7 Places In Your Kitchen You Should Be Cleaning But Probably Aren’t

The moment I could afford to hire a house cleaner, I did it. Wonderful Eugenia came to my apartment for two hours, once a month, which was plenty for a single restaurant critic like me who wasn’t home much and rarely had the opportunity to make my own meals.

But when I married my husband and went freelance, things changed. His mother had worked as a cleaner and raised him to clean the house every day. This revealed to me that not only had I never really learned to clean up after myself, but that there were places that required maintenance that I hadn’t even thought about.

My domain in my house is the kitchen. That means that I’m in charge of everything from cooking to putting away the cutlery that I’ve sent through the dishwasher. The past five years have been a crash course in what to wash and how to clean it. This is what I’ve learned not to overlook.

1. Faucet Handles

Chances are, you already clean the basin of your kitchen sink, but what about the faucet handles? According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the sink is a prime location for foodborne bacteria. There’s a likelihood that you’ll even find fecal coliforms in there! After touching foods like raw meat, the first thing you grab is the faucet handle. 

How you clean your faucet and its handles varies by the material with which they’re made, but in most cases, scrubbing with soap and water should do the trick. 

2. Refrigerator Crisper Drawers

Research by the National Sanitation Foundation found that two of the germiest places in a kitchen are the vegetable and meat drawers. They found salmonella, listeria, yeast and mold in vegetable drawers—not exactly what you want to live on the carrot or celery sticks that you plan to eat raw. Meat drawers also harbored E. coli. 

It’s a good idea to clean the drawers monthly. To do so, remove them from the fridge, then scrub with a mild detergent using a clean sponge or cloth. In between, just make sure that your refrigerator is cold enough (around 41 degrees F) to slow bacteria growth.

3. Spices

Do you grab that jar of Montreal seasoning right after you’ve opened a pack of steak? Without even thinking about it, you may be spreading bacteria. In one study, researchers discovered that spice jars had more than twice the bacteria that other surfaces did when they were tested after participants prepared turkey patties. 

The best way to clean them? Scrub them with soap and hot water, then dry them thoroughly before replacing them on the shelf. 

4. Inside the Microwave

Do you meal prep? Then you probably use your microwave often enough to get it dirty. According to Whirlpool, frequent users should be cleaning this appliance once a week. If you have buildup from past meal explosions, heat a cup of hot water in the microwave to steam the caked-on food. Then, use a soft, clean cloth and dish soap to scrub your microwave clean.

5. Range Hood

My husband recently pointed out that our range hood was full of grease. That was the first time I realized that there was a filter there at all. Maybe you’re as clueless as I was, maybe not, but either way, it’s probably been a while since you’ve cleaned yours and you don’t want to further circulate the stored bacteria. 

To clean it, I removed the filter from the hood and soaked it in soapy water to get it as clean as I could. But I took it one step further and put it through a dishwasher cycle to finish it. With the newly cleaned filter, I noticed fewer trapped odors after cooking.

6. Under the Oven

If your oven has a storage drawer, rather than a warming drawer, when was the last time you thought to clean that? Or underneath it, which is likely even worse? Just pull out the drawer to clean it in the sink with soap and water, then while it dries, vacuum underneath the oven. You’ll be surprised by the food scraps you find there. After that, you’ll want to kill the bacteria by scrubbing the area with an all-purpose cleaner.

7. Door Handles and Knobs

One study found refrigerator handles were among the kitchen surfaces most diversely populated with germs—around seven foodborne pathogens, including E.coli, S. Aureus and streptococcus mitis, were found. That’s because people often forget to wash their hands between food prep and plucking something else from inside the fridge.

Luckily, cleaning refrigerator handles, as well as microwave, oven and cabinet door handles, is easy to do. Simply spray them with an all-purpose cleaner and scrub. Just don’t forget to do it at least once a week. 

The Bottom Line

Before I lived with my husband, I had no idea what a perilously gross place my kitchen was. But you don’t have to live in fear of it. Just keep in mind that every part of it, no matter how small, needs to be cleaned regularly. We now make kitchen maintenance part of our weekend every week. Do I hate it? Absolutely. But I enjoy it a whole lot more than I would a case of E.coli.