How To Clean White Kitchen Cabinets
Sam Lutz • June 23, 2015
The kitchen may be the heart of your home, but it can also be a greasy, splattered nightmare after a long night of cooking. Over time, this grease and food splatter can form a seemingly impenetrable force field that clings to your cabinets a gooey, sticky mess. Cleaning your white cabinets under these conditions can be a challenge. Knowing how to maintain your cabinets and retain the white color under all the grime is an important part of keeping your kitchen looking its best.
The Problem with White Cabinets
Cleaning white kitchen cabinets wouldn’t be any different from cleaning other cabinets, except for one thing: they’re white. White just shows dirt far too easily. In addition, older wooden painted cabinets can encounter another problem entirely. Older varnishes can yellow with time. If your white wooden cabinets are coated with varnish for protection, that varnish could now be discolored and that could be changing the appearance of your cabinets.
To fix this problem, you’ll need to strip off the old coats of varnish, then paint and seal the cabinets all over again. If you’re not sure whether or not your cabinets are too dirty or old and yellowed, start with the cleaning methods below. If that doesn’t work, you may need to refinish your cabinets.
Cleaning Grease Off Cabinets
This cleaning method involves the all natural materials baking soda and vinegar. Baking soda loosens grease makes surfaces easy to clean. Vinegar is a powerful cleaning agent that can scour any surface and remove basically everything dirt and grime.
Materials:
- Baking Soda
- Warm Water
- Non-Abrasive Sponge or Rag
- Vinegar
- Clean, Dry Cloth
Process:
- Fill a bucket with a couple gallons of warm water and a few tablespoons of baking soda. Mix the water and baking soda until the baking soda is dissolved.
- Dampen a rag in the solution.
- Wipe down the cabinets with the damp rag to wipe away the grease. To treat tough-to-remove greasy areas, dab the sponge into a bowl of pure baking soda so that the baking soda coats the bottom of the sponge, then scrub at the greasy areas until they come clean.
- Fill a bucket with equal parts vinegar and warm water.
- Dampen the sponge with the vinegar and water.
- Wipe down the cabinets with the vinegar and water solution until all baking soda has been completely wiped away.
- Dry the cabinets with a clean cloth.
Tip:
To give wooden cabinets an extra shine and prevent grease from sticking to the surface, dab a clean rag in olive oil and wipe down the surface of the cabinets. The olive oil will help create a non-stick surface while also giving your cabinets a gentle luster.
Resources
For more information about how to remove grease from your kitchen cabinets, check out these resources:
- How to Clean White Painted Cabinets that Have Yellowed – This article addresses cabinets that have turned yellow with age.
- How to Clean White Cabinets – This helpful tutorial covers both white laminate and white wooden cabinets.
- How to Clean Wood Cabinets – We like this pinterest board because it’s full of helpful ideas about cleaning and caring for wood cabinets specifically.
Follow Up
If your white cabinets are made of wood and the yellow isn’t coming off, your next step should be to strip the varnish and probably repaint. If your wooden cabinets did come clean, rub them down with a dry rag dipped in a couple teaspoons of olive oil. The olive will condition the surface of the cabinets and add a nice shine.
If you’re going to be refinishing or repainting your white cabinets any time soon, and you’re lucky enough to be one of the over two million residents of the Pittsburgh area, stop by Ace Paint and Unfinished Furniture
for friendly advice and supplies.
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