What Is.best To Use To Clean Cabinets

Last updated on January twelfth, 2022 at ten:06 am

What is the best way to make clean kitchen cabinets? At start glance, it seems like a basic question with a bones answer. I certainly thought so. But afterward reading what the experts had to say, I was surprised that at that place a lot was more to it.

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Why Clean Wooden Kitchen Cabinets?

Sure, cleaning your kitchen cabinets is office of a having a clean dwelling house. Just did you know that if cleaned and kept properly, kitchen cabinets tin last for a long time – up to 50 years? Impressive, right? That'south a longer lifespan than most kitchen components, including appliances, countertops and kitchen sinks. Heck, 50 years is older than me, and I'thou pretty onetime! 😉

But if you don't properly maintain your kitchen cabinets, they can evidence wear and tear merely later on 20-30 years. And then y'all volition exist looking at replacements…

And cabinet replacement can account for 60-70% of full kitchen renovation. Considering the average full kitchen remodel runs about $24,000, that ways nearly $15,000 goes to kitchen cabinets.

That cost is zip to sneeze at.

And so for me, that's motivation plenty to ensure I'yard doing all I can to go along my kitchen cabinets cleaned and maintained.

Backstory

My kitchen is what sold me on this business firm. And I love my kitchen cabinets. They are beautiful, loftier-quality Thomasville kitchen cabinets. This kitchen is what sold me on this house. The moment I walked into it, I know this was going to be my home.

Double ovens?!?! Heaven!

But I'm hard on my kitchen. Starting time, I'1000 a actually messy cooker.  And I take three precious petty monsters (excuse me, I mean daughters 😉) who love to help their mom make an fifty-fifty bigger mess in her kitchen.  Grease, grime and sticky toddler fingerprints quickly build upwards to embarrassing proportions on my kitchen cabinets.  And with a decorated lifestyle it'south hard to keep them constantly clean.

Cabinets with gunk, grime &
stuff I don't fifty-fifty recognize….

I don't know exactly how old my cabinets are. They clearly aren't original our 1916 house. The family we bought the house indicated that they did no major renovations, then nosotros know these are installed prior to 2003.

That means they are getting shut (or have reached) the 20 year mark where wear and tear starting time to testify. I need to make sure I'm taking care of them properly to make certain they reach 50! So I looked to the cleaning experts online to ensure I'thou cleaning my kitchen cabinets the all-time mode possible.

Who are the Cleaning Experts?

The online sources I found were completely varied – from large major cable networks and national chiffonier manufacturers to smaller scale bloggers.  In alphabetical order, they are (pulsate ringlet please…..)

1. HGTV – major cable network website.
2. Everyday Cheapskate – web log by award winning, bestselling author and syndicated columnist
3. Grapes and Splendor – a blog with a myriad of tips and tricks to manage and maintain a habitation
4. The Spruce – top 10 largest lifestyle online magazine
5. Thomasville – largest cabinet manufacturer in N America established over 100 years ago

Later on reading through the expert's posts, I was surprised at the variety of means recommended to best clean wooden kitchen cabinets.

Before we start, I accept two recommendations for you the reader:

1. While I've cut and pasted direct from these websites (with slight edits), I recommend visiyingt the original source.
2. When cleaning your cabinets with a new method or product, offset test out on a pocket-size discrete area of your cabinet. Look at least a few hours to ensure no impairment and avoid ruining your cabinet'south finish.

How to All-time Clean Wooden Kitchen Cabinets

1. HGTV

HGTV's post "How to Clean Wood Cabinets" had two different strategies to handle general and deep cleaning kitchen cabinets.

General cleaning:

• Vinegar is the go-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 for a infinitesimal or two and then wipe clean with a soft cloth.
• This step 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 salt. Dip a toothbrush into the paste and lightly scrub the stained area. Don't scrub likewise hard or use steel wool, as information technology will scratch the forest. Rinse the paste off with clean water and dry with a clean towel.
• You tin also put baking soda on a wet sponge and scrub the stain. Use a soft toothbrush or nylon-bristle scrub brush and then you won't scratch the cabinet surface

Once cleaning is complete, HGTV besides recommended protecting from future stains:

• Mix vegetable oil and vinegar in equal portions and employ information technology lightly on the chiffonier surfaces. Rub it in with a make clean, soft fabric. Vitrify till information technology shines.

ii. Everyday Cheapskate

Mary Hunt, the columnist behind Everyday Cheapskate, addressed a reader'south questions about what kind of cleaner to use on the wood kitchen cabinets with this respond:

• If you lot are looking for a commercial product to clean those cabinets, you'll never crush the effectiveness of real orange oil polish to melt away grease, grime, polish, and wax buildup, leaving a fresh scent and dazzler in its place. Information technology's going to cost a flake to exercise your entire kitchen, should you lot make up one's mind to go the commercial road.

But she continued and recommended the following bootleg concoctions for cleaning those wooden kitchen cabinets. Once clean, nothing additional is required to polish or protect.

General Cleaning:

• In a spray bottle  (I employ these 16-oz. bottles for homemade cleaners) mix 2 tablespoons olive oil, 4 tablespoons white vinegar and enough warm water to fill the bottle (about 2 cups). Shake to mix then spray on one door or drawer forepart at a fourth dimension. Scrub with a soft cloth to remove any dirt, then buff to a beautiful shine. Before each spray, give the bottle a shake to keep the oil mixed in.

Spraying on Everyday Cheapskate's homemade recipe

Deep cleaning:

• In a small bowl, measure i part vegetable oil and two parts baking soda (for example 2 tablespoons oil and four 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 chiffonier, being particularly mindful of the areas shut to the handles that receive so much handling and homo contact.
• Scrub with a soft material, sponge or your fingertips to get this paste into the grain. Apply an onetime toothbrush to get information technology into all of the nooks and crannies. This paste is very thick, and every bit you lot begin to scrub and brush, information technology volition autumn off, along with a lot of grime.
• Vitrify well with a soft cloth then step dorsum to adore your cute work.

iii. Grapes and Splendor

Blogger Grapes and Splendor had a different homemade recipe to Best Way To Clean Your Kitchen Cabinets-Without Hurting Them!

Full general cleaning:

• Combine a solution of ane cup of water, 1 teaspoon toothpaste and 2 tablespoons baking soda. Use a sponge or cloth to dip into the solution and employ it to scrub the dirty areas of the cabinet.

Deep cleaning:

• Place almost i/ii teaspoon of dish soap or oil lather forest cleaner on the scouring sponge. Wet the sponge slightly and gently scrub the cabinet allowing it to grade a soap. Wipe with a slightly moisture cloth with fresh h2o in it. Then dry it with a microfiber material.
• Make a paste with baking soda and water, employ information technology to the greasy areas by rubbing it on in a circular movement, slightly press it into the grease to utilize the abrasiveness of the baking soda to elevator the grease and leave it to soak for ten 10 minutes. Using a damped piece of clean cloth, remove the blistering soda paste past wiping it off.

4. The Spruce

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 homemade solutions with one exception (which I listed offset).

• Hot h2o and dish soap: Dish soap is an alkaline-based product that effectively cuts through grease, especially when mixed in hot water. Mix a squirt or two of grease-cutting dish soap into a bucket of very hot h2o (every bit hot every bit y'all can stand up), and utilise a nylon scouring pad to attack cabinet grease. Keep the water hot, and use light pressure on the nylon pad to avoid scratching the surface. Rinse and dry out the cabinets when done
• Goo Gone: Make sure to habiliment rubber gloves, and then apply commercial Goo Gone cleaner over the grease and let it sit for a infinitesimal or two. Heat a damp micro cloth in a microwave for 35 seconds, and so use it to apace wipe away the grease layer. Finally, clean the surface area with a mild wood soap and water, and so dry completely.
• All-purpose orangish oil cleaner: If your cabinets are really grimy, let the cleaner sit down for up to 10 minutes later spraying. Subsequently, wipe the cleaner off using a warm, clammy micro-material.
• A forest cleaner containing Brazilian carnauba wax: Carnauba wax is an ingredient that'south typically found in high-quality woods cleaners and polishes. One first-class product, called Magic Cabinet and Wood Cleaner, is a spray pump application.

five. Thomasville

Thomasville Cabinetry postage stamp on my cabinets

This nationwide manufacturer and benefactor of kitchen cabinets provides the post-obit cleaning tips on their parent company's website from The Homeowner'southward Guide to Intendance and Cleaning.

• Usually, a clean, soft cotton cloth —or microfiber material for laminate and loftier gloss cabinetry — dampened with warm water volition practice the fox!
• For extra grime fighting, a mild solution of dishwashing liquid (not dishwasher products) mixed with fresh, clean, warm h2o will take care of clay and grease. five% dishwashing liquid to 95% water is a good ratio.
• Later on cleaning your stained or painted cabinets, wipe them downward with a clean, clammy cloth and be certain to dry moisture/damp surfaces with another clean soft fabric.
• Your cabinets don't require waxing and nosotros don't recommend it. Over fourth dimension, waxing and polishing compounds may build upwards on cabinet surfaces forming a hazy, streaked or yellowed appearance. Wax build upward is really hard to remove — no i has fourth dimension for that!

Vinegar and Olive Oil: Practiced or Bad?

You'll notice that some of the bootleg solutions to clean wooden kitchen cabinets contain vinegar and/or olive oil. Before I started this blog, I bought all my cleaning products from the store. Only as I research and larn more about cleaning my house, vinegar seems to exist an amazing selection for homemade cleaning products. It'south usually already in the business firm, inexpensive, natural, and tough on bacteria, mildew, and dirt.

But interestingly, in that location seems to be an argument against using vinegar and olive oil to clean wooden kitchen cabinets. According to some cleaning experts, including Springtime Cottage, vinegar and oil is non a skilful option for cleaning wooden kitchen cabinets. Why?

• Vinegar is a paint stripper and varnish remover and can destroy the coatings on many other surfaces. Each time it is used, information technology creates a thinner surface by slowly melting away furniture finishes.
• Olive oil is a non-drying oil so when it's applied to the wood, it stays liquid and spoils.  Eventually information technology will create a stench and concenter noxious bacteria.

Are vinegar and olive oil good or bad for kitchen cabinets? Honestly, I'yard not certain what to think.

And then I tried all 5 cleaning methods on my kitchen cabinets

These five options are completely different from my go-to cleaner for wooden kitchen cabinets. For years I've automatically gone to one of my favorite products to clean my wooden kitchen cabinets- Murphy Oil Soap.  I use diluted Potato Oil Lather throughout my house – make clean my wood floors, and make clean the wood trim and baseboards in my house.

Then I was intrigued by the fact that no of the experts were directly brought up Irish potato'southward Oil Soap. I went direct to Colgate-Palmolive Visitor's website, the makers of Spud Oil Soap. And information technology appears that I've been using the product wrong. Well, kinda incorrect.

While I've been using Irish potato Oil Soap solely to clean the grim and grease off my kitchen cabinet, I should accept been using it in a two-stride process. Murphy Oil Soap is meant to restore the wood'south natural glimmer Afterwards the initial layer of clay and grime is gone.

Whoops.

I decided to experiment with each cleaning method on one of my kitchen cabinets to get my thoughts and find the all-time way to clean my wooden kitchen cabinets.

HGTV and Everyday Cheapskate

I tried both HGTV'southward vinegar/ h2o mixture and Everyday Cheapskate's olive oil/ vinegar/ water mixture for Full 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 color eggs.

Grapes and Spendor

Grapes and Spendor'due south homemade kitchen cabinet cleaning recipe

Adjacent, I tried Grapes and Spendor blistering soda/ toothpaste/ h2o mixture. While the smell was more palatable, the toothpaste olfactory property reminded me that I needed to call my dentist for a check upwardly. I remember some folks will actually like this method, just information technology just wasn't for me. And again, like HGTV and Everyday Cheapskate, it cleaned the grease and grime off my cabinets.

The Spruce and Thomasville

Onto The Bandbox. If yous remember, The Spruce recommended a few commercial cleaning products, like Goo Gone, orange oil cleaner, and canruaba wax. Goo Gone I've used several times in DIY projects, including removing stubborn gum to restore an old wooden rocking chair. It'southward an effective and powerful cleaner for spot cleaning.

But for full general cleaning, I liked The Spruce's idea behind just expert former dish washing soap and water. (It's the aforementioned method recommended past Thomasville, who manufactured my kitchen cabinets). Why? After thinking almost it, information technology makes sense. Dish washing liquid is an alkaline-based product that effectively cuts through grease. Almost of the grime on my cabinets comes from grease or food. So if dish soap that can cut through those things on my pots and pans, information technology should too work on your cabinets.

Look a infinitesimal….. Wasn't that Dawn's tagline at one bespeak? "Dawn takes grease out of your mode" Insert cheezy 1990s Dawn dish washing soap commercial from YouTube hither…..

(Side note for you folks who remember the 1980s and 1990s – It think the actress in the blue vest likewise played Andrea Zuckerman from Beverly Hills 90210…..agree?)

What's the All-time Thing 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 by a final rinse with Tater Oil Soap. I'd call this the "Thomasville/Spruce Plus" method.

For general cleaning, I combined 1/2 teaspoon of Dawn dish soap to viii cups of water 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 extra attention due to grease or grime, or intricate cabinet details, I scrubbed with an one-time toothbrush.

Some other use for your old toothbrush

If yous try this and your cabinets are a bit likewise soapy, wipe them down with a cloth dipped in simply hot water.

But hither's the change. I added a following quick step. I filled upwardly a bucket with around 1 gallon of water and one/4 cup of Tater Oil Lather (per the canteen's directions) and did a final rinse to make the cabinets shine and accept that oil soap smell that I'k so nostalgic about.

What did I cease up with? These fantastic cabinets, all clean and with rich wood tones shining through!

My kitchen cabinets clean and the rich wood tones shining through!

Kitchen cabinets shiny and make clean using lather, water and Murphy oil soap

What'due south Side by side? Tackling Other Parts of My Kitchen…

• 35+ Items to Declutter Kitchen Cabinets – At present that the outside of the kitchen cabinets are clean, how about the within?
• How to Clean Your Kitchen Chiffonier Knobs and Pulls! (After experimenting, I found a secret ingredient to revive kitchen hardware and brand them shine again! Shhhh! 😉)

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Source: https://everydayoldhouse.com/5-ways-to-clean-wooden-kitchen-cabinets-from-the-experts/#:~:text=General%20cleaning%3A&text=Mix%20a%2050%2F50%20solution,to%20clean%20extremely%20grimy%20cabinets.

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