How to Clean a Kitchen — Easy Step-by-Step | Simply Maid

You've just fed the family. The benchtop is sticky, the sink is stacked, and every burner has something crusted on it. Sound familiar?

**Quick Answer:** The fastest way to clean a kitchen is to follow a top-to-bottom, dry-to-wet system. Start by clearing surfaces, then work through dishes, appliances, countertops, sink, and floor — in that order. A consistent system can cut your cleaning time by up to 40% compared to tackling mess at random.

Why Your Kitchen Needs a System

Your kitchen feeds your family 21 or more times a week. It's the hardest-working room in the house — and probably the one that stresses you out the most.

You might have tried cleaning everything in one big weekend push. Or wiping down the benchtop and hoping for the best. Or just closing the kitchen door and pretending it doesn't exist. No judgement here.

The problem isn't effort. It's sequence. Professional cleaners follow a strict order — top to bottom, dry to wet, clean to dirty. According to [Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ)](https://www.foodstandards.gov.au/business/food-safety/cleaning-and-sanitising), cleaning should be done "in a methodical way to prevent cross contamination of surfaces, cleaning from high to low, from clean to dirty." That principle is the backbone of this guide.

How to Clean Your Kitchen — Step by Step

Step 1: Clear Every Surface

Before you touch a sponge, put things back where they belong. Ingredients go back in the fridge or pantry. Spare utensils go back in drawers. Random items that wandered in from other rooms? They go back too.

This single habit prevents the slow creep of kitchen clutter. When surfaces are clear, everything that follows becomes faster.

**Tip:** Keep a small basket or tray near the kitchen entrance for items that belong elsewhere. Empty it once a day.

Step 2: Deal With the Dishes

If you have a dishwasher, load it. If you're [washing by hand](/cleaning-101/kitchen/how-to-clean-dishes-by-hand-no-dishwasher-no-problem), fill the sink with hot soapy water and let dishes soak while you work — but set a timer.

**⚠️ Safety note:** Soaking dishes for more than 30 minutes creates warm, moist conditions where bacteria multiply rapidly. [Research from Cardiff Metropolitan University](https://www.iflscience.com/this-is-why-you-shouldnt-soak-your-dishes-in-the-sink-overnight-81990) found kitchen sinks are among the most bacteria-laden surfaces in the home. Never leave dishes soaking overnight.

Once the dishes are done, give the sink a quick wipe with dish soap. You'll come back to it properly in Step 6.

Step 3: Clean the Rangehood and Stovetop

These two attract the most stubborn grease. Start with the rangehood — the overhead extractor above your cooktop.

**Rangehood filters:** Remove the mesh filters and soak them in very hot water with a quarter-cup of baking soda and a squeeze of dishwashing liquid. Leave them for 15 to 30 minutes, then scrub with a non-abrasive brush. Most metal mesh filters are also dishwasher-safe on a heavy cycle. Clean them every 2 to 3 months for average cooking — monthly if you fry or use a wok regularly.

**Stovetop:** Wipe down with a warm, soapy cloth. For baked-on stains, apply a paste of baking soda and water, leave for 10 minutes, then scrub gently. Avoid abrasive scourers on glass cooktops — a microfibre cloth works better.

Step 4: Wipe Down Appliances

Work from top to bottom. Start with any wall-mounted items (microwave shelf, overhead cabinets) and move down to the microwave, oven front, fridge handles, and [stainless steel appliances](/cleaning-101/kitchen/a-cleaning-guide-to-sparkling-stainless-steel-appliances).

A damp microfibre cloth with a small amount of dish soap handles most surfaces. For stainless steel, wipe in the direction of the grain to avoid streaks.

**Note:** Dish soap is safe for most sealed kitchen surfaces, but not for marble, natural stone, or unsealed wood. For stone benchtops, use a pH-neutral cleaner instead.

Step 5: Clean and Sanitise the Countertops

Here's something most kitchen cleaning guides skip entirely: cleaning and sanitising are two different steps.

According to [FSANZ](https://www.foodstandards.gov.au/business/food-safety/cleaning-and-sanitising), "cleaning and sanitising should usually be done as separate processes, as a surface needs to be thoroughly cleaned before it is sanitised." Dish soap removes dirt and grease. Sanitising kills the bacteria that soap leaves behind.

**To clean:** Warm water and dish soap. Wipe down all countertops.

**To sanitise food-prep areas:** Mix 1 tablespoon of household bleach into 4 litres of warm water. Wipe down, leave for 30 seconds, then rinse with clean water. Alternatively, pick up a food-safe sanitising spray from Coles or Woolworths.

**⚠️ Safety note:** Never mix bleach with vinegar or ammonia-based cleaners — the combination produces toxic gases. — [NSW Food Authority](https://www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au/consumer/food-at-home/cleaning-and-hygiene)

Step 6: Scrub the Sink Properly

The sink gets its own step because it's dirtier than you think. A [USDA study](https://www.usda.gov/about-usda/news/blog/2023/10/03/kitchen-sink-overlooked-place-food-safety) found that **34% of kitchen sinks were contaminated** with harmful bacteria after routine meal preparation — making the sink the most frequently contaminated surface in the kitchen.

Scrub the entire basin with baking soda and a brush, paying attention to the drain and overflow hole. Rinse thoroughly, then sanitise with diluted bleach (same ratio as Step 5). Dry with a clean cloth.

Step 7: Take Out the Rubbish and Recycling

Empty the bin. Wipe down the inside with disinfectant spray. Replace the liner.

This step comes second-to-last because you'll have generated scraps, packaging, and used cleaning cloths from the earlier steps.

Step 8: Sweep and Mop the Floor

The floor is always last. Everything you've wiped, scrubbed, and brushed has sent crumbs and drips downward.

Sweep first (or vacuum on hard floors), then mop with warm water and a splash of floor cleaner. For tiled kitchen floors, a microfibre mop picks up more and dries faster than a traditional string mop.

Your Kitchen Cleaning Schedule

You don't need to do all eight steps every night. Here's a tiered approach that keeps things manageable:

| Frequency | Tasks | Time | |-----------|-------|------| | **Every night** | Clear surfaces, wash dishes, wipe countertops, quick sink rinse | 10–15 min | | **Weekly** | Clean stovetop, wipe appliance fronts, mop floor, clear expired items from fridge | 25–30 min | | **Monthly** | Clean rangehood filters, deep clean oven, scrub sink with baking soda, wipe cabinet fronts | 45–60 min | | **Quarterly** | Full deep clean — behind appliances, inside cabinets, grout scrub — or let a professional handle it | 2–3 hours |

The nightly reset is the one that matters most. It takes 10 to 15 minutes and means you start each morning with a clean slate instead of yesterday's mess.

A Word About Your Kitchen Sponge

This deserves its own mention. [Research published in *Scientific Reports*](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-06055-9) found that kitchen sponges harbour up to **45 billion bacteria per square centimetre** across 362 different species. Microwaving or boiling your sponge doesn't fix this — in fact, it may select for more resistant bacteria.

What to do instead:

**Replace sponges every one to two weeks**
**Store them dry** between uses — moisture feeds bacteria
**Use separate cloths** for dishes, benchtops, and the floor
**Consider switching to a dish brush** — a [2022 study in the *Journal of Applied Microbiology*](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9542536/) found brushes harbour significantly fewer bacteria because they dry faster

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What order should you clean the kitchen in?

Start from the top and work down: clear surfaces, dishes, rangehood, appliances, countertops, sink, rubbish, then floor. This follows the professional top-to-bottom method recommended by Food Standards Australia New Zealand, ensuring dirt and crumbs move downward as you clean.

Q: How long should a kitchen clean take?

A nightly reset takes 10 to 15 minutes. A full systematic clean (all 8 steps) takes about 30 to 45 minutes. Deep cleaning — including the oven, rangehood filters, and behind appliances — takes 2 to 3 hours and only needs doing quarterly.

Q: Is it OK to soak dishes in the sink overnight?

No. Standing water with food debris creates ideal conditions for bacteria to multiply. Research from Cardiff Metropolitan University found sinks are among the most contaminated surfaces in the home. Soak for 30 minutes maximum in hot, soapy water — then wash and drain.

Q: What is the difference between cleaning and sanitising a kitchen?

Cleaning removes visible dirt and grease. Sanitising kills bacteria and pathogens that survive the cleaning step. You need to clean first, then sanitise — especially on surfaces where you prepare food. FSANZ recommends treating these as two separate steps.

Q: How often should you replace your kitchen sponge?

Every one to two weeks. Kitchen sponges accumulate bacteria rapidly — up to 45 billion per square centimetre — and regular sanitising doesn't eliminate the most resilient strains. Between replacements, store sponges dry and use separate cloths for different kitchen zones.

Sources & References

**Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ)** — [Cleaning and Sanitising](https://www.foodstandards.gov.au/business/food-safety/cleaning-and-sanitising). Referenced for the clean-then-sanitise two-step process and the top-to-bottom, clean-to-dirty methodological approach.
**NSW Food Authority** — [Cleaning and Hygiene](https://www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au/consumer/food-at-home/cleaning-and-hygiene). Referenced for benchtop cleaning practices, sponge care, and chemical mixing warnings.
**USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service** — [Kitchen Sink: An Overlooked Place for Food Safety](https://www.usda.gov/about-usda/news/blog/2023/10/03/kitchen-sink-overlooked-place-food-safety). Cited for the 34% sink contamination rate after meal preparation.
**Markus Egert et al.**, microbiologists at Furtwangen University — [Microbiome Analysis and Confocal Microscopy of Used Kitchen Sponges](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-06055-9), *Scientific Reports* (2017). Cited for sponge bacterial colonisation data (45 billion bacteria per cm², 362 species).
**Trond Moretro et al.**, Norwegian Institute of Food Research — [Kitchen Sponges and Brushes as Bacterial Reservoirs](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9542536/), *Journal of Applied Microbiology* (2022). Cited for the finding that dish brushes harbour significantly fewer bacteria than sponges.
**Cardiff Metropolitan University** — Kitchen Sink Bacteria Study (2019), reported in [IFLScience](https://www.iflscience.com/this-is-why-you-shouldnt-soak-your-dishes-in-the-sink-overnight-81990). Referenced for bacterial risks of overnight dish soaking.

*Our professional cleaners follow this exact method in kitchens across Australia. If you'd rather they handle it, we'll take care of everything.*

*Creating spaces that spark joy, one clean at a time.*

How to Clean Your Kitchen: A Step-by-Step System for Busy Families