Photo by Pexels/Skitterphoto
No matter how great at cooking you are, your kitchen always has to be spotless and organized—you can’t expect to replicate all those wonderful recipes you see on TV unless you work in such a kitchen, can you? Kitchens are usually small, but they still deserve attention, so trying to keep them clean, healthy and fabulous should be high on your list of priorities. And if you don’t know how to do so, here are five tips that might help you.
Clean Tile with Baking Soda
Most of us use baking soda in cooking quite frequently, but have you ever considered cleaning with it? Probably not, but you’d be amazed at what half a cup of soda mixed with two gallons of water can do. Cooking usually involves a ton of mess, especially with inexperienced cooks, and baking soda isn’t just one of the cheapest ways to clean your tiles, but also among the most eco-friendly and efficient methods to remove those stubborn stains. Besides tiles, you can clean other areas in the kitchen using baking soda—from cups and cookware to ovens and countertops!
Photo via Wikimedia Commons
Learn How to Freeze Food
Remember all those leftovers you don’t know what to do with, so you just stack them in your freezer instead of throwing them into the trash? Well, if you too like saving food for later, be sure not to use plastic containers and opt for eco-friendly solutions instead. Glass-, metal- or ,even, silicon-based storage solutions are much better in the long run and will keep your food just as fresh and tasty as those nasty plastic containers that are slowly destroying our planet.
Photo via Pinterest
Green Utensils
Now, if you want to be super-green and turn your kitchen into an oasis of eco-friendliness, you simply have to pay more attention to the utensils and dinnerware you’re using. Finding visually appealing pieces is quite all right, but it’s not as safe as you might think, so switch to greener options as soon as possible. Minimizing the use of plastic plates and cups might be one of the ways to do so, while looking into sustainable Robert Gordon dishware, for example, could lead you to efficient and attractive mugs, jugs, earth bowls and even dinner plates that will amaze your guests and show them how environmentally-aware you really are!
Photo via Max Pixel
Natural Scents and Odors
Keeping your windows open all day long could easily be the best way to ensure your kitchen is always full of fresh air, but this isn’t something you can do in the winter or during the rainy season. That’s why more and more people are looking for ways to freshen their interior up using natural scents and fragrances that won’t just smell amazing, but also help them keep their cooking space healthy. Therefore, you too should include a couple of scented candles, fragrance sticks or reed diffusers to minimize the smell of cooking, but make sure they’re 100 percent natural and eco-friendly.
Utilize the Power of Water
Let’s be honest—cooking is amazing, but washing dishes is as far away from amazing as you can imagine! This is actually the reason why some people don’t like cooking at all, or even avoid certain kinds of food—the Millennials, for example, stopped eating cereal in the morning precisely because of that—but this shouldn’t be happening at all. The best way to take care of your dishes is to soak them in warm water and detergent right after using and keeping them there for some time. After just an hour or two, even the greasiest pans will be easy to clean and your kitchen will never be full of dirty dishes you just can’t wash properly.
Keeping your kitchen clean, healthy and fabulous may seem like a never-ending job at first, but if you do something day after day, you won’t have to spend an entire Sunday afternoon scrubbing every surface there is because everything will already be done!
Catherine is a passionate home design consultant from Melbourne. She loves making homes beautiful and buildings sustainable, but she also like sharing her advice and knowledge with people. That is why she is also a regular contributor to the SmoothDecorator blog. Besides all this, she loves reading and enjoys a superhero movie from time to time. Find more of her work on Facebook and Twitter.
