Things Every Homeowner Should Know About Maintaining Kitchen Appliances
Your home is one of your biggest investments. It’s important to put in regular maintenance to save yourself money down the road and keep your house feeling like a home. The kitchen is one of the rooms in your house that sees the most amount of daily activity.
Kitchen appliances are not cheap to replace and when they break, waiting to get them fixed can be a frustrating interruption to your life. With just a few routine steps throughout the year, you can extend the life of your kitchen appliances and keep them in tip-top shape!
Check out these essential things to know about maintaining your kitchen appliances.
Dishwasher
It’s easy to take your dishwasher for granted, but when it breaks, you’ll really feel it. To keep your dishwasher working well make sure to wipe down the door and gasket on a weekly basis. If you notice gunk building up on the gasket, use a soft toothbrush to gently clean it. Also make sure that you’re cleaning the seals around the door’s rim, which can help prevent leaks.
You can do a deep clean of the entire interior by buying specifically designed tablets and following the instructions on your user manual, or use a cup of vinegar on the top rack of an empty dishwasher and run it on a hot cycle.
Clean out the filter monthly. The filter is located on the bottom of the dishwasher below the spray arms and easily comes out. It can be cleaned in hot, soapy water. Pro-tip: if you’re getting bits of food stuck on your clean dishes, that’s a good sign that it’s time to clean the filter.
When you’re doing your monthly filter cleaning, also take a moment to inspect the spinning arms and clean them if needed. Make sure the arms will spin freely and check the holes to make sure debris hasn’t accumulated.
Fridge
Keep your fridge working flawlessly with regular maintenance. It’s one of the few appliances that runs continuously, so it can be easy to forget to take care of it, but that’s also why it’s so important!
Your fridge has coils that are located either on the back or bottom of your fridge. It’s easy for those to get clogged up with dust, pet hair, and debris. When they’re clogged, they don’t release heat effectively, which means they’ll have to work harder to try and keep the interior cool. Pull your fridge out, unplug it (but keep it closed) and use a vacuum with a stuff brush attachment to clean those coils a couple of times a year. Pro-tip: while you have the fridge out and away from the wall, vacuum and clean behind it!
Check the seals around the door of your fridge regularly to make sure that they’re sealing properly and not leaking out cold air. Give them a quick wipe while you’re checking them.
If your fridge has a water or ice dispenser, then you’re going to want to change that filter at least twice a year. Check the owner’s manual (you can always find them online if you didn’t keep it) to see how to change the filters. Not changing or cleaning the filter can lead to bacteria build-up in your water and ice. Yuck!
Don’t over-stuff your fridge. Your fridge needs to have room for the cold air to circulate around. If it’s stuffed way too full you’ll find that it starts working too hard to keep things cool and the items at the back of the fridge might actually freeze due to it pumping in so much cold air.
Give your fridge a thorough clean every few months. This means taking everything off of a shelf, taking that shelf out, closing the door, cleaning the shelf thoroughly, then replacing the shelf and the items back on the shelf. Move to the next shelf and repeat. Don’t forget to do the drawers too! Make sure to give the walls of the inside of the fridge a wipe down too. You can use hot soapy water or a vinegar and hot water mixture.
When it comes to food spills, wipe those up right away whenever they happen.
Freezer
Your freezer also needs to be cleaned thoroughly once every few months. When you plan to clean out the freezer, grab yourself a cooler with ice or ice packs. Remove all of the food from your freezer and place it in the cooler with ice. Pro-tip: now is a good time to look through the forgotten food in your freezer and toss anything that is past its expiration date. Unplug your fridge. Spray liberally with hot water and vinegar mixture and then wipe with a cloth. Once it’s all clean, dry it completely with a microfiber cloth. Place your food back in, plug it in and close the door! You’re done!
Microwave
Whenever something spills in the microwave, clean it up right away.
Once a month make sure to do a more thorough clean of the microwave. Place a (microwave-safe) mug of water with vinegar or lemon juice in the microwave. Turn the microwave on high for two minutes. The inside of the microwave will be hot and seamy. Carefully remove the mug and then wipe out the inside. You may need to repeat this a couple of times, depending on how dirty it was. Take out the spinning tray and wash it with hot soapy water. Make sure to clean the space under the spinning tray too.
If your microwave range has a filter, make sure to clean it every couple of months. Place the filter in hot soapy water (make sure it’s a degreaser soap) and let it soak for 10-20 minutes. Give it a good scrub and then let the filter air-dry. Replace the filter back in its place once it’s dry.
Oven
Cleaning your oven can feel like a chore, but it’s incredibly important to do regularly. Oven build-up can cause fires! So for safety sake, try doing a deep clean every 3-4 months.
Newer models of ovens have a self-clean option. Make sure to follow the manufacturer’s instructions and go ahead and proceed. If your model is older or doesn’t have a fancy self-clean option, then you’ll need some good old elbow grease to get the job done. You can buy oven cleaning sprays, but be careful because they are full of chemicals and can potentially sain your flooring if you’re not careful when spraying. Read the can CAREFULLY before using it. Alternatively, you can make a paste with baking soda and water. Coat the entire surface of the oven in it, let it sit for 12 hours or overnight and then wipe off (or scrub for stubborn spots) the paste.
The oven racks can be taken out and cleaned in hot soapy water or with the baking soda paste mentioned above.
Any spills that happen in your oven, clean up as soon as it is safe to do so (obviously while your oven is very hot might not be the best time to do it). And use a drip tray if you’re going to be using anything that is prone to spillage (such as pies) so that you just need to throw away the tray and can save yourself the annoyance of cleaning up baked-on spills.
Get yourself an oven thermometer and keep it in your oven. Check it every once in a while when your oven is on. If you notice that the oven temperature is way off, then it might be time to re-calibrate the temperature setting on your oven. Check out your owner’s manual and follow the instructions.
If your oven has a drip bowl, make sure to replace or clean that every couple of months as well.
For range hoods, make sure that you’re cleaning the filters out every three months (or more often if you LOVE cooking and do it often). Get some dish soap that cuts through grease and fill up a container with the soap and hot water. Let the filter soak for at least ten minutes and then scrub. Let them dry completely before you put the filter back in.
Check the seals around your oven door to ensure that you’re not losing heat. That could really cause issues with cooking times and be costing you money!
Final Thoughts
The technology for our kitchen appliances has gotten vastly superior over the years. These appliances are mostly able to take care of themselves, but regular maintenance will help to avoid any health issues, safety issues, and will save you money over the years! With regular maintenance and proper care, your appliances will last you for a LONG time.
If you’ve been regularly maintaining your appliances but still find that you’re experiencing an issue, contact a local appliance repair expert to take care of the issue ASAP. If you head to Locorum, not only will you be supporting a local, small business, but you’ll also be getting rewarded while you do it!
