Why Your Kitchen Needs a Paint Brush

I detest crumbs. Worse than spills, or even sticky spots, crumbs scatter, cling, and hide in crevices and behind microwaves, where they are able to evade a damp dish cloth or paper towel. But they are, luckily, vanquished with an old or cheap paint brush.

Look at a paint brush, now look at a broom, and you will see why this works. A paint brush is very similar to a broom in shape. Handle, bristles — it’s all there! Unlike your broom, however, a paint brush small enough for you to hold it in your hand and sweep crumbs and bits off the tops of your counters, out from behind your microwave, up from between any grout, and off the floor of the cabinet under your sink. (Can you imagine if you tried to do these things with a normal-sized broom? You’d look like a fool!)

And yes, I know they make little handheld brooms, but most of those are still too large and clunky for the detailed cleaning I like to do around my appliances. I need to get in there, in the dark, where evil (crumbs) lurk. Speaking of appliances, there is a second paint-applying tool you might want to snag at the hardware store. This little bro:

This little thing is great for cleaning out sticky corners and grooves, but it is indispensable if you have an Instant Pot. I like to use mine to get inside the lip of my pressure cooker, where gunk and grease can collect, but it can be used to clean any small, neglected area in your kitchen — you can use it dry to soak up little pools of oil and liquid, or get it damp with water or cleaner and scrub.

Obviously, neither of these things need be expensive, but you don’t want your brush to be so cheap that it sheds bristles everywhere, so shop with the slightest of discerning eyes. Scattering bristles amongst the crumbs would defeat the whole point.