Kitchen Remodel

I’m kind of a germaphobe, and I don’t like to use chemicals when I don’t have to, so I use steam to clean the counters and the sink, and plain old Mrs. Meyers dish soap (I like the one that smells like basil).

There is no comet or bon-ami in my house since it etches everything. And once something is etched, it increases porosity and therefore gunk can hide in there. Those awful metal scrub pads that my mother was so fond of are also nowhere to be found here. I have the green/yellow scrub pads for the dishes, but my husband’s been threatened with a messy and lingering death if he uses the green side on the countertops.

I also use a shark steam cleaner on the hardwood floors in the kitchen-it works really well and it doesn’t hurt the hardwood. I have a modern hardwood floor-if you have one that isn’t prefinished or finished with wax (as opposed to a urethane finish) don’t use steam because it’ll cloud your floors. Although I can’t imagine anyone would have a waxed wood floor in a kitchen-that would be so tough to keep nice.

How I clean my granite-I put down clean, dry dishcloths and slowly pour boiling water over them until they are soaked. They sit on the granite until cool, then I wipe them up and squeeze them out, and repeat. It floats all the grease and gunk from the granite into the cloths without scrubbing, and sanitizes the counter. Go very slowly or your counter will have thermal shock and crack.

I also use a hand steamer (shark again) to blast bits that get stuck on the counter (because I have two slobby teenagers).

The sink is stainless-I just use the green side of the scrubber on it and some dish soap. Stainless steel naturally repels germs and odors, so it doesn’t need a lot of help.

I’m tall, and kneeling down to look in a freezer would be sheer hell for me (and I do yoga!). My husband is 6’4", and he would hate it, as well. The idea of scrunching down every time I needed to look in the freezer would be deeply uncool. I like the ones with the pull out drawer, though, that will probably be our next fridge (the one we have now is side by side and it’s never wide enough in the freezer).