Having daily, weekly, monthly, and seasonal chores on a list helps turn all the shoulds into tasks that are regularly checked off the list. And with practice, many of these necessary and helpful kitchen tasks become second-nature habits that keep your kitchen in tip-top shape without you having to reinvent the wheel or even think too hard about what needs to be done.
Here is a breakdown of tasks that will help keep your kitchen sparkling every day, week, month, and year.
Daily Kitchen Cleaning
Empty the dishwasher and dish drainer as necessary
Wash dirty dishes as they happen
Wipe spills from counters, floors, and appliances
Clean counters
Sweep floor
Run the dishwasher as necessary
Wash out the sink
Set out a clean rag for the next day
Weekly Kitchen Cleaning
Sort through leftover items in the fridge
Clean outside of appliances
Clean inside the microwave
Thoroughly disinfect the sink and clean faucets
Sanitize sponges
Mop floors
Replace dish towels with clean ones
Monthly Kitchen Cleaning
Inventory pantry items to see what’s outdated and what needs to be restocked
Take inventory of freezer items that need to be tossed, eaten soon, or restocked
Clean out the refrigerator and wipe down shelves and drawers
Clean inside of the dishwasher if necessary
Clean the dish drainer drip pan
Spot-clean tile grout
Quarterly (or Seasonal) Kitchen Season
Clean refrigerator coils (unplug your fridge first)
Clean under the refrigerator
Clean the oven
Sort through and organize cooking tools, like utensils and pans; declutter duplicates and anything you haven’t used
Take inventory of spices and supplements; toss ones that are too old, and take note of what needs replenishing
Look at all your dishware and repair or repurpose anything that’s chipped
Keeping the kitchen organized, cleaned, decluttered, and well-stocked is a monumental, never-ending task. Having the tasks down on paper means you only have to think once about what needs to be done and when.
Breaking down all the chores into bite-sized daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly tasks keeps the challenge from becoming overwhelming and gives you a perpetually spic-and-span kitchen.