5 quartz alternatives to marble worktops
When redesigning or refreshing your kitchen, one of the biggest options to consider is your worktops. With so many different materials on offer,..
Now the days have lengthened for summer and you’re freshly inspired with a new wave of enthusiasm to freshen up your home, it’s the perfect opportunity for a spring clean. Here are our top tips for revitalising your kitchen:
We’re all guilty of having a zone which becomes a dumping ground for odds and ends which haven’t found a true home. By tackling the most chaotic zone first and organising using draw dividers or containers, you’ll feel inspired to transform your entire kitchen.
If you work through your spring clean checklist whilst your home is filled with sunlight, you’ll be much more likely to see and sweep up all of those rogue crumbs and spillages. Not only will the sun illuminate your work surfaces, but it’ll help you see better into the depths of your cupboards and drawers.
Lemon, vinegar, salt and bicarbonate of soda are all wonderful natural cleaning products that will see your kitchen gleaming again. These are particularly useful for deep cleaning items such as your chopping boards to remove stains and that lingering smell of onion and garlic. Vinegar is particularly effective at descaling kettles, so you won’t find those dregs lurking in your next cup of tea. Combining these natural products to make your own cleaners can be particularly useful for a more thorough cleaning like freshening drains.
It’s time to reach to the back of your cabinets and delve deep into the fridge to discard of any products that are way past their use-by date. It’s also a chance to rediscover ingredients that you’d forgotten you had in stock, enabling you to conjure up some creative new meals. Combine the ends of packets of pasta for a hearty bake or make a fresh summer salad with pulses and grains.
The oven and hob are notorious for tough, dried-on grease and food debris. Nowadays, many ovens are miraculously ‘self-cleaning’, but even if yours is not, there are many products available to take the strain out of the job. Invest in a complete oven cleaning kit to give it that thorough, annual deep clean.
Equally, the microwave, which is used for those quick heat up jobs, is often not given the attention it deserves after use. Take the opportunity to steam clean and freshen the fragrance of this small appliance following Good Housekeeping’s formula of water, citrus, baking soda and vinegar for a natural refresh.
As something that is always in use, take the chance before your next big shop to empty and clean all compartments of your fridge and freezer. If ice build-up is a problem, it’s also the perfect opportunity to de-ice the freezer section and clean ice trays.
It isn’t just Freddie Mercury who is inspired to complete a list of household spring cleaning chores with music as motivation. Whether you prefer the soothing tones of Classic FM or have a Spotify playlist compiled of your favourite songs, then what starts out as a chore can be an incredibly enjoyable experience.
Images Source: Caesarstone