10 Habits of People Who Always Have a Clean Kitchen

I am what one would call a neat/clean freak. Everything in my home has its place. I like to go through our belongings on a regular basis and purge what we don’t need. I cannot function unless my home is in clean, working order. Blame it on my OCD and/or anal retentiveness. Simply put, I need and thrive in a clean, organized home, especially one with an organized kitchen. Anyone else? 

One of the main spots in my home that must be clean at all times is my kitchen. As they say, the kitchen is the heart of the home. When we have people over, everyone usually hangs out in the kitchen if we’re not on our porch. As a family, we spend a lot of time in our kitchen. The kitchen receives the most traffic in our home and it’s important to me to keep it clean. 

Don’t get me wrong—I understand the struggle and countless efforts that go into keeping a house clean and organized, especially when it comes to the kitchen. The kitchen is a place unlike any other in your home in that it’s the room where people can cook, hang out, drink, and gallivant all in one place. I totally get it. So, how does one keep the room in their house that’s almost designed to be messy, clean? 

I’m very picky about the items that are placed on the counters, dishing not being left in the sink, and the overall cleanliness of the appliances (both inside and out). I sound very annoying to live with, right? But, since everything in our home has its place, I don’t have to spend a lot of time in my kitchen making it clean. The system I put in place is simple … just the way I like it. 

10 Habits of People Who Always Have a Clean Kitchen

So what are my secrets? How is our kitchen always clean without me having to spend a lot of time every day cleaning it? These are the habits that I have put into place and practice on a daily basis.

Be Desicive

Having a lot of items on the counter tops can make a space seem cluttered and chaotic. I’m very decisive on what gets placed on our counter tops. By having only a few items on our counters, the whole space appears to be clean and clutter-free all because I’m deliberate about the placement of such items. On our counters, we only have a coffeemaker, a decorative jar for dog treats, a cute bread box, a simple wire basket for fresh veggies picked from our garden, a succulent, a galvanized bin for odds and ends, a frame with a photo of our kiddos, and a candle. That’s it. The items all match the kitchen and go together which makes everything flow. None of the items are an eyesore since they follow the same theme (which is the theme that matches our home’s decor style). If anything else makes it onto the counter, then I immediately remove it and put it where it belongs in order to avoid a cluttered mess.

Create a Mail Filing System

Mail has a tendency to pile up in homes—counter tops, dinner tables, desks, etc. In our home, as soon as we get the mail from the mailbox, we go through it and recycle, file, and/or toss immediately. By implementing a mail organization system, we only keep documents that are important and then discard those documents when they are no longer needed. As a result, we never let the mail pile up in our house.

Wipe Down After Use

When you’re done preparing a meal or eating a meal, be sure to wipe down the surfaces. Just a quick spritz and wipe down is all that is required to keep the surfaces free of crumbs and germs.

Run the Dishwasher Once a Day

I don’t know about you but our dishwasher has a tendency to fill up quickly. So, every morning, after we’ve had our breakfast, I run the dishwasher and then empty it right before making lunch for everyone. That way, I can put the dirty dishes from lunch and dinner directly into the dishwasher and go to bed with nothing in the sink.

Keep Trash Out of Sight

The trashcan can be quite an eyesore. I know some kitchens are now designed to have the trash can built right into the cabinets. Unfortunately, we don’t have that luxury so we decided to use a nice looking trash can and put it in a spot in our kitchen that is just the right size for it and is out of the way. Be sure to empty the trash can on a regular basis and clean out your trash can since they have a tendency to get smelly.

Give Everything a Home

As is the case with your whole house, make sure you give everything in your kitchen a home. Once everything has a home, it will be easy to maintain a clean and functional kitchen since cleanup will be super simple.

Use Storage Containers

I’m a big fan of storage containers in our kitchen. I keep a few containers in our refrigerator to store cheese and other items. Our entire pantry is full of storage containers to help keep items separated into their own food types. The storage containers in our kitchen make putting grocery items away simple and streamlined.

Clean the Refrigerator

We go to Costco almost every weekend. As soon as we get home from Costco, I empty our refrigerator and give it a good cleaning before placing food back into it. I always wipe down the surfaces before filling the refrigerator with food. About once a month, I will remove the drawers and give them a good soapy water scrubbing. When you put the items back in your refrigerator, create a system that keeps the food separate and organized. As you use the food items, place them back into the refrigerator where they belong … remember: everything has a home.

Keep Cleaning Supplies Handy

Here are some of the items that help keep our kitchen clean: glass cleaner, stainless steel cleaner, steel wool pad (helps with the scrubbing), and an all-purpose cleaner. About once a month, I spray our granite counters with a granite spray to help preserve and make them shine. I store all of these items under the sink in our kitchen so that I can quickly grab them, do a few spritzes, wipe everything down, and be on my way. I make sure to spray everything down at least once a day.

Tidy Up Before Bed

Over the years, I have learned that waking up to a clean home helps me start my day off on the right foot. Knowing this, I introduced a habit into my daily routine to help ensure that my days start on a positive note. So, here’s my secret. When it comes to bedtime, my last stop before heading upstairs to the bedroom is in my kitchen. Every night the sink is emptied, the dishes are put away, the counters are freed of clutter, and the surfaces are wiped clean. Walking downstairs every morning to arrive in a clean kitchen immediately puts me in a great mood.

At the end of the day, I’m exhausted and the last thing that I want to do is spend 5-10 minutes tidying up the kitchen. All that I can think about is crawling under the covers and falling fast asleep, but then it hits me. It’s either I tidy up the kitchen before bed or start the day with an untidy kitchen in the morning. To me, I will always prefer starting each day with a clean slate … and a clean kitchen.

Don’t you agree? If so, my encouragement for you today is to stop in the kitchen before heading to bed tonight. Put away any pots and pans that are drying on the counter. Place dirty dishes in the dishwasher and run it. Or, empty the dishwasher by putting away the clean dishes. Wipe down the counters. Take out the trash (when applicable).

Go to bed with a clean kitchen. Your morning self will thank you.

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Now, I know that this might seem like a lot. But, if you start implementing even just a few of these habits, you’ll start to see a difference. The more you implement, the less you’ll have to do because systems will be in place and the systems will start to seem more like a habit than a chore.

Trust me on this one.

I do all of these habits on a daily basis and our kitchen is always clean. I’m not saying that to brag. I’m saying that to show you that with a house full of people (big and small) and dogs, I can quickly do these habits and always have a clean kitchen that helps lessen the stress.

What do you do on a daily basis to make sure your kitchen is a clean kitchen?

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