We love helping you design and build the kitchen of your dreams—and know that you want to protect your investment, so your kitchen and cabinetry look fantastic for years to come. Read our top tips for correctly cleaning your cabinetry to maintain them properly.

Why Cleaning Your Kitchen Cabinetry is Important

Your kitchen and bathroom cabinetry look great when you first have them installed, but after a while, you might notice that the surface is starting to look a bit dingy. No small wonder, considering what your cabinetry is up against every day. In the bathroom, your cabinetry are exposed to moisture, perfumes, powders, and hairspray. In the kitchen, your cabinetry are barraged by cooking grease, grimy fingers, wayward batter, steam, and smoke. All these elements can ruin that brand-new appearance of your wooden cabinetry, but luckily the solution is as simple as cleaning products that you probably already have in your own home.

Importance of Cleaning Your Cabinetry

First, you need to resign yourself to the fact that, like everything else in your home, your cabinetry need routine maintenance to keep looking their best. Cabinetry cleaning techniques are the same whether you are working on a kitchen, bath, or storage area, but you might have to budget different amounts of time based on the room. For a thorough scrubbing of cabinets that have moved from mildly dirty to downright sticky, you’ll need to spend a bit more time cleaning them up, but this will be well worth the effort.

Frequency of Cleaning Your Cabinetry

Like your countertops or floor, the kitchen and bathroom cabinetry need regular cleaning. If you have a busy kitchen, wipe down food splatters and moisture every time you can! It’s best to do a deep clean at least monthly. You may have to clean them more frequently if you have small children or pets.

Ten Simple Tips for Cleaning Your Cabinetry

1. For daily cleaning or spot cleaning use a microfiber cloth and a multi-purpose cleaner.

2. Always spray the cleaner onto the cloth and not directly onto the cabinetry.

3. Make sure the cloth is not too saturated so there’s no liquid dripping down the cabinetry.

4. Grease can be cleaned using a little dishwashing liquid, like Dawn, with water. We recommend mixing the dishwashing liquid soap to a strength of two parts hot water to one part soap. Mix it well so the soap is dissolved into the water. Soapy water is gentle enough to keep wood, stainless steel, laminate, and every material safe from damage!

5. Apply to cabinetry with a well-wrung-out microfiber cloth.

6. In areas where there is buildup, you may need to use some elbow grease.

7. Be sure to rinse very well, otherwise, you’ll just add another layer of build-up and stickiness.

8. Remember to clean around handles and close to kitchen appliances.

9. An Important Don’t: The biggest thing to avoid is water running down the fronts because it can get into the seams and the wood will swell which cracks the paint.  If this happens, they can’t be fixed and must be replaced. This is seen most on the doors below a sink and the door on a waste basket pull-out. Best to be sure to wipe those down immediately if water drips down them.

10. Don’t forget to clean the inside of your cabinetry as well. You’ll need a bit more time to accomplish this as you’ll need to remove all the items in your cabinetry before cleaning. Then, using a microfiber cloth or paper towel, remove any dust, debris, or crumbs from the inside the cabinetry. Clean with a multi-purpose cleaner or soapy water following the same steps noted above.

Why clean your cabinets? It’s simple: they'll last longer!

Sticky grease stains and soapy residue seem gross, right? But did you know that grime can slowly break down your cabinetry? Built-up grime, moisture, and food splatters are never good news for any type of cabinetry. It can discolor laminate and penetrate the wood. Keeping your cabinetry spotless is not just a matter of appearance—a well-kept kitchen cabinet will last longer so it helps to protect your investment.

Check out some of our favorite kitchen designs on our portfolio page. If you’d like to schedule a consultation, we’d welcome the opportunity to learn about your next project and to walk you through our showroom and explain our innovative Design Build Process.

The Design Build Process at The Cabinetry allows us to support you through the design phase and all the way to achieving the finished product so you can have a team of experts dedicated to ensuring the process is efficient, clear, and leads to a finished product you are thrilled with for years to come. Book your complimentary consultation via calendly here.