A well-equipped kitchen is impossible to imagine without proper appliances. Most of them tend to be pretty expensive too. Hence, you treat them as a prized possession. While it can be great to have them handy, you cannot just use them day in and day out without caring for their health. After all, they speed up your kitchen work by serving your different needs throughout the day. Similarly, you have to tend to them so that they can look after your daily grind without any complaints. But how do you keep your fridge, oven, dishwasher, stove, and other items in a good state?
Proper maintenance of these items can reward you with smaller energy bills, long-term use, higher efficiency, and much more. Still, not everyone knows the tricks to maintain them well. As a result, they end up believing myths and eventually ruining their hope of having these valuable products around for an extended lifetime. If you don’t want your kitchen appliances to face the same fate as others, make sure to learn about myths and cleaning and caring methods. Here is a quick look at some of them to make your life in the kitchen a little easy.
Fridge
It is a myth that you need to clean your refrigerator from inside only. While keeping it clean from the inside is crucial from a hygiene perspective, you also have to pay attention to the outside, specifically, the condenser coils. It might sound like a daunting task. But experts advise you not to bother. You have to remove dust from the coil at least once or twice every year.
Earlier, these coils were accessible either on the top or back of the refrigerator. So, you could get them dirt-free with only a few sweeps. Unfortunately, the contemporary models feature them on the downside. Still, you don’t have to postpone this job; get a refrigerator brush that specifically comes for coil cleaning. It can be a stiff, long, and slender brush that you find at local hardware stores. Clean coils will allow your fridge to consume less energy. As a result, your utility bill will reduce, and you can recover the price of your brush within a short period.
Cooktop
Another kitchen myth is you can use oven cleaner on the stovetop. Please don’t fall for it if you desire to keep your stovetop new-looking. You have to be more careful if it is a glass cooktop. Using a proper cleaning agent is critical to protect it from scratches and other harmful events. Besides, it would be best if you stayed away from abrasive cleaners, chlorine bleach, hard scouring pad, ammonia, dirty cloth or sponge, and so on.
It would help if you relied on cooktop cleaners only. If there is a spill, spray the cleaner and wait for a few minutes. After some time, you can take a non-abrasive pad to remove the mess. Once done, you can use a clean, soft cloth on the cooktop to eliminate residue from cleaning chemicals.
Dishwasher
Then, there is a myth that you don’t have to worry about your dishwasher if you will be away for a few weeks. But you must switch off your dishwasher in the winter months if you are going on an extended vacation. Due to freezing temperature, hoses can develop dryness when not in use for over a month.
To avoid any inconvenience, you can hire a technician to ensure a few preventive measures. For example, disconnecting the dishwasher from the power supply source and water supply is crucial. Besides, there will be an inlet valve; you can keep a pan under this before removing the waterline so that excess water drains into it. Then, the drainpipe should also disconnect from the pump; since the hose can have some water, you should allow it to drain in the pan.
It is what you will do when you are out of your home for a few weeks. When you return, you may again call an expert to restore all the connections. The task will involve reconnecting the electrical, water, and drain supply. Water and power supply should start. However, before you use it, you would want to give it a self-clean by adding detergents in both the cups and running the machine. Don’t forget to check for leakage at the same time.
Oven
You may also have heard that the oven doesn’t need more than self-cleaning. But it’s yet another myth. It can only ensure that the interiors are clean. If you use this appliance regularly, you will need to pay heed to the vent filter. When you keep the vent hood filter neat, it prevents grease buildups around the range and cooktop. Also, make sure you run the self-cleaning cycle as soon as the oven cavity becomes dirty. However, don’t ignore the significant spills on the oven floor. Wipe it away before the cleaning cycle begins.
Some models may not have this function. In that case, you can resort to a suitable oven cleaner spray to do your job. It can require a bit of manual labor from your end, though.
Well, every single item in the kitchen has a purpose. For example, you can think of heavy-duty contemporary pot filler. To be precise, you depend on small and large kitchen appliances to meet your daily cooking needs. Since these things face varying temperatures throughout the day processing your demands, they can soon wear out. At the same time, these suffer from food and beverage spills of all types. If you let them be, these residues can contaminate your fixtures and anything that comes in close contact with them.
To avoid this situation, you have to keep them hygienic and sanitized. Although items like sink and faucet require regular care, bigger appliances don’t need frequent cleaning. If something drops on the surface, you can wipe that area immediately to stop the staining problem. So, keep all your appliances in proper shape and condition; when you clean them, don’t just focus on one part and ignore the rest. Instead, please give it a thorough clean.
