Spring, it's time for kitchen cleaning! Choose a beautiful day to turn into a 2.0 version of Mastro Lindo (maybe in a skirt): clean air and light will make the task more enjoyable and easy than on a gloomy rainy day. Here are our suggestions for a job well done and without stress, which will give you a lot of satisfaction.

Keywords: analysis and order
It is essential to go in phases for a cleansing with criteria, and the steps to follow are evaluate, eliminate, clean and finally to organize, where cleaning means removal of residues, cleaning, sanitizing and rinsing. Before startingHowever, take a good look around the kitchen and take note of everything there is: food, pots and pans, utensils, glasses and more. Then decide what will end up in the garbage, what to donate or give, what to eliminate because you don't use it or because it has expired. Only after making space will you be able to proceed with the actual cleaning, to then organize what is left.

Goodbye to shyness
Be ruthless. Take a long look at how much fills your kitchen and / or pantry, and proceed with the garbage bag: do you still have the jam jar made by the Christmas aunt and never opened? Street. Even the now dusty spices brought home from the Caribbean trip two years ago and never used must disappear. Do you buy pasta at the minimarket along the motorway (don't even remember when)? If it has not expired, give it to you. throw everything has expired for more than six months and set aside the foods to donate: those still sealed that you won't be able to consume before the deadline, duplicates or excellent foods that nobody in the family will eat for various reasons. Giving them will be a pleasure. Even how much you keep in the pantry because "you never know" must go, to make room for what you really consume. If you have more open containers of the same ingredient (cinnamon, paprika, colored pepper, etc.), combine everything in a single jar and eliminate the others.

The same rule applies to pots and pans. Do you have two 40 cm diameter pans? How many times will you find yourself cooking for a squadron of ravenous orcs? (You can only ignore this point if you have a couple of teenage boys who play sports!) Check that non-stick pots and pans are not too worn and replace them if they are not intact because the flakes of coating that come off are carcinogenic.
If you can't separate yourself from some tool that you have double or you don't use, put it away (in the cellar?) And free up space.

Cleaning from top to bottom
This is not just a way of saying. THE'cleaning order goes from top to bottom, because the dust and crumbs swept by shelves, window sills, and the top of the refrigerator will have to succumb to gravity; so do yourself a favor e clean the floors last. Empty and clean shelves, drawers, walls and doors, inside and out. Let them air dry, open. After checking everything and possibly eliminating expired and duplicated products, clean the remaining with a damp sponge before putting it back in place.
Leave a few sprigs of laurel on the bottom of cabinets and cupboards: keeps insects away.
Meanwhile, wash the dishes you don't use often, even if they are stored away from the dust; thehave and disinfect the waste containers.

Beware of toxic products
Toxic chemicals do not belong to the kitchen. So try to avoid as much as possible the use of chemistry where you prepare the food: normal wine vinegar used pure or diluted on surfaces, it is perfect for removing limescale from taps and sinks. Mixed with water (3/4 water and 1/4 vinegar) and poured into a bottle with spray cap, it makes windows, mirrors and crystals sparkle. Clean the pots by filling them to the brim with water, add a couple of tablespoons of vinegar, boil everything, empty, dry and … mirror yourself! Also use it to sanitize the floor, vinegar is cheap but natural it's a lot efficient. Alternatively, also the sodium bicarbonate – a natural abrasive – works wonders against encrusted dirt. In addition, whatever detergent is used, take advantage of the warm spring air and open the windows.

Clean everything, absolutely everything!
There are a whole series of objects that we tend to neglect or forget when we dedicate ourselves to cleaning, nothing could be more wrong! Don't forget to clean the containers and / or baskets for fruits and vegetables. For the interior of the kettle of tea use water and lemon, boiled. Release the toaster from the crumbs and clean the internal springs. Degrease and wash the cooker hood of the stove, replacing the filter activated carbon if necessary. Clean the oven and the microwave: in these cases, the chemistry has its use, as well as for the burners of the stove. In fact, the specific foam cleaners found on the market are ideal for neglected and desperate cases, but use them sparingly and only when you find stubborn stains and stubborn dirt. Don't neglect walls is ceilings to remove dust and any cobwebs, check that the gas pipe it has no small cracks or cracks in the rubber to prevent the methane from escaping.

Don't forget the fridge
Even the expensive refrigerator deserves a moment of thorough cleaning and to do so you must of course empty it. Put the food in cooled bags closed with siberines (cooling tablets), throw away all the foods that have expired or that have not kept well. Remove and wash shelves, drawers is glove. Dedicate the same care to walls, bottom and ceiling, using hot water and a drop of dish soap. Dry well with a cloth and finally sanitize it with a mixture of vinegar or baking soda. Leave some spoon of baking soda in a small bowl, in a corner of the refrigerator: lo will preserve from unpleasant odors. Once your fridge is clean, close the door without opening it again for 1-2 hours. Then put the food back in place, taking care to put the ones with the closest deadline in front.
Defrost frozen freezer, turning it off and leaving it open: throw away what has expired or appears to be compromised. If your model needs to be defrosted, follow the instructions in the instruction booklet. Put the frozen food in bags or cooler bags with siberines, clean the drawers and the ice bucket. Once cleaned, turn the freezer back on and wait 2-3 hours before putting the food back inside.

What to clean?
After the time of ruthless order and savage selection, we ask ourselves: what do you clean with? Not all materials are the same and above all the functions that have the plans, the objects and the protagonists of our kitchen are not the same. What to rub, cleanse, polish, pack, store, disinfect? Depending on the material we have to interface with, from steel to laminate, from marble to new hi-tech surfaces like glass ceramics, we will need special products, without ever neglecting grandma's remedies, such as vinegar (to disinfect ), bicarbonate (to degrease) or even lemon. Last but not least depends a lot on the function that our object has to clean (is it a cutlery? A worktop? An oven or a fridge?).

USEFUL PRODUCTS

Having said that, however, it is worth offering you a range of products that the leading companies in the sector, now all natural, sustainable and ecological, propose on the market to help men and women struggling with the kitchen, of all the rooms perhaps the most critical to clean, also because it houses the foods, which go to they are ordered and stowed, with the right materials and in the right way. Because then they will end up in our mouths.

Scent of cedar and ginger
To cleanse the kitchen DECO, leading company in the field of household care detergents, proposes the brand Green Emotion the line of detergents that respects nature because it is made with natural and biodegradable raw materials from renewable sources and the line Ladder. No bad smell and no danger of toxicity.

An example for everyone? The Scala degreaser with scent of cedar and bergamot, which replaces the classic, somewhat old-fashioned smell of the hospital. It can be used on cooking and work surfaces, hoods, sinks, roller shutters, tiles, barbecues, wheel rims, fireplaces, window frames, garden tables.

While the Scala dishwashing detergent surrounds us with a pleasant lemon-based fragrance and definitely ginger the line with the times.

Store food … already but how?
Cleaning also means put away the food and put it away well, in scented and ecological packages, biodegradable and eco-friendly.

Here too a world opens up. One of the leading companies in the sector of refrigerated and vacuum bags (but also in bags for recycling or in various accessories for cooking and storing food and even in changing cabinets) is called Virosac and distinguishes between dry or wet waste and much more.

Specifically, it can be useful, while we try to store the surviving foods in the fridge, one of the last products from the fridge, not surprisingly a particularly difficult place to treat.

Duradipiù for example, it is a bag that protects food in the fridge and slows down the natural formation of moisture produced by food, prolonging its organoleptic qualities and slowing its degradation in the refrigerator. While Biofrigo is a line dedicated to bags for storing food in the fridge and in the freezer.

And now I tag you
Label, pack, store, store: packaging products are also included in the range of products for cleaning / ordering / rationalizing the kitchen. Fabo in these cases it can be considered one of the leaders in the sector, with its tapes suitable for contact with food and a range of products with water-based acrylic adhesive, without solvents to respect the environment. So we will always know what's in jars and bags … remember to note the date of production and deadline!

Kitchen floor
We do not forget the floors, also part of the kitchen environment. Particular attention must be paid to the smell, which will be absorbed by our environment and could be in contrast with the wonderful aromas of the kitchen. And also look at the bacteria that lurk in the kitchen (only the bathroom precedes it as far as bacteria!).

A solution comes from Vileda Turbo Smart, system that washes floors with an innovative, practical and quality design equipped with an integrated wringer: by operating the pedal mechanism you can easily dry the bow, keeping your hands dry and cleaning your floors effortlessly.

While Vileda STEAM XXL Power Pad is the new light and handy steam mop that can fight 99.9% of bacteria (tested on the E.Coli bacterium) and is ideal for the cleaning and deep hygiene of all the floors in your home (but of the more kitchen).

Clean fruits, vegetables and surfaces
Here in the kitchen cleaning cabinet there are also food cleaners, which can also work well for non-edible materials.

An example is the Bicarbonate Fruit & Vegetables for food use, so pure and safe as always, but with features specifically designed to make it even more practical and effective in washing fruits and vegetables.

The new microgranules formulation of Bicarbonate Fruit & Vegetables is even more effective in removing dirt without scratching. It is therefore ideal, not only for washing fruits and vegetables, but also for cleaning delicate surfaces in the home.

The art of drying
Think about it, dry surfaces always look cleaner. Drying is in fact an art that needs its tools: we talk about products for rubbing, drying and absorbing. Like those produced by Winni's, leader in environmental, economic and social sustainability.

Winni’s Multipurpose Kitchen Towel it is a maxi roll resistant, hypoallergenic and with a high absorbency. It is the first paper made of pure cellulose enriched with the residues of apple processing, a precious raw material that contributes to reducing the environmental impact. The casing that wraps the product has 50% less thickness for energy savings.

And now enjoy your sparkling kitchen!

Giulia Paganelli
March 2017
updated in April 2018 by Claudia Minnella

updated May 2019 by Emanuela Di Pasqua

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