thousand pretty former! 😉
But if you don't properly maintain your kitchen cabinets, they tin can show wear and tear simply after twenty-30 years. And then you will be looking at replacements…
And cabinet replacement can account for sixty-70% of total kitchen renovation. Considering the average total kitchen remodel runs about $24,000, that ways about $15,000 goes to kitchen cabinets.
That toll is cipher to sneeze at.
So for me, that's motivation plenty to ensure I'thou doing all I tin to go along my kitchen cabinets cleaned and maintained.
Backstory
My kitchen is what sold me on this house. And I dearest my kitchen cabinets. They are beautiful, high-quality Thomasville kitchen cabinets. This kitchen is what sold me on this business firm. The moment I walked into it, I know this was going to be my domicile.
But I'thou hard on my kitchen. First, I'grand a really messy cooker. And I take 3 precious little monsters (alibi me, I mean daughters 😉) who dear to help their mom brand an even bigger mess in her kitchen. Grease, grime and sticky toddler fingerprints quickly build upwards to embarrassing proportions on my kitchen cabinets. And with a busy lifestyle it's hard to continue them constantly make clean.
stuff I don't even recognize….
I don't know exactly how old my cabinets are. They conspicuously aren't original our 1916 house. The family we bought the business firm indicated that they did no major renovations, and so we know these are installed prior to 2003.
That means they are getting close (or take reached) the xx year mark where wear and tear showtime to bear witness. I need to make sure I'm taking intendance of them properly to make sure they reach 50! And so I looked to the cleaning experts online to ensure I'm cleaning my kitchen cabinets the best way possible.
Who are the Cleaning Experts?
The online sources I institute were completely varied – from large major cable networks and national cabinet manufacturers to smaller scale bloggers. In alphabetical club, they are (drum ringlet delight…..)
- HGTV – major cable network website.
- Everyday Cheapskate – blog by award winning, bestselling author and syndicated columnist
- Grapes and Splendor – a blog with a myriad of tips and tricks to manage and maintain a home
- The Spruce – pinnacle 10 largest lifestyle online magazine
- Thomasville – largest chiffonier manufacturer in North America established over 100 years ago
Subsequently reading through the expert'southward posts, I was surprised at the diverseness of means recommended to best clean wooden kitchen cabinets.
Earlier we showtime, I have ii recommendations for you lot the reader:
- While I've cut and pasted direct from these websites (with slight edits), I recommend visiyingt the original source.
- When cleaning your cabinets with a new method or production, first test out on a small discrete area of your cabinet. Wait at to the lowest degree a few hours to ensure no harm and avoid ruining your cabinet's finish.
How to Best Make clean Wooden Kitchen Cabinets
1. HGTV
HGTV's mail service "How to Clean Wood Cabinets" had two unlike strategies to handle general and deep cleaning kitchen cabinets.
General cleaning:
- Vinegar is the get-to natural cleaner when faced with how to clean greasy cabinets. Mix a fifty/50 solution of vinegar and warm water and put into a spray bottle. Mist on cabinets, let sit down for a minute or two and and so wipe clean with a soft fabric.
- This footstep is optional. Add a few drops of liquid dishwashing detergent to the vinegar and water solution to clean extremely grimy cabinets.
Deep cleaning:
- Make a paste of vinegar and common salt. Dip a toothbrush into the paste and lightly scrub the stained area. Don't scrub besides hard or apply steel wool, every bit it will scratch the wood. Rinse the paste off with clean water and dry with a clean towel.
- You tin can also put baking soda on a wet sponge and scrub the stain. Use a soft toothbrush or nylon-bristle scrub castor so yous won't scratch the chiffonier surface
In one case cleaning is complete, HGTV also recommended protecting from future stains:
- Mix vegetable oil and vinegar in equal portions and apply it lightly on the chiffonier surfaces. Rub it in with a clean, soft cloth. Buff till it shines.
2. Everyday Cheapskate
Mary Hunt, the columnist behind Everyday Cheapskate, addressed a reader's questions about what kind of cleaner to use on the wood kitchen cabinets with this answer:
- If you are looking for a commercial product to clean those cabinets, you'll never beat out the effectiveness of existent orange oil polish to melt abroad grease, grime, smoothen, and wax buildup, leaving a fresh olfactory property and dazzler in its place. Information technology'due south going to toll a bit to do your entire kitchen, should you decide to become the commercial route.
But she continued and recommended the post-obit homemade concoctions for cleaning those wooden kitchen cabinets. Once clean, nothing additional is required to polish or protect.
General Cleaning:
- In a spray bottle (I utilise these 16-oz. bottles for homemade cleaners) mix ii tablespoons olive oil, 4 tablespoons white vinegar and enough warm water to fill the bottle (about 2 cups). Milkshake to mix so spray on one door or drawer front end at a time. Scrub with a soft cloth to remove whatever dirt, then vitrify to a beautiful shine. Earlier each spray, give the bottle a shake to keep the oil mixed in.
Deep cleaning:
- In a small bowl, measure out 1 office vegetable oil and 2 parts baking soda (for case ii tablespoons oil and iv tablespoons baking soda—or 1 cup oil to 2 cups baking soda depending on the size of your job).
- Using your fingers, mix this into a thick paste. Smoosh this a little bit at a time into the surface of that grimy cabinet, being particularly mindful of the areas close to the handles that receive so much handling and homo contact.
- Scrub with a soft cloth, sponge or your fingertips to get this paste into the grain. Utilise an old toothbrush to go it into all of the nooks and crannies. This paste is very thick, and as you brainstorm to scrub and brush, it will fall off, along with a lot of crud.
- Buff well with a soft cloth and then footstep dorsum to adore your cute work.
3. Grapes and Splendor
Blogger Grapes and Splendor had a different homemade recipe to Best Style To Make clean Your Kitchen Cabinets-Without Hurting Them!
Full general cleaning:
- Combine a solution of 1 cup of water, one teaspoon toothpaste and 2 tablespoons blistering soda. Use a sponge or cloth to dip into the solution and use it to scrub the muddied areas of the cabinet.
Deep cleaning:
- Place about one/2 teaspoon of dish soap or oil lather wood cleaner on the scouring sponge. Wet the sponge slightly and gently scrub the cabinet allowing it to form a lather. Wipe with a slightly wet textile with fresh water in it. And so dry information technology with a microfiber cloth.
- Make a paste with blistering soda and water, utilize it to the greasy areas by rubbing information technology on in a circular movement, slightly press information technology into the grease to utilise the abrasiveness of the baking soda to elevator the grease and go out information technology to soak for ten 10 minutes. Using a damped piece of clean cloth, remove the blistering soda paste by wiping information technology off.
iv. The Bandbox
In Tips for Cleaning Food Grease from Kitchen Cabinets, The Spruce handled it differently from other sites in that they looked more than towards products than bootleg solutions with one exception (which I listed first).
- Hot water and dish lather: Dish soap is an alkali metal-based production that effectively cuts through grease, peculiarly when mixed in hot h2o. Mix a squirt or two of grease-cutting dish soap into a bucket of very hot water (every bit hot as yous can stand), and use a nylon scouring pad to assault cabinet grease. Go along the water hot, and employ lite pressure on the nylon pad to avoid scratching the surface. Rinse and dry out the cabinets when washed
- Goo Gone: Make certain to wear rubber gloves, and then apply commercial Goo Gone cleaner over the grease and allow it sit for a minute or two. Heat a damp micro textile in a microwave for 35 seconds, then use it to quickly wipe abroad the grease layer. Finally, clean the area with a mild wood soap and water, then dry completely.
- All-purpose orangish oil cleaner: If your cabinets are really grimy, let the cleaner sit for up to 10 minutes later spraying. Afterward, wipe the cleaner off using a warm, damp micro-material.
- A wood cleaner containing Brazilian carnauba wax: Carnauba wax is an ingredient that'southward typically found in loftier-quality wood cleaners and polishes. 1 splendid product, chosen Magic Chiffonier and Wood Cleaner, is a spray pump application.
5. Thomasville
This nationwide manufacturer and distributor of kitchen cabinets provides the following cleaning tips on their parent company'due south website from The Homeowner's Guide to Intendance and Cleaning.
- Usually, a clean, soft cotton wool cloth —or microfiber cloth for laminate and loftier gloss cabinetry — dampened with warm water will practice the trick!
- For extra grime fighting, a mild solution of dishwashing liquid (not dishwasher products) mixed with fresh, clean, warm water volition take intendance of dirt and grease. 5% dishwashing liquid to 95% water is a good ratio.
- After cleaning your stained or painted cabinets, wipe them downwardly with a clean, damp cloth and be sure to dry wet/damp surfaces with another clean soft cloth.
- Your cabinets don't require waxing and we don't recommend it. Over fourth dimension, waxing and polishing compounds may build up on chiffonier surfaces forming a hazy, streaked or yellowed appearance. Wax build up is really difficult to remove — no one has time for that!
Vinegar and Olive Oil: Skilful or Bad?
You lot'll discover that some of the homemade solutions to clean wooden kitchen cabinets comprise vinegar and/or olive oil. Before I started this blog, I bought all my cleaning products from the store. Only as I inquiry and learn more about cleaning my house, vinegar seems to be an amazing option for homemade cleaning products. It'due south ordinarily already in the house, inexpensive, natural, and tough on bacteria, mildew, and dirt.
Merely interestingly, there seems to exist an argument against using vinegar and olive oil to clean wooden kitchen cabinets. Co-ordinate to some cleaning experts, including Springtime Cottage, vinegar and oil is not a good choice for cleaning wooden kitchen cabinets. Why?
- Vinegar is a pigment stripper and varnish remover and can destroy the coatings on many other surfaces. Each time it is used, it creates a thinner surface by slowly melting away furniture finishes.
- Olive oil is a non-drying oil so when information technology's applied to the wood, information technology stays liquid and spoils. Eventually it will create a stench and attract baneful bacteria.
Are vinegar and olive oil skilful or bad for kitchen cabinets? Honestly, I'yard not sure what to recall.
So I tried all five cleaning methods on my kitchen cabinets
These 5 options are completely unlike from my go-to cleaner for wooden kitchen cabinets. For years I've automatically gone to 1 of my favorite products to clean my wooden kitchen cabinets- Murphy Oil Soap. I use diluted Murphy Oil Soap throughout my house – clean my woods floors, and clean the wood trim and baseboards in my business firm.
So I was intrigued by the fact that no of the experts were directly brought upwards White potato'due south Oil Soap. I went directly to Colgate-Palmolive Company'south website, the makers of Potato Oil Soap. And it appears that I've been using the product wrong. Well, kinda incorrect.
While I've been using Murphy Oil Soap solely to make clean the grim and grease off my kitchen cabinet, I should have been using information technology in a 2-step procedure. Tater Oil Lather is meant to restore the forest's natural glimmer AFTER the initial layer of dirt and grime is gone.
Whoops.
I decided to experiment with each cleaning method on one of my kitchen cabinets to get my thoughts and notice the all-time mode to clean my wooden kitchen cabinets.
HGTV and Everyday Cheapskate
I tried both HGTV's vinegar/ h2o mixture and Everyday Cheapskate's olive oil/ vinegar/ water mixture for General Cleaning. While both did an excellent job cleaning my cabinets, I struggled with the lingering vinegar smell. It reminded me of Easter when we use vinegar to colour eggs.
Grapes and Spendor
Adjacent, I tried Grapes and Spendor baking soda/ toothpaste/ water mixture. While the odour was more than palatable, the toothpaste smell reminded me that I needed to telephone call my dentist for a cheque up. I think some folks will really similar this method, but it only wasn't for me. And once again, like HGTV and Everyday Cheapskate, information technology cleaned the grease and grime off my cabinets.
The Spruce and Thomasville
Onto The Spruce. If y'all recollect, The Spruce recommended a few commercial cleaning products, like Goo Gone, orangish oil cleaner, and canruaba wax. Goo Gone I've used several times in DIY projects, including removing stubborn glue to restore an old wooden rocking chair. It's an constructive and powerful cleaner for spot cleaning.
But for general cleaning, I liked The Spruce's idea behind just skilful old dish washing lather and water. (It's the same method recommended by Thomasville, who manufactured my kitchen cabinets). Why? After thinking nigh information technology, information technology makes sense. Dish washing liquid is an alkaline-based product that effectively cuts through grease. Most of the grime on my cabinets comes from grease or food. So if dish soap that can cutting through those things on my pots and pans, it should as well work on your cabinets.
Wait a infinitesimal….. Wasn't that Dawn'due south tagline at i point? "Dawn takes grease out of your mode" Insert cheezy 1990s Dawn dish washing soap commercial from YouTube hither…..
(Side note for yous folks who remember the 1980s and 1990s – It recollect the actress in the blue vest likewise played Andrea Zuckerman from Beverly Hills 90210…..hold?)
What's the Best Affair to Clean Kitchen Cabinets?
My favorite method to clean my kitchen cabinets was using a mixture of Dawn dish washing soap to cut through grease, followed past a final rinse with Irish potato Oil Lather. I'd call this the "Thomasville/Spruce Plus" method.
For general cleaning, I combined i/two teaspoon of Dawn dish soap to 8 cups of h2o into a bucket of hot water. I washed the cabinets with my favorite sponge (Scotch-Brite Heavy Duty Scrub Sponge) dipped into the solution. For areas that needed actress attention due to grease or grime, or intricate cabinet details, I scrubbed with an erstwhile toothbrush.
If you try this and your cabinets are a bit too soapy, wipe them down with a cloth dipped in just hot water.
But here's the alter. I added a following quick step. I filled up a bucket with around ane gallon of water and 1/four cup of Murphy Oil Lather (per the bottle's directions) and did a final rinse to make the cabinets shine and have that oil lather smell that I'm and then nostalgic nigh.
What did I finish up with? These fantastic cabinets, all clean and with rich wood tones shining through!
What'due south Adjacent? Tackling Other Parts of My Kitchen…
- 35+ Items to Declutter Kitchen Cabinets – Now that the outside of the kitchen cabinets are clean, how about the inside?
- How to Clean Your Kitchen Cabinet Knobs and Pulls! (Afterward experimenting, I found a hole-and-corner ingredient to revive kitchen hardware and make them smooth again! Shhhh! 😉)
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Source: https://everydayoldhouse.com/5-ways-to-clean-wooden-kitchen-cabinets-from-the-experts/
Posted by: highfillspither1966.blogspot.com
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