Kitchen Cleaning Hacks: 10 Ways To Keep Your Uni Kitchen Sparkling!

Ugh, nobody likes doing chores, and let’s be honest, kitchen cleaning when you’re a student can be pretty grim!

Whether there’s loads of mess from pre-drinks the night before, or you and your mates are messy chefs – the cleaning has to be done.

Understandably, when living and studying in our exciting uni accommodation, you’re going to want to put off cleaning as much as poss.

That’s why we’re here to help. We’ve got 10 of our best kitchen cleaning hacks…you’ll never look back after these.

So, without further ado, get your rubber gloves on and the disinfectant out because it’s time to get cleaning!

1. Keep Your Bin Smelling Fresh

keep bin smelling fresh

Bins can often end up smelling pretty bad, and that really does affect your whole kitchen, ew!

That’s why we always recommend keeping your bin smelling fresh, to ensure there’s no smelly odours.

One of our cleaning hacks to keep your bin smelling fresh is to soak a cotton ball in your favourite essential oil scents.

Next, place the cotton buds underneath the bin liner and your bin will instantly smell loads better!

We’d also recommend cleaning your bin fairly regularly with some boiling water and fairy liquid, just to keep bacteria at bay.

Another product we’d recommend purchasing is Bin Buddy, they have some seriously fab smelling insecticides to keep the nasty creatures away!

2. Renew Ruined Plans

renew ruined pans

All that gourmet cooking with your mates (and deffo not burning stuff) can sometimes ruin pans.

And you don’t want that, especially if your parents have bought you them as a moving away gift!

It’s actually really easy to make ruined pans look as good as new, another one of our awesome kitchen cleaning hacks.

Firstly, pour a thin layer of water in the pan and add a couple of splashes of vinegar, place it on the stove at a medium/high heat.

Be careful with this bit, but you need to bring the water to a boil, take the pan off the boil and add a handful of baking soda gradually.

It might get a bit fizzy at this point, so make sure you’re extra careful! Pour the solution out the pan and get scrubbing.

And there you have it folks! Your pan should be looking a good as new, ready to be used for the next yummy meal.

3. Remove Baked-On Grease

remove baked-on grease

Made a big fat lasagne and now you’ve got loads of baked-on grease left over? Don’t worry, we’ve all been there.

Baked-on grease can literally feel impossible to get off your baking tray when you’re kitchen cleaning, but our hack will help you!

All you need to do is cover the part that needs cleaning with dish soap and baking soda mixture.

Pour hot water over it and let it sit for around 15 minutes, take a piece of aluminium foil and crumble it up.

Scrum the dish with the ball of aluminium to get rid of all those grimey spots and you’re good to go!

4. Cleaning Out Your Fridge

cleaning out fridge

Fridges can be a hub for smelly stuff, which is why we highly recommend cleaning out your fridge fairly regularly.

This is probably seen as one of the most annoying chores when it comes to kitchen cleaning, but soz, it’s gotta be done!

There’s a couple of hacks with this one that are fairly inexpensive, one involves cutting a lemon in half…stay with us here…

Next, fill one empty lemon shell with salt and place it back in the corner of the fridge!

If you’d prefer an even sweeter scent, soak a cotton ball in vanilla extract and place it in a bowl in the fridge.

5. Use Your Vacuum To Clean Cabinets

clean cabinets

Got random crumbs in your kitchen cabinets? Don’t worry, we have too! Check out this hack though…

Instead of wasting time trying to pick up crumbs with a cloth and then that cloth getting covered in crumbs – use your hoover!

It’ll literally take a few seconds, and you can even use this hack on worktops if they’re crumb central after making some toast.

6. Remove Kettle Limescale

limescale kitchen cleaning

Have you ever made a brew and it looks like the least appetising thing ever? That’ll be because of the limescale (or because you’re rubbish at making cuppas..)

Limescale is a white, chalky residue that accumulates in kettle or coffee machines, and is usually common in hard water areas.

To keep the pesky limescale away when kitchen cleaning, place large chunks of lemon in the kettle, fill it with water and boil.

Leave the mixture overnight and the next morning, discard the lemons and water and rinse thoroughly.

Now prepare to make the best cuppa ever!

7. Clean Your Microwave

cleaning microwave

Cleaning your microwave is often a chore everyone puts off when kitchen cleaning, to the point where it becomes a total mess!

This hack is bound to make your life easier, and if you’re regular with your microwave cleaning, you don’t have to worry.

This one involves lemon again btw, so make sure you’re fully stocked up on lemons after reading this blog!

Firstly, mix half a cup of lemon juice and a cup of boiling water in a bowl and place it in your microwave.

Set the microwave to cook for 30 seconds on a high setting, carefully remove the hot bowl and wipe the inside of your microwave with a cloth.

Your microwave should now be smelling and looking fresh – hurrah!

8. Make Your Kitchen Tiles Look New

make kitchen tiles look new

Are your kitchen tiles looking a bit mucky after pre-drinks, or are they just generally warn?

This hack is going to feel like a chemistry lesson, but all for a good cause – we promise.

Firstly, sprinkle some baking soda over the tiles and use a spray bottle of cleaning vinegar (or ¼ cup of bleach) and spray it over the baking soda.

Let it fizzle and scrub the dirt away, you’ll be absolutely amazed with the results!

9. Cleaning A Chopping Board

chopping board cleaning

It’s no doubt when you’re cooking for yourself every night (with the odd takeaway here and there) your chopping board will get dirty.

The main reason being, they can’t actually be washed in the dishwasher, but they can be washed using…you guessed it…LEMON!

Cut a lemon in half and use it to clean the surface, sprinkle it with salt or bicarbonate of soda and scrub.

10. Clean Your Oven Naturally

kitchen cleaning oven

Did you remember to clean your oven? A lot of us tend to forget about it, and they can actually end up being pretty filthy!

You can clean your oven naturally without any harsh chemicals, all you need is baking soda and water.

Mix together ½ cup of baking soda and three tablespoons of water until it makes a paste.

Smear the paste with a gloved hand over the dirty parts and let it sit for 15-20 minutes!

Wipe up the paste, dirt and grease with wet paper towels and use a mix of water and vinegar for the interiors of the oven.

And there you have it peeps! Our 10 hacks to keep your uni kitchen sparkling, because although kitchen cleaning can be grim, it’s gotta be done. We hope you found these tips useful, remember to purchase cleaning gloves and be safe when you’re dealing with cleaning products. After some uni room decoration ideas? Check out our latest blog here for some inspo!

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