Considering that your kitchen appliances come into contact with your food, it’s important to make sure they’re kept clean. What’s more, it’s important to ensure that your appliances are kept clean with non-toxic substances. By switching from conventional cleaning products to all-natural cleaning methods, you’ll avoid polluting your indoor air and the environment with harmful agents while cleaning appliances. This will help make your home (and the world) a healthier and safer place to live.
Read on to learn more about the go-to ingredients for the best homemade, all-natural appliance cleaning products. We’ll show you how to clean your microwave, stove top, oven, and refrigerator without a single harsh chemical.
Your Go-To Cleaning Ingredients
When it comes to how to clean your appliances, make sure that you always keep these all-natural cleaning ingredients on hand:
- Distilled White Vinegar: It’s a natural disinfectant and is effective at removing grime and grease.
- Baking Soda: It’s a mild alkali that’s great for removing stains and absorbing odors.
- Lemons or Lemon Juice: The juice has a brightening effect similar to bleach but is much less harsh and is less damaging to plastic. It also has a fresh, energizing smell!
How To Clean The Inside Of Your Microwave
This method uses a combination of steam and vinegar to loosen the grime that so loves to cling to the interior walls of microwaves.
What You’ll Need:
- 1 microwavable bowl
- 1 cup of water
- ⅓ cup of distilled white vinegar
- 2 tablespoons of lemon juice
- 1 clean rag
Directions:
- Pour the water, vinegar, and lemon juice into the microwaveable bowl, and stir to combine.
- Place your bowl with this magic mixture into your microwave.
- Microwave for about 4 minutes so that enough steam will be created to work effectively.
- Carefully remove your bowl from the microwave. (WARNING: The bowl and what’s left of the mixture will be extremely hot.)
- Wipe down the inside of your microwave with your clean rag.
- To remove particularly stubborn spots, dip your rag into the vinegar mixture (taking care not to burn yourself), and scrub the spot away.
How To Clean Your Stovetop
In this cleaning hack, baking soda and vinegar team up to make your stovetop sparkle.
What You’ll Need:
- Distilled white vinegar
- 2 clean rags, plus an additional rag for each large, stubborn spot on your stove that you want to eliminate
- baking soda
- hot water
- 1 cloth for drying
Directions:
- Remove your stove’s grates. These can be washed in the dishwasher with a detergent like this plant-based, non-toxic formula from Seventh Generation.
- Soak all or part of the first clean rag in the vinegar, and then give your stove an initial wipe-down to remove crumbs.
- Sprinkle your stovetop with enough baking soda to cover it.
- If there is an especially large, stubborn spot that you want to eliminate, soak one of your extra rags in the hot water, wring it out, then lay it directly on top of the spot on your stove for 15-20 minutes.
- Wet your other clean rag in the hot water, wring it out, and start scrubbing into the baking soda on your stove. Continue to scrub until there is no grime or baking soda left. (You will probably have to rinse and wring out the rag at least a few times during this process.)
- Wipe your stove down once more with vinegar.
- Use a clean cloth to buff your stove dry.
How To Clean The Inside Of Your Oven
The dynamic duo (baking soda and vinegar, that is) are at it again! This time they’re tackling one of the kitchen’s toughest places to clean: the grimy interior of the oven.
What You’ll Need:
- Water
- Baking soda
- A spray bottle of distilled white vinegar
- Clean rags
- Spatula
- Rubber gloves recommended
Directions:
- Take out the oven racks and any other items so that your oven is completely bare.
- Put some baking soda a mixing bowl, and stir in just a little water at a time until a spreadable paste forms.
- Spread the paste over every part of your oven’s interior EXCEPT for the heating elements. (Wearing gloves is recommended.)
- The paste may turn brown–this is normal. Let it sit for at least 12 hours.
- Wipe off the paste with a damp rag, using a spatula to loosen particularly stubborn spots.
- Spritz vinegar over your oven’s interior, avoiding the heating elements. You may seem some of the baking soda form foam at this stage.
- With another damp rag, wipe down your oven’s interior until no residue remains.
How To Clean The Inside Of Your Refrigerator
This all-natural cleaning trick is amazingly simple. The most tedious part is simply clearing out your fridge so that the cleaning can begin!
What You’ll Need:
- 2 cups of hot water
- 1 cup of distilled, white vinegar
- 10 drops of any citrus essential oil (your choice!)
- 1 empty, glass spray bottle
- 1 damp rag
Directions:
- Clear out the contents of your refrigerator so that you can access all of its surfaces.
- Combine the water, vinegar, and essential oil in the glass spray bottle.
- Spritz the mixture all over the inside of your refrigerator, and let it sit for 2 minutes.
- Wipe down your refrigerator with a damp rag.
