Cleaning and Maintaining Your Kitchen Cabinets

If you have a kitchen, chances are good you have kitchen cabinets. Some people use shelves, but most kitchens have some sort of closed in storage area. You store everything from your food to your plates, cups, glasses, and other kitchen needs there so that they are where you need them and in easy reach. Your cabinets may not last forever, but you can do many things to take care of them so that they last longer and will not have to be replaced as often. Some cabinets last for decades, so if you care for yours the right way, yours can too while still looking great.

Most kitchen cabinets are made from some type of wood. If yours are, you have to take care of the interior as well as the exterior. You should know that when you buy your cabinets, you should think about care. You want to choose a durable wood finish that is going to last and take the drips, spills, and grease splatters that are going to happen in any kitchen no matter how careful you may be. If you go with the low end kitchen cabinets, the wood with which they were made may not stand up so well and may not clean off so easily either.

To clean most wood kitchen cabinets, you want to use some type of wood cleaner on occasion, but your usually kitchen cleaner will be needed for tough stains and spills. When choosing a wood cleaner, you want something that will not only clean off the wood, but also something that will be gentle and actually protect the wood from further damage. Get something like oil soap or a good dusting wax that can protect, clean, and also condition the wood. With time, wood will warp with too much moisture, so clean off moisture from spills and cleaners as soon as you can.

Don't forget about the inside of your wood kitchen cabinets. You may not have to clean out the inside as often as the out, but you should take some time to wipe the interior down at least a few times a year more often in the kitchen cabinets where you keep your food and spice items. If something spills or leaks and is not wiped up, it could warp the shelves within over time. Some use contact paper to protect from spills. This is not as easy to find as it use to be, but you can find it in many home and kitchen stores and in various spots online.

If you happen to have metal kitchen cabinets, you may not have to care for them in the same way. They will need to be wiped down, but you obviously would not use wood cleaner on them. Use a dish detergent and water to wipe them down inside and out once in a while, and then make sure you keep the exterior free from rust. Once they start to rust, you may as well start planning on how to replace them. Look for metal cleaners and protectors for your kitchen cabinets.