The Ultimate Kitchen Spring Cleaning Checklist

Our ultimate kitchen spring cleaning checklist will have you opening a few windows and whistling while you work with our 10 ways to clean our favourite room in our home, the kitchen.

No matter the season, whenever the weather changes we grab our gloves, cut open a few lemons and fill our spray bottle with vinegar. There's something about a change in temperature that sparks our purging needs, scrubbing and dusting, and sprucing up our kitchen for the season ahead. While (fingers crossed) we've seen the end of winter this year, our ultimate kitchen spring cleaning checklist will have you opening a few windows and whistling while you work.

1.
Clean Cleaning Supplies

It's not often that we purchase cleaning supplies. A squeeze of lemon, vinegar and baking soda are really all you need to keep your kitchen clean. Natural scents, a gentle exfoliant and acidity, paired with a bit of elbow grease can get any tomato sauce stain off your backsplash or scrub the grime off the kitchen sink. Add in a few essential oils like peppermint or mint to your mixtures for added scents.

2.
Leave No Corner Uncovered

Unplug the fridge, pull it out, sweep and mop (once a season isn't that difficult). Then pull every item out of your fridge, tossing the leftover containers, the pickles you've had since last summer, and anything else with past due expiry sticker. Wipe down each shelf, all walls and the little shelves for your condiments. Finish with a new box of baking soda stuffed in the back. A clean fridge makes for easy meal prep and meals.

3.
Pantry Refresh

Even when we don't have time clean out our pantry, a little spring refresh is essential. Topping up old spices, tossing stale pasta and tackling the cans or jars of beans or tomato sauce is a little change with big results. Wiping down the shelves, and restocking your pantry goods is half the fun, the second half is making meals from all the ingredients you didn't even know you had.

4.
Oil Your Boards

Most of the wood pieces in our kitchen have been gifted or picked up from our travels. But there's something fascinating about oiling wood  and watching it absorb the oil as it comes back to life. Oiling your boards not only updates your kitchen and brings the board back to life, puts the moisture back into the grain ensuring the wood doesn't crack or warp from the cold dry winter.

5.
Stain-free Stainless Steel

Everyone has their own version of cleaning stainless steel, right? Our special ingredient already lives in your kitchen – olive oil. Soak a rag with oil and wipe the stainless steel with the grain (look closely). Buffing out fingerprints and stains, the oil magically captures the matte of the stainless steel without a greasy, oily finish. Trust us, your appliances will never look better.

6.
Microwave Spa

It's not often we use our microwave. In fact, 98% of the time it's used as second cupboard to house bulk items like nuts and bread. But the 2% we do use it, warming our food results in splashes resembling a Jackson Pollock. Tip? Place a bowl filled with water and slices of lemon into the microwave and heat for 5 minutes. The lemon water boils like a sauna loosening up all the caked on bits for an easy wipe.

7.
Don't Forget the Drawers

No matter how many times we clean our kitchen, whenever we remove the utensils from our drawer there's a layer of crumbs sitting in the drawer. It's like someone eats over the drawer, letting it pile up and collect (Philip is it you?). Cleaning our drawers is something we do regularly, vacuuming the inside or using a paper to sweep the crumbs to a corner then wipe away.

8.
Clean Counters

A clean counter is a beautiful counter. Especially in a smaller kitchen, free counter space is hard real estate to come by. Store smaller appliances like toasters or can openers in a cupboard, grabbing them as necessary. In our kitchen, we only keep out items we use regularly like our French press and salt & pepper mills. Keep sponges and soap bottles hidden under the sink (they aren't the prettiest things to look at).

9.
Donate Where Possible

Philip and I are really great at vetting cookware and utensils that enter our kitchen. But every once in a while we do a full purge, letting go of the multiple pots we've acquired or the many cake spatulas stuffed in our drawer. Letting go of kitchen items we never use is almost as much fun as using them (remember, real estate is everything). Tip: box up all your leftover items and donate them to your local charity.

10.
Fresh Flowers

Now that your kitchen is clean and sparkling, put the cherry on top by buying yourself a nice bouquet of flowers. Nothing says spring like bringing the fresh greenery outside indoors. If flowers aren't your thing, add a few different herb pots to your counter or start your own indoor herb garden by the window. Anything that brings a little nature inside will definitely put a little spring in your kitchen.