Ever since we first moved into this house back in 2012, I have dreamt of replacing the kitchen with something a little less ‘eighties’ than the current floral-motif, patterned pine mismatch that we have lived with for the past six years.
As of yet we have failed to finance such updates and given that we are about to add a further four paws to our household, theres very little point in pouring our hard earned pennies into a new kitchen. Waiting another year or two isn’t going to make any difference, hopefully by then our pooch will have lost her puppy teeth and chewing will no longer be an issue. Then and only then will I look into replacing our current kitchen catastrophe with something a little more sturdy and stylish.
Decluttering
I cannot cope with clutter yet our kitchen seems to be forever littered with kids toys, crafts and random rubbish. We lack storage and as a result a lot of the kids craft sets, play dough packs and such-like end up shoved on top of the units collecting dust. Our unit tops are sightly never-mind the units themselves which like the tiles drive me to distraction.
No matter how much time I spend decluttering, rearranging and organising the endless crap which our kids seem to collect, theres never enough room to hide all the hideous hoards of crafting crap. With it being the Easter holidays I finally have the chance to get to grips with cleaning our kitchen and I’ve already made a start by sorting through the kids play sets, throwing away anything I deem ‘too young for our kids’ and I’ve since made up charity bags and hand-me-down bags for their younger cousin.
Grab a bag and give it a go for yourself, you’d be surprised how much rubbish you’ve got hoarded away in those drawers and cupboards!
Storage Solutions
Despite having emptied the kitchen earlier today I still lack storage space, this will be something which we will address when planning and preparing for our future kitchen. It’s all very well buying beautiful display units/ worktops such as those available from Worktop Express, but if you’ve got kids you’ll never truly benefit from the storage space as within minutes said cupboards/ units will be rammed full of rubbish.
My only advice would be to ‘get rid’ of anything you don’t actually use nor need, whats the point in having a coffee machine if you don’t drink coffee?
Cooker Chaos
As I said I’ve made a start upon clearing our kitchen by decluttering, next to tackle is our oven. It’s a single ‘all in one grill/ oven’ which is next to useless as come Christmas I have no other option than to pre-cook and re-heat food. One day I’ll have a larger oven, that said I can’t promise my cooking will be any better!
To put it politely, our oven is forever caked with crap, scrub all you like but the glass will never clear nor look clean. Earlier this week however, my Mum very kindly brought us some ‘Oven Pride’ which I plan to put to use. I’m hoping that her claims that ‘cleaning will be easy’ are true as I haven’t the energy to scrub an oven which come two years will be no longer.
Burying my head in the sand isn’t going to clean my oven though and for that reason I’m going to grab the marigolds and get scrubbing. Avoiding cleaning isn’t really an option when it comes to kitchens, if it needs doing then get it done!
Tackling The Task List
Until we can afford new units, new worktops and all that shizz I try to keep on top of things by carrying out the following tasks on a daily basis:
- Spray and wipe down all counters using antibacterial products.
- Clean around the hob tops using a damp cloth.
- Wipe around the sink and draining board with antibacterial spray and a sponge.
- Vacuum and mop the floors (this varies from using the steam mop to carrying out a full bleach mop dependent upon the state of the tiles).
- Clean and wipe the kitchen table.
- Replace and wash the kitchen tea towel/ hand towels.
- Empty bins and replace bin bags with fresh, empty bags.
Alongside the above, I also carry out other tasks (such as those listed below) on a weekly basis:
- Remove and wash the microwave plate.
- Clean the microwave entirely using a damp cloth and antibacterial spray.
- Spray and clean all kitchen units, utilities and tiles.
- Replace and bleach the kitchen sponges/ dish cloths.
Every other week I also try to:
- Change the dining room table cloth.
- Wipe the window sills with a damp cloth.
- Clean the windows using spray and a squeegee.
- Wipe down all the tiles with antibacterial spray and a damp cloth.
- Polish and clean the kitchen display unit.
Then there are the more awkward tasks which I tend to leave to a monthly- quarterly timeframe:
- Remove and clean the dishwasher filter.
- Remove the dining room curtains, put said curtains in the wash and then hang to dry.
- Clean the oven.
- Clean light fittings.
- Remove cupboard contents and wipe down the cupboards.
- Remove counter top items and dust counter tops.
- Defrost and clean freezers.
- Remove fridge drawers/ shelves and clean/ reorganise the entire fridge.
Maybe once a year I also reorganise the kitchen, re-homing pots, pans and other items in a wasted attempt to give fresh-life to my chaotic kitchen and dilapidated dining room.
Making Do
I try my hardest to keep on top of the cleaning in this house, the kitchen however seems to be the only room which will never really feels clean. I personally think this is due to the dreary decor but until we can redecorate, I have to do what I can in the meantime.
As you can imagine after six years of waiting, I’ve got plenty of ideas for our new kitchen but until we are able to redecorate, I need to learn ‘make do’ and to live with what we currently call ‘our kitchen’.
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