How to Speed Clean Your Entire Kitchen in Minutes

Are you a clean freak with a strain on your time? (Tell me about it.) That’s okay! I’m going to teach you how transform the heart of your home into a spotless sanctuary with minimal time and effort!

Let’s face it. The thought of tackling your entire kitchen can feel like a looming storm coming your way. That’s why we’re diving into some supercharged, speed cleaning tip and tricks that’ll have your space sparkling in no time.

Seasoned cleaning expert? Newbie? Doesn’t matter. These tips to keeping up with daily cleaning tasks will make you a confident cleaning pro, and allow you to focus on the more important things like cooking, relaxing, and enjoying time with your friends and family.

Pre-emptive Tips for Keeping Your Kitchen Clean

The best way to save you time and effort is by keeping the mess at bay in the first place! Here are some sanity-saving tips that you can employ throughout your day to ensure your weekly or bi-weekly cleaning sessions stay short and sweet.

Line EVERYTHING

The first game changer in your cleaning arsenal is to line everything you can. Grab reusable liners for your refrigerator shelves and drawers, paper liners for your air fryer, nylon resin liners for your slow cooker, and hell, there are even liners for your oven!

Next time you spill the spaghetti sauce or have a cheese meltdown, instead of expending a ton of elbow grease scrubbing away your life within the confines of a small space, just slide out the liner, toss it (or, if it’s reusable, give it a quick rinse or wipe), and voilà! It’s like nothing ever happened. It’s less intimidating, so you’re more likely to clean messes on the spot AND it just makes your life easier.

Cook More One-Pot Meals

Have you ever heard of the “One-Pot rule”? This little trick has the potential to revolutionize your cooking and cleaning routine entirely. All you have to do is stick to recipes that only require one pot or pan (and there are LOTS of them out there) and you will significantly cut down on the amount of dirty dishes you have to do at the end of the day.

Some popular one-pot recipes include hearty stew, sizzling stir-fry, and bubbly one-pan bakes. Throwing more on-pot meals into your weekly lunch and/or dinner routines means less time cleaning and more time enjoying your meal.

Clean As You Go

Here’s a tip that might just be the biggest game changer for your cleaning routine: use your cooking downtime strategically. There are lots of little moments of waiting during the cooking process. Turn those into moments into bite-size bursts of mini clean-ups.

Waiting for the oven to preheat or water to boil? Break out a damp cloth and wipe down your kitchen counter, do a bit of decluttering, or give your kitchen sink a quick wipe. Got 2 minutes left of the microwave? Now’s the time to throw away any paper towels or food packaging.

Also, do yourself a favor after each meal, rinse down your plates and bowls, and pop them into the dishwasher to keep the dishes from piling up and enjoy an empty sink all week! These small moments are the best time to tackle small tasks that could save your future self a LOT of time and energy.

Four Steps to Speed Cleaning Your Kitchen

Okay, so you’ve done all you can pre-emptively to set yourself up for success (or maybe you haven’t, no judgement), but now it’s actually time to dive into your weekly or bi-weekly cleaning session. How do you get through it as quickly and efficiently as possible? Here are four smart steps to make the process fast and easy. Let’s talk about everything you need to speed clean your kitchen.

Step 1) Start with a Quick Declutter

Your first assignment, should you choose to accept it, is to initiate a super speedy declutter. Think of it like a quick sweep. Start at one end of the kitchen or the counter and work your way to the other side. Anything that doesn’t belong in your kitchen (mail, magazines, random electronics), take it to its designated area (or at least the room it SHOULD be in). Dishes go right in the sink to prep for the dishwasher. Trash (obviously) goes in the trash can.

This first step works to free up valuable space for you do the rest of your cleaning magic and cuts down on visual clutter, which makes the rest of the cleaning session WAY less daunting to your brain.

Step 2) Top-Down Dusting

It’s time to grab your trusty microfiber cloth or duster and dust from the top down. Why the top down? Because dust and debris succumb to the laws of gravity and naturally fall to the floor, which you can tackle last. Start with the tops of cabinets and the fridge, then work your way down to the counters, and finally, all the lower cabinets. Work smarter, not harder!

Step 3) Spot Treat and Wipe Down Surfaces

Now, it’s time to clean the surfaces. Use a good multipurpose cleaner or a mix of soapy water and white vinegar and spray down the kitchen counters, appliance faces, and cabinet doors. Then grab a fresh microfiber cloth and wipe these surfaces down lickity-split! If you run into stubborn kitchen grease or anything else that won’t quite come off, baking soda paste is your best friend. Apply it, let it sit for a bit, and then wipe it away.

The places where you do most of your chopping, stirring, and cooking, like your stove top or kitchen island—these are magnets for grime, grease and food particles. Use a stainless steel cleaner for shiny surfaces and a soft scrub for more delicate areas like granite countertops. Done and done!

Step 4) The Floor Care Finale

You’ve done everything else, and now it’s time to tackle the kitchen floor. Let’s make it super simple! Use a broom (or, even quicker, a vacuum cleaner) to remove loose debris. Then, follow up with a damp mop or Swiffer. (Make sure to use a cleaning solution that is suitable for your flooring type.) And that’s it! Your kitchen is clean!

You’re a Speed Cleaning Pro!

Do you already have an unbeatable speed cleaning process or particular flow? Got any extra tips or tricks that could help someone else? We’d love to hear about it! Let’s share our kitchen cleaning knowhow in the comments below.