Last Updated on August 17, 2021 by The Tampa Maid

Your Ultimate Kitchen Cleaning Checklist

 Sure your dishes get done and you clean the refrigerator gets cleaned once in a while, but when is the last time you deep cleaned your
kitchen? Your kitchen is one of the most used rooms in your house so it’s important to have a kitchen cleaning checklist.  Because of how much goes on in the kitchen, it’s likely the area of your home that gets the dirtiest. 

You prepare meals in your kitchen, eat in the kitchen, wash dishes in the kitchen, and dispose of food and other trash in the kitchen. Even if you clean your kitchen regularly, your kitchen may have dust, grease, bacteria, and odors. If you want your kitchen sparkly clean, your kitchen needs a deep cleaning and a kitchen cleaning checklist.

Before you get started on this cleaning project you should use our deep cleaning checklist to guide you through the process of deep cleaning your kitchen.  Determine what order to complete the tasks on the list by prioritizing which areas needs the most cleaning. You may want to hire a professional home cleaning service like Ultimate Cleaning Service to help you complete everything.

If you haven’t deep cleaned your kitchen in a while, this job may take more than one day to complete.  Most people start from the top, cleaning the kitchen’s upper cabinets first, and work their way down to the lower cabinets, baseboards, and floor. Naturally, as you clean, dust and dirt may fall on the surfaces you have already cleaned.  Starting at the top may save you some extra work.  Deep cleaning a kitchen is a big project though.  You can break this checklist up into manageable tasks that you complete in your own order and at your own pace.

Our Ultimate Kitchen Cleaning Checklist for Deep Cleaning

Deep Clean the pantry

-Clean, organize and get rid of expired food.

Pull out all the items in your pantry and remove any expired food. If you’ve had a bag of dried beans or a can of pumpkin pie filling sitting in your pantry for a year make a plan to use them or donate them! Food items that you aren’t using can make your pantry cluttered and harder to organize.

-Clean and organize storage containers

-Wipe down all the shelves in your pantry

Deep clean kitchen cabinets

-Remove all the dishes and cookware from your cabinets.

-Get rid of any broken items, cookware that you don’t use, and scratched or damaged nonstick pans.

-Wipe down the inside of your kitchen cabinets. 

-Clean or replace shelf liners

–Clean and organize your dishes. 
Before you put all the items back in your cabinet, rinse and dry your dishes and cookware or run them through the dishwasher. You may have dishes with dust build up on them and you don’t want to put them back without cleaning them.

Wipe down the outside of your cabinets

Use an all-purpose cleaning solution or soapy water to wipe down the outside of your cabinets. Start at the top and work down. Make sure to detail clean around the hinges and knobs.

Deep clean kitchen drawers

-Remove everything from inside of each drawer, one at a time.

-Get rid of broken items or things that don’t belong in your kitchen.

-Wipe down the inside of your drawers

-Clean or replace drawer liners

-Organize kitchen items in drawers.

-Wipe down the outside of your kitchen drawers including knobs and drawer pulls.

Deep clean refrigerator and freezer

-Remove everything from the refrigerator or freezer shelf by shelf

Start at the top and work down.

-Get rid of expired food.

Throw away any expired food.  Any food that is close to expiring, consider moving to the freezer.

-Pull out refrigerator shelves, crispers, and drawers and clean them.

Don’t just wipe down the surface of the shelf. If removable, remove them from the refrigerator and clean them with hot soapy water or a vinegar and water solution.  Dry them with a clean towel or paper towels before you put them back in the fridge.

-Wipe down the inside of the refrigerator or freezer

-Clean the inside of your refrigerator with hot soapy water or a vinegar and water solution.

Rinse with a cloth. Then dry the inside with a clean towel before putting shelves and items back in the refrigerator.

-Wipe the outside of the refrigerator or freezer including the handles.

-Pull the refrigerator from the wall and clean underneath.

Deep clean oven and stove

-Remove the shelves from the oven and wipe down inside with soapy water.

Even if you have a self-cleaning oven, wiping down the shelves first will reduce smoke and make cleaning easier.

-Clean oven window.

-Run the self-cleaning cycle on the oven.

If you have a self-cleaning oven, all you have to do is press start.  Most ovens take 3-5 hours to self-clean. 

-Once the oven has cooled completely, wipe down the inside of your oven.

-Clean the top of the stove including burner plates and drip pans

If you have burner plates or drip pans, remove them and clean them.  Then wipe down your stove.  If you have a glass-top stove, it may have stains or residue that is difficult to remove. Using a razor blade can help you remove built-up grease or residue from your stovetop.  See our tips for cleaning a glass stove top.

-Clean oven door, front, and sides of the oven.

-Clean range hood. 

Deep clean sink

-Fill up the sink with hot soapy water and let soak for about an hour.

You can add a cup of bleach to your soap water or vinegar to disinfect it.

-Drain water from the sink and scrub with baking soda or your preferred cleanser.

-Clean around the rim of the sink and the faucets.

-Clean dish drying rack. 

If it hasn’t been cleaned in a while, you may need to pour hot soapy water into the container and let it soak before you clean it.  Spray down the inside of the silverware section. Then dry with a clean towel.

*Tip: To make your sink shine, wipe down sink and faucets with window cleaner.

Deep clean dishwasher

-Run a dishwasher cycle with vinegar.

Pour a cup of vinegar into the detergent compartment of your dishwasher and run a wash/dry cycle. Vinegar is a natural disinfectant and will help sanitize and deep clean your dishwasher.

-Pull out dishwasher shelves (if removable)

-Wipe down inside of the dishwasher with a clean towel.

-Replace shelves and wipe down the outside of the dishwasher.

Deep clean countertops, microwave, and appliances

-Clean microwave

-Clean toaster

-Clean coffee machine

-Clean kitchen appliances

-Clear countertop of unnecessary items.

-Wipe down countertop

Be sure to clean underneath the microwave, coffee machine, or other items that you keep on your counter.

Other areas to deep clean in the kitchen

-Clean your garbage can, inside and out. 

-Clean light switches

-Wipe down walls

-Wipe down doorknobs

-Clean baseboards.

-Clean kitchen table

-Wipe down kitchen chairs and clean chair
pads.

Deep clean kitchen floor

-Sweep kitchen floor

-Clean between tile grout

-Mop kitchen floor

We hope our kitchen cleaning checklist helps you get your kitchen squeaky clean.  If you need help with any of the tasks on our kitchen cleaning checklist give our affordable house cleaning team a call. Our professional house cleaning and maid service can help you keep up with the day-to-day cleaning tasks to keep your kitchen tidy and clean.