We find out which items are most forgotten about.
How often do you clean these items in your kitchen?
To calculate the ideal time spent undertaking each cleaning task, we partnered with cleaning expert Nicki Rodriguez, aka the Essex House Dolly, to advise on how often you should be cleaning each kitchen element. Using her recommendations, we have also revealed the top kitchen items that are being under-cleaned the most.
Naturally, the amount of time between cleaning is dependent on usage, but also the individual, as Nicki explains; “There, in my opinion, is not one defining answer. It all depends on the individual, their lifestyle, if they have mental health conditions (OCD personally is one that I live with) and basically whether it bothers you if something is clean or looks clean. Also if you have a cleaner can it can be left to them?”
Topping the list of kitchen items that people either forget to clean, or choose never to clean is the inside of the knife block, as nearly a third (30%) of people revealed that they have never cleaned the inside.
The second most neglected item is the kettle, with 17% admitting to never cleaning inside the appliance. We think it might be best to turn down the offer of a brew in future.
Nicki recommends descaling your kettle every four to eight weeks; “The longer a kettle is left, the harder it is to break down the deposits that have built up. Distilled vinegar and water mixed in the kettle until halfway full should do the trick. Just bring it to the boil and allow to rest in the kettle for 15/20 minutes. Pour out the mixture and rinse the kettle afterwards.”
More than 10% of the UK also confessed to never cleaning inside the washing machine or toaster and just shy of one in 10 people never wipe down their light switches. Given the number of times light switches are touched in a day, this is a hotbed for spreading bacteria around the rest of the house.
We also uncovered which kitchen cleaning tasks required the most self-motivation to complete, with scrubbing the oven coming out on top, being disliked by over half of Brits. This is where a self-cleaning oven would work wonders.
As much as we may dislike cleaning the oven, it’s crucial that we don’t neglect it for too long, as Nicki explains, “Aside from bacteria, cooking food inside of a filthy oven will cause fumes that your food will absorb, which can result in a funny taste. Your oven may also not function properly if it is not cleaned regularly.”
Cleaning the trash can, inside the freezer, skirting boards and cooker hoods also ranked on the list of the UK’s most disliked kitchen cleaning chores.
Cleaning inside the freezer isn’t the most enjoyable task with it landing as the third most disliked cleaning activity. Nicki recommends cleaning inside your freezer every two to three months, rather than every six to 11 months which was the most common answer from our respondents.
