5 Easy Steps for a Low Maintenance Kitchen

Getting a new kitchen or renovating an old one is an exciting change. You get to design it to your specific needs. There are lots of choices to be made regarding that kitchen. What style is it going to be in? Functionality is another important factor, as you need to think about the way you’re going to cook your food. One thing some don’t consider is how high maintenance their dream kitchen might be. Some things are easier to clean than others, and in the kitchen, this goes without saying. It’s one of the messiest rooms in your home, which means you should take the time to design it so that cleaning is optimal. Messes are frequent in any kitchen, and you have to be prepared. Here are some ways you can more efficiently design your kitchen so that cleanups becomes a piece of cake.

1. Start with the counter tops

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Counter tops are one place you don’t want to go traditional. Ditch the four-by-four tiles in favor of something that is easy to clean. Great materials include stainless steel, quartz, and even laminates. They’re pretty good choices because you don’t have to scrub and seal them at all. Granite is another popular choice. It’s extremely easy to clean from any kind of stain, but the catch is that it does require sealing on occasion.

Some of these materials are less than optimal if you’re tight on money. However, there are cheaper alternatives if you are still aiming for low maintenance. Large-format porcelain tiles are a great choice for counter tops. Any grout lines they have should be covered by epoxy grout, as this will reduce the chance of stains occurring.

2. Less complicated cabinets

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Everybody likes fancy things, but fancy isn’t easy to clean. If you’re shopping for cabinets for your kitchen, try to go for a minimalist style. If you go for something with ornate moldings and complicated edges, you’ll see cleaning times increase. Getting around those nooks and crannies will be a pain when cleaning, not to mention that they accumulate filth faster than smooth surfaces.

Smooth and easy to clean wins the race. Something along the lines of slab-front cabinets is what you should aim for. If you aren’t sure whether you’re going for a traditional or contemporary look, opt for shaker style cabinets, they go with everything. Fewer protruding parts is the point you should take away from this.

3. Sink or sinks

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Sinks are a quintessential part of any kitchen. When designing your ideal kitchen, there are several ways to improve on the kitchen sink. Getting a garbage disposal is a good start. Makes food cleanup easier and you don’t have to worry about too many clogs. A large sink lets you wash as many things as you need without having to put dirty things on the counter. Integrated and under-mount sinks are optimal because you can just wipe off water and dirt from the counter into it.

One way to increase efficiency is to improve on your existing sink, but what if you look at it from the perspective of numbers? Two sinks are better than one, as the saying goes. If your kitchen has two sinks instead of just one, you can enjoy a handful of benefits. If two people are in the kitchen, cleanups become faster and more efficient. One sink can be used to clean while the other is used for some kind of preparation. You won’t have to move over any dirty dishes to get your glass of water anymore.

4. Kitchen floors

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Floors present a very important choice when designing your kitchen. Let’s face it, the floor is designed to get dirty and there’s no getting around that. When you cook food, something is going to spill or bubble over once in a while, it’s only natural. Optimum materials vary, depending on what your main goal is. Things like Marmoleum and linoleum are great choices for low maintenance. Hardwood is another popular choice, but cleaning it becomes a race against time. Any spills have to be taken care of pronto, or else they could set and leave a stain.

Cold floors can be a pain if you like walking around in socks. Why not get yourself a kitchen mat to counteract this? Properly placed kitchen mats are a great addition to any kitchen. They’re pretty useful floor decorations and they are really easy to clean as well. They can also absorb a lot of water, preventing your floors from becoming a mess.

5. Placement is everything

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When cleaning the dishes positioning is everything. This doesn’t refer to where you stand while you wash them, but rather where you’re going to be putting those same dishes. The dishwasher and sink are usually side by side, which makes them easier to clean. Storage is usually the problem. If you keep your clean dishes in a cabinet on the other side of the kitchen, constantly going back and forth will waste time and you might get some water droplets everywhere.

Try to position your cabinets close to the dishwasher and sink. Another great idea is opting for more open-ended alternatives, like shelves. You might think that open shelves would be more difficult to clean, but the opposite is true. There are fewer corners to clean and dirt just slides off naturally. Open-ended shelves also make it way easier to clean a dish and then follow up with hand drying it and putting it on a shelf. This means most of the work is done without you having to move an inch.

Conclusion

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When it comes to designing your kitchen, there are so many choices available that picking just one seems impossible. Most people enjoy cooking, but cleaning is a whole different story. The kitchen is a hotbed for food-related accidents, and you have to watch out for that. Some of these changes are huge time savers, while others seem like a small improvement. Keep in mind, small improvements add up and before you know it, you’ll have a kitchen that is a breeze to clean.

 

Article Contributed by; Emma Williams 

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