My grandma’s generation didn’t have wipes for the counter, a special cleaner for appliances, one for the sink, a cleaner for the stove, and a miracle worker for the microwave. Yet, their kitchens were clean.
How? While my infrequent and strenuous efforts were being made, my grandma was cleaning as well…all the time.
But, short, infrequent sessions prevented any of it from becoming a huge project. Now, I’m doing a better job keeping up with things than ever before because I’ve copied her lead.
Seems to me that if we all followed suit, we’d be wasting less money on newfangled cleaning products. Apparently, old habits are better habits.
Currently, 2/4 of my house holds steady with the cleaning. I figure if teenagers won’t join in on a routine, maybe someday they will.
VINTAGE KITCHEN HABITS THAT’LL MAKE YOUR LIFE EASIER
1. CLEAN AS YOU COOK
This is probably the number one habit that vintage homemakers excelled at. They cleaned as they went, wiping down counters, washing prep bowls, and rinsing utensils as they baked pies and cooked meals.
We can do this, too. There’s lots of times during cooking where you’re standing and waiting for something to simmer or preheat an oven.
Those are perfect times to quickly rinse bowls and give your counters a wipe down. By the time your meal is ready to serve, chances are your kitchen will be nearly clean.
By reassigning some of your tasks while cooking, you’re not adding any additional time. It’s just reallocating the time you’ve already allotted for preparing and cooking your meal.
This habit will help keep your kitchen from becoming a disaster.
2. SWEEP THE KITCHEN EVERY NIGHT
I LOVE this habit and have been doing it for years. I love coming into a freshly-swept kitchen each morning.
It only takes about 3 minutes to give your kitchen a quick vacuum or sweep before bed each night, but it can save you from letting dirt and crumbs get out of hand and invite unwanted critters into your home. It’s also easier for you and your oblivious husband to pick up large chunks of food and spills before they get stepped in and rubbed into your carpet or grout.
3. WIPE THE STOVETOP AFTER EVERY USE
If you wipe down your stovetop after you’re done cooking, especially when it’s still warm, it will take you NO time at all, maybe 30 seconds. It’s one of those habits that takes minimal effort to do when you’re standing there finishing up your meal.
If you wait 3 days to wipe it down, chances are you’ll be standing around scrubbing cold, hardened-on grease for a LONG time. It’s much easier to keep the stove from getting super dirty instead of cleaning up after the fact.
4. KEEP THE SINK EMPTY AT NIGHT
This is another old-fashioned kitchen habit. It may seem tedious and difficult at first, but emptying your sink each night is a habit worth picking up.
You can train your kiddos this habit, too. It takes a bit of planning, but it’s easier to wash dishes as you use them or put away after using them than it is to go through an entire sink of dishes.
It can be overwhelming.
5. CLEAN THE REFRIGERATOR BEFORE GROCERY DAY
One of those weirdly specific tasks that vintage homemakers did was clean out their fridge before grocery shopping. They tossed any leftovers, wiped down the shelves, and gave the crisper drawers a cleaning.
It’s amazing how a ten-minute job like this saves money in the long run by keeping us from plopping new purchases on top of mystery take-out containers from two weeks ago. It also saves us money by reminding us what we have in our fridge and keeping us from accidentally purchasing a second item we already have.
6. WASH DISHES IN HOT WATER
This is such an old-wives’ trick, and it really works. Using dishwater at the hottest temperature your skin can stand cuts through grease like room-temp dishwater never could.
That pan that seemed like it needed to be vigorously scrubbed under tepid water will slide right out of your hands squeaky clean under hot water. Using the hottest water possible is an underused trick when it comes to simplifying dish-washing duties, especially for people who opt to wash dishes by hand.
No need for special cleaning products when hot water does the job.
7. USE DISH RAGS INSTEAD OF PAPER TOWELS FOR MOST TASKS
Paper towels didn’t used to be an option, so dish rags were the way of the moment. Now, even with the convenience of paper towels, rags can outshine paper towels in terms of sucking up liquid spills, wiping counters, and even drying hands.
Not only are dish rags an excellent tool for cleaning, they’re money savers as well. Invest in a few dish rags or cut up an old t-shirt, keep them under your sink, and challenge yourself to use them before reaching for the paper towels.
Most jobs around the kitchen will be better accomplished with a cloth rag rather than a paper towel. Save the paper towels for certain jobs and they’ll last a lot longer. It can help to designate a sink rag, counter rag, etc.
8. WIPE DOWN CABINET FRONTS WEEKLY
Another job for those rags. Kitchen cabinets become quite grimy over time, especially around the stove, where there’s lots of grease in the air.
The grime is easier to remove the sooner it’s gotten there, so don’t wait until they’re super-gross to tackle your cabinets. Just give them a quick once-over with a damp cloth and a squirt of dish soap once a week to keep them squeaky clean without major elbow grease.
9. KEEP A SIMMER POT FOR KITCHEN ODORS
Fish stews. Deep-fried doughnuts.
Homemade macaroni and cheese. We love to make lots of different foods in our kitchens, but sometimes, even with a window open and a fan going, food odors stick around for longer than we’d like.
Enter the trusty simmer pot. Simply add some lemon ends or other citrus rind, cloves, cinnamon, orange peels, etc. to a pot of water and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.
In just five minutes, your kitchen will smell wonderful, masking the smell of fried calamari much better than an aerosol air freshener.
10. DESCALE THE COFFEE MAKER MONTHLY
Nothing can ruin a morning like weak, sad-tasting coffee. Before you toss that trusty drip machine in favor of a trendy overpriced single-serving contraption, try cleaning it out first.
Scale buildup can greatly impact the performance of your coffee maker. Simply fill the reservoir halfway with white vinegar, fill the rest of the way with water, then run through a normal brewing cycle.
Then, empty the carafe, fill with water, and run through two more brewing cycles. Voila, in just a few minutes you’ll be brewing like new again.
Many people neglect this chore, but you use that baby every single day. Believe it or not, your coffee maker harbors a gross accumulation of gunk. It’s a combination of the coffee itself and minerals in your water particularly if you live in an area with hard water. It’s shocking to peer down the chute and see what’s going on in there. Yeast and mold can also be an issue, which will affect the taste of your coffee. Clean your coffee maker once a month by running vinegar through the reservoir according to the directions, rinsing the reservoir and then running a couple or more hot water cycles through it. It’ll take ten minutes and your coffee will taste better for it.
11. WIPE APPLIANCE EXTERIORS DAILY
Dedicate thirty seconds each to wipe down your fridge handle, the front of your microwave, your toaster, your coffee maker, whatever’s in your kitchen. Greasy fingerprints can quickly accumulate on these items and make the entire room appear grubbier than it is. Stainless steel refrigerators are notorious for displaying every single print. There’s no escape from those pesky prints; I’m resigned to accept that fact. However, wiping down each appliance takes only thirty seconds and keeps them shiny.
12. CLEAN THE MICROWAVE WEEKLY
Add a few drops of vinegar or some slices of lemon to a bowl of water, cover, and microwave on High for five minutes. Allow the bowl to sit in the closed microwave for a couple of minutes, then remove and wipe down the microwave with a damp cloth. The steam from the heated bowl of water will have softened any food splatters for easy removal. Cleaning the microwave will take five minutes a week instead of twenty minutes and praying that the suspicious stench disappears if you let it get too gunky.
13. CLEAN THE GARBAGE DISPOSAL WEEKLY
This one’s a bit of a stinker (literally), but it’s quick and easy and will keep things fresher-smelling down the line.
To clean the disposal blades and help with odors, run ice cubes and a cut up lemon through the disposal once a week. The ice scrubs the blades and the citrus oils from the lemon deodorize the blades, remember to run cold water afterwards.
You can also pour half a cup of white vinegar into the disposal and let sit for a few minutes before running cold water to flush.
14. RUN THE DISHWASHER WITH VINEGAR MONTHLY
A quick and easy way to keep your dishwasher squeaky clean is to give it a hot cycle about once a month with a cup of white vinegar sitting on the top rack. Set a dishwasher-safe bowl with a cup of white vinegar on the top rack and run the dishwasher on a hot water cycle.
When you’re all done, remove the bowl. This cleans out all of the spray arms of grease and grime, mineral deposits, dishwashing detergent build up, and food remnants that can lead to funky dishwasher and dish odors.
Give yourself permission to take those 10 minutes once a month to give your dishwasher a deep cleaning. Trust me – it’ll make you happy.
Rinse off the bowl and store until next month’s cleaning.
15. DUST FROM TOP TO BOTTOM
Vintage homemakers were logical about everything. For instance, they knew that dusting from top to bottom made sense.
It’s hard to see the dust, but there’s tons of it on top of upper cabinets, on top of the fridge, etc. Dust those items first, then work your way down the list:
upper cabinets, interior and exterior
items on top of the refrigerator
items on countertops
small appliances
light switches
floors (vacuum and/or mop)
If you clean in the opposite direction, floors first and upper cabinets last, you’re going to be spreading that dust around your kitchen and probably vacuuming or sweeping twice. Dusting your ceiling fan will deposit a layer of dust on everything below it too.
Don’t skip the dusting when you clean your kitchen – trust me, it’s worth it.
16. KEEP A TRASH BOWL ON THE COUNTER WHILE COOKING
This is more of a kitchen habit rather than a cleaning tip per se. When cooking is done, it’s easy to empty the trash bowl into the garbage and put the bowl away.
It’s another example of an old-fashioned cleaning hack.
Grab a nearby empty container or use a bowl. Set it on the counter.
Then, as you’re prepping the meal, toss everything like food scraps, peels, and boxes into the container. When you’re done cooking, take that one item to the garbage.
That’s it.
17. ORGANIZE PANTRY ITEMS FRONT TO BACK
This might be a task that seems tedious until you realize how easy it makes things down the road. Vintage homemakers kept their refrigerators and pantries organized from front to back, just like we do at the grocery store.
Older items were kept to the front with newer purchases tucked behind them. As they’d add items to the refrigerator/pantry, they’d also move items forward.
It took them only a couple of minutes and prevented them from finding “mystery items I forgot existed” in the back of the refrigerator/pantry that had already expired. When you’re adding your groceries to your pantry, take two minutes to organize older items to the front.
You’ll thank yourself later. No more spring/summer/fall/winter cleaning out your pantry.
18. POLISH THE SINK TO A SHINE WEEKLY
This is so easy and takes only a minute, yet makes a world of a difference in the way your kitchen looks. Simply grab a clean dishrag after washing dishes or your hands and wipe down the sink, drying it completely.
Add some baking soda in the basin for an added clean/shine if desired. It’s amazing how a kitchen with a clean, shiny sink appears to be completely clean.
Plus, by polishing your sink regularly, you’ll be cutting back on built-up dirt, grime and soap scum.
19. WIPE LIGHT SWITCHES AND DOOR HANDLES DAILY
We touch door handles and light switches so much in our kitchens. Wiping these items off on a daily basis ensures dirt and grime won’t build-up.
It’s such an easy task to fit into your kitchen cleaning, especially since we’re in and out of our kitchens all day long.
Light switches and cabinet handles: It’s amazing how quickly switches and handles collect food residues, grease, and other daily kitchen crud from dirty hands. These items are among the highest-touched, least-cleaned items in the home, but wiping them down only takes about 30 seconds. Add them to your normal daily cleaning, and soon they’ll be muscle memory.
20. LET CLEANING PRODUCTS SIT BEFORE SCRUBBING
Vintage homemakers were famous for letting cleaning products soak before scrubbing. Whether it’s grease on the stovetop or food splatters on the counter, give your cleaning product five-to-ten minutes to dissolve the gunk.
If you attack a mess immediately, you’re relying on brute force to clean, not the power of your cleaning product. But if you walk away from the area, you’ll be amazed how easy it is to wipe away stubborn grime.
21. DEEP CLEAN THE OVEN MONTHLY
Does your food take on a smokey taste when you cook it, or does the kitchen fill with an awful stench when you turn on the oven? It’s time for a good cleaning.
But if you deep-clean your oven on a monthly basis, you’ll be amazed how easy it is to wipe away the crud without harsh cleaning products. Simply spread a paste of baking soda and water on the inside of your oven.
Let it sit overnight, then give the oven a good wipe in the morning. That’s it.
Ten minutes of effort a month keeps your oven looking great, and spares you from having to devote a lot more time and work every three months.
22. USE ONE CLOTH PER ZONE
Have a system of color-coded cleaning cloths to avoid spreading germs around your home. Assign a different color for each room, then within that color scheme, assign a color for each zone within the room.
For example, in my kitchen:
Gray cloth is reserved for cleaning counters
Black cloth is reserved for sinks
Brown cloth is reserved for appliances
Tan cloth is reserved for stovetop
Navy cloth is reserved for cleaning windows and mirrors.
Past homemakers used specific cloths for specific jobs – one for the sink, one for the counter, one for the floor, etc. I love this idea of having designated rags.
Not only will it help to avoid contamination, but it’s a great idea to keep the counter/sink rag separate from the food-prep rag.
Make sure to have specific cleaning cloths for certain areas in your kitchen. Color coding is best – then there’s no wondering which rag is for where. Make sure to wash them on a regular basis. Would you want to wipe down your cutting board, then go right ahead and wipe up a spill at the sink with the same rag? Yikes! Nope.
23. STORE CLEANING SUPPLIES SIMPLY
How many different types of cleaning products do you own for your kitchen? It seems to me that there’s a new cleaning product every other week – all promising to do a better job of keeping our kitchens sparkling than the last.
Grandma only ever needed baking soda, vinegar, and dish soap to keep a sparkling clean home. Chances are whatever special cleaning product you’ve picked up today does what one of those 3 items does anyway.
Simplify your life – own a few multipurpose cleaners for your kitchen, then never again have to lug around choice-anxiety or a stuffed-to-the-brims cleaning cabinet.
Invest in some multipurpose cleaners. Store them in a dedicated location that’s accessible but tucked out of the way. Keep it simple and functional.
24. AIR OUT THE KITCHEN DAILY
Kitchens tend to get damp. Excess steam and cooking odors become stale.
Moisture leads to mildew. Open a window or use your over-range vent for 10-15 minutes each day to avoid a stale, musty kitchen.
Grandma did this daily, even on the coldest, winter days.
Ventilate After Cooking: The moisture from cooking finds its way into the cabinets, curtains, upholstery. Eventually it will cause an undesirable odor. Ventilate your kitchen for 10 minutes after cooking to avoid moisture buildup.
25. CLEAN BEHIND AND UNDER APPLIANCES SEASONALLY
It’s amazing how much dust and grime can collect under and around your appliances. This can adversely affect the air in your home as well as the way your appliances operate.
For example, you should clean out your refrigerator coils. This means that you need to pull the refrigerator out of place which could take an hour to accomplish.
Likewise, it’s a good idea to vacuum behind a range. Try to get behind and under appliances twice a year (every six months).
It’s a lot easier than dealing with an infestation of bugs and critters and it will help your refrigerator operate more efficiently.
26. WIPE DOWN CABINET INTERIORS QUARTERLY
Food storage areas may appear to be in order on the outside but the inside may be another matter. Food may have been stored there and deteriorated, spills could have happened, food particles could have fallen in there, and so on.
Once every 3 months, pull everything out of the food or other storage cabinets and give them a good cleaning with damp, soapy microfiber cloths. Allow them to dry and replace your belongings.
This will be a good time for you to dispose of anything that’s past its prime.
27. WASH KITCHEN TOWELS FREQUENTLY
It seems like kitchen towels get filthy almost immediately. You may be surprised to learn that they should be washed every 1-2 days.
Having a set of these on hand will come in handy so you can switch them out frequently. That way, you’re not grabbing a wet, just-used kitchen towel when you need a dry one.
If you’re anything like me, you’ve got a pair of kitchen towels that get pulled out and used as needed. And then one day you realize they’ve been in service for a few days and have acquired that certain smell.
That certain smell that tells you there are bacteria on those towels that would be happy to make their way onto your hands or dishes when they’re being dried. Fix: Wash them more frequently.
Easy enough.
28. END EACH DAY WITH A FULL COUNTER WIPE-DOWN
Back in the days of vintage homemaking, counters were cleared of all things and wiped down each evening, ending up squeaky clean and shiny. But since then, wiping down counters became something we do when they get dirty, which means crumbs and residue are always hanging around.
I now wipe down ALL of the counters each night. It only takes about four minutes and prevents buildup, as well as resets everything so I’m starting with a completely clean slate each morning.
Believe me, nothing will improve the look of your kitchen more, and your attitude when you enter it in the am, than a regular wipe-down routine. It’ll do more to enhance your kitchen than any cleaning product out there.
29. MAKE IT A ROUTINE, NOT A REACTION
The difference between old kitchen cleaning and modern is that old homemakers cleaned on a schedule, not when they saw dirt. Every day, week, month and season meant nothing could get very far out of control.
And because there was less mess when the cleaning was done, the cleaning was easy.
While I’ve picked up some of these tricks from grandmothers past and present, many have been researched or picked up in articles. And yes, while I try to reduce our family’s use of disposables, paper towels still make the list.
But in general, old-school homemakers knew the value of staying on top of many of these tasks, using simple solutions to keep their kitchens in tip-top shape with minimal fuss.
As you can see, keeping an organized, cleaned kitchen doesn’t have to be time-consuming at all. Many of these tasks take seconds to complete.
And since you’re going to be in and out of your kitchen anyway, it’s easy to implement some of these tasks. Try implementing some of these vintage-inspired cleaning tasks into your own kitchen.
I think you’ll find that your dreaded spring cleaning isn’t so dreaded after all.
You can keep all of the supplies you’ll need for these habits in one cabinet. Vinegar, baking soda, dish soap, dish cloths, a broom.
The rest of them are habits: wiping, sweeping, polishing. The products don’t change, just the frequency.
This is another installment in my ongoing series of vintage cleaning methods that really work, kicking off with 33 Vintage Cleaning Tips That Beat Modern Shortcuts. If your idea of practical cleaning involves items already in your kitchen, check out 33 Things You Can Clean With Vinegar or 31 Things You Can Clean With Baking Soda.
If your practical cleaning woes are fabric-related, take a look at 27 Old-School Stain Removal Tricks That Actually Work next, or, if laundry is your nemesis, head straight to 29 Old-Fashioned Laundry Tips That Beat Modern Detergent Pods.