Regular cleaning of your kitchen requires you to either ignore what’s going on underneath your fridge, or moving it so you can clean properly. Here’s how to do the latter, because eventually the former will catch up with you.
It isn’t pretty, what’s going on beneath the average fridge and stove: They are where lost carrots, singed toast, cat toys and dog hair go to die. If you’ve noticed a mustiness to your kitchen that no amount of countertop scrubbing has eradicated, it’s likely coming from this land of no return.
[referenced url=”https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2018/11/clean-this-spot-in-your-kitchen-if-you-have-pets/” thumb=”https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/t_ku-large/e5itbn5jtkl7ui3sc0fp.jpg” title=”Clean This Spot In Your Kitchen If You Have Pets” excerpt=”Zealous cleaners, beware: there is an area in your kitchen where filth has accumulated, and you can’t even see it. What’s particularly alarming about it is that it’s much worse if you have pets. (Or if the previous tenant had pets.)”]
But moving a big appliance isn’t easy on your own. Sometimes it’s not even easy with another person! Cnet helpfully explained the two basic ways to do it, and only one of them requires buying props.
Use water
If you’re mopping, it’s the perfect time to clean under the fridge. This requires some care, because you’ll be getting the floor soapy, and you don’t want to slip and fall yourself, especially before you’ve finished cleaning.
Get out a spray bottle and put one tablespoon of dish soap and two cups of warm water in it. Shake it a few times, then spray around the feet of your appliance. Give the solution a few minutes to seep underneath each foot. Finally, spray in front of the appliance a few feet.
The slippery floor will make gliding the appliance forward a relative breeze; plus, you’ll already have the cleaning solution on the floor. Take your mop, and swish it around back there. Slide it back and mop up the remainder with clean water so you don’t have a permanent floor slick.
Use coasters
A more controlled way to do this is to buy appliance coasters, which go under the feet of your appliance and make it much easier to move. Then you can just spray in the space you want to clean with fewer concerns about falling down in a puddle of soap. That might make you clean down there more regularly, too, because it’s simply easier.
And one last tip regarding the stove that I read on Money Saving Mum: with many stove models, it’s possible to remove the oven drawer, giving you access to the area under the stove without having to pull the appliance out from the wall. Brace yourself for the horrors you may find there.
Comments